Suminoe Shuzo, founded in 1845 in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, takes its name from the deity of sea voyages enshrined at Osaka's Sumiyoshi Taisha — a fitting reference for a brewery in one of Tohoku's great port cities. The brewery's head brewer narrowed the product range to sake made exclusively with Miyagi yeast after years of experimentation, building a clean, soft style that showcases the individual character of each sake rice variety used. Kura no Hana from Miyagi and Yamada Nishiki from Hyogo are the primary rice varieties, paired with subsoil water from the Kitakami River.
