Maibijin

Mikawa Shuzojo has been producing sake in Fukui Prefecture since 1887, with the sixth-generation owner Kinya Mikawa also serving as its head brewer. Maibijin has earned a reputation for boldly acidic sake: the brewery's proprietary sanQ yeast generates acidity levels far above standard sake, with certain expressions reaching 7.4 on the acidity scale compared to the typical range of 1 to 2. Rice is steamed in a traditional iron kettle, koji made by hand, and the sake pressed in a wooden vat, with roughly 30% of the rice grown in the brewery's own fields.