Daina was born in 2004 when the eighth-generation owner of Kikunosato Shuzo in Nasu, Tochigi, inherited what was then the smallest and most financially challenged brewery in the prefecture and resolved to build a new brand from the ground up. The name reflects a vision as expansive as the Nasu Highlands themselves, with nearly all sake rice sourced from contract farmers in the Nasu-Kurodahara district through the Daina Rice Research Association, which the brewery co-founded to promote organic and low-pesticide cultivation. By 2010, Daina had earned its first gold medal at the National New Sake Competition, and the brand has since reached markets in Paris, Milan, and across Asia.
