Watarai is one of two flagship brands produced by Watarai Honten, a brewery with roots between 1615 and 1624 in Tsuruoka City, Yamagata Prefecture, whose sake was endorsed as a national drink by successive Japanese Prime Ministers. The brewery draws on high-quality water from the Gassan-Asahi mountain range, proprietary yeast strains, and contract-grown heritage rice varieties, following traditional kimoto methods while also developing expressions suited to Western cuisine. The brand name Watarai, alongside its companion Dewanoyuki, carries over four centuries of Yamagata sake history.
