Aoshima Shuzo in Fujieda City, Shizuoka Prefecture, traces its brewing heritage to the Edo period when the Aoshima family served as village headmen and began using the region's abundant soft water to ferment surplus rice. The Kikuyoi brand, guided by brewer-owner Aoshima Takashi who returned from graduate studies in New York to take over the family business, is regarded as a benchmark of the delicate, low-acid Shizuoka style. The brewery grows its own organic Yamadanishiki in cooperation with local farmers and has received consistent national recognition for the quality of its water-driven, restrained sake.
