Bon

Katoukichibee Shouten was founded in Sabae City, Fukui Prefecture, in 1860, originally as a money exchange business before an ancestor pivoted to sake brewing. The brand name Bon (梵) is drawn from Sanskrit, meaning untouched, pure or truthfulness, with the English reading BORN carrying the sense of birth and creation. In 1928 the brewery's sake was selected for the Showa Emperor's enthronement ceremony, the first time a regional sake earned that imperial distinction, and today all Born sake undergoes ice-temperature aging at or below freezing, with some expressions matured for over ten years.