Chikuha

Founded in 1869 in the Oku-Noto peninsula of Ishikawa Prefecture, Kazuma Shuzo originally began as a soy sauce maker before the quality of the local spring water drew the brewery into sake production. Under the Chikuha label, the brewery operates without a dedicated master brewer, instead relying on a team-based approach introduced in 2015, and uses 100% contract-farmed rice with precision milling adjusted in 1% increments. Chikuha Oyster, a food-pairing sake developed for seafood, earned a bronze medal at the Milano Sake Challenge 2023.