Tsurunotomo is the flagship brand of Hiki Shuzo in Niigata City, a small brewery founded in 1832 that intentionally limits distribution to the local Uchinomachi area and greater Niigata City, maintaining a philosophy that sake is fundamentally a drink of the place where it is made. The brand name was derived from one character of the earlier sake name Ake no Tsuru, tracing a lineage connected to the poet Ryokan. Among the mostly dry and light Niigata style, Tsurunotomo is noted for a distinctively richer umami character and soft mouthfeel.
