Mikunihare Shuzo was originally founded in 1887 as Iwase Shuzo in Kurobe, Toyama Prefecture, at the mouth of the Kurobe River where the Northern Alps meet the Sea of Japan. The brewery's signature brand, Maboroshinotaki, takes its name from a phantom waterfall deep in the Kurobe Gorge that people in former times could hear but never reach. The spring water used for brewing is drawn from a source recognized by Japan's Ministry of the Environment as one of the country's top 100 natural waters.
