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Wednesday, 13th July 2016
In General Japan News,
Dewazakura brewery takes top sake prize in London
The Dewazakura sake brewery has taken the top spot in the sake category of the International Wine Challenge (IWC) in London.
Based in Tendo, Yamagata Prefecture, the brewery won the award with its Dewazakura Dewanosato tipple, following in the footsteps of its Dewazakura Ichiro, which triumphed in the same contest in 2008.
Masumi Nakano, president of the company, told Japan Today: “It is extremely emotional [to receive the award] because our continuous efforts over a long period of time have been recognised.
“We owe a lot to the people of Yamagata who have nurtured us with affection.”
The IWC introduced the sake category to the awards in 2007 and it has gone on to become one of the biggest competitions for the rice wine outside of Japan.
As the popularity of Japanese culture, cuisine and sake grows far beyond the borders of the country, the IWC is seeing an increase in the number of entries in the category.
Dewazakura Dewanosato beat 1,281 other sakes from 346 breweries that entered into the competition this year.
Four of the participants have taken the traditional Japanese drink and are producing outside of the nation.
This is an interesting trend, as despite its 2,000-year-old heritage, sake consumption is declining in Japan.
There are around 1,500 breweries producing the spirit, where once there were 2,000.
From all those that entered, just nine were selected at a screening event in Kobe in May. They each received a trophy in honour of getting so far in the contest.
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