Tamagawa Shuzo was founded in 1673 in Uonuma, the mountainous southeastern corner of Niigata Prefecture, where snowmelt and cold winters have defined sake brewing for centuries. In 2000, CEO Hayato Kazama conceived Echigo Samurai as a deliberate counterpoint to Niigata's prevailing light-and-dry style: an oak-aged spirit that exceeds 40% alcohol content and cannot legally be classified as nihonshu. Aged in casks like whisky, it represents one of the most unconventional expressions to emerge from Japan's most prolific sake prefecture.
