Yoakemae, meaning before the dawn, is brewed by Ono Shuzoten, a brewery founded in 1864 in the post-town of Narakawa along the historic Nakasendo highway in Nagano Prefecture. The fifth-generation proprietor, an admirer of Shimazaki Toson whose novel shares the brand name, adopted it in 1972 on the centennial of Toson's birth. Drawing on the spring water of Mount Kirihoshi and a commitment to quality sake rice, the brewery produces sake described as abundant yet sharply defined, with dignified character, anchored by its long-selling Kiichibon junmai ginjo.
