What kind of sake brand is Gangi?雁木

05/16/202205/30/2023

Powerful sake that was responsible for the revival of the brewery! Approaching Yamaguchi’s famous sake “Gangi"

Do you know the sake called “Gangi" made in Yamaguchi Prefecture?

It looks cool, but the word actually has a deep meaning.We would like to get closer to the charm of Yamaguchi Prefecture’s famous sake “Ganki" and the truth of its hidden feelings!

Contents

What is “Gangi"?

What is “Yahyaku Shinshuzo"?

What is “Gangi"?

“Gangi" is pure rice and unfiltered sake.
This commitment can be said to be the result of clearly reflecting the brewery’s desire to simply face sake brewing head-on without adding or subtracting extra things.

Pure rice tailoring to bring out the potential of rice. And unfiltered tailoring that proves that the squeezed sake is at a level that does not require secondary processing. It is a discerning finish that makes the best use of the original goodness of sake.

The characteristic of the taste of such “Ganki" is its powerful taste. Rich umami and outstanding sharpness. The finish is such that people who like a solid taste should definitely drink it.

By the way, Gangi is a word that refers to a pier with stairs at the dock. “Yaoshin Sake Brewery", which brews “Ganki", has carried raw rice by ship and landed it at Gangi.

In addition, it seems that the reason why the name “Gangi" is used for sake is that it has the idea of ​​"returning to the origin of sake brewing and starting a new tradition from here."

What is “Yaoshin Shinshuzo"?

“Yaoshan Shinshuzo" ​​is a long-established store founded in 1877, located in Iwakuni City, Yamaguchi Prefecture.
There is Yaoshin Sake Brewery near Kintaikyo Bridge, which is known as one of the three famous bridges in Japan.

At the time of its founding, it developed a brand called “Shinkiku". In the second generation, the brewery was very successful, as this “Shinkiku" was recognized as the top brand in Iwakuni, and it also wholesaling beer and sake.

However, the times soon faced the Greater East Asia War. Due to the shortage of rice during and after the war, like any other brewery, the brewery is forced to brew sake by the triple brewing method, that is, brewing sake using a large amount of auxiliary ingredients such as brewed alcohol and sugar.
The  chief brewer has only made pure rice sake, and unfortunately the quality of “Shinkiku" is inferior to that of other companies in the same industry, and he has lost his local market share.
On the other hand, wholesale will continue to be successful, but this business in sake brewing will wander the dark ages for a long time, and eventually it will be pushed to the point of closing down.

The turning point came in the fifth generation. He decided to abolish the ongoing retail division of other alcoholic beverages such as beer, that is, the side business, and consolidate the business into the original main business of sake brewing.

Sake brewing that has continued despite being driven. As a result of continuing trial and error while making use of the accumulated know-how of sake brewing, a bottle of sake is finally born. That is “Ganki". It is a sake that was born under the new system and has a feeling of returning to the origin and a new departure.

At first, “Gangi" was a pure rice unfiltered raw sake with only 600 bottles. Even now, it is still prepared in small quantities, but the degree of perfection for that reason has steadily gained popularity, and now it is popular as a brand known all over the country with the name of “Yaohyaku Shinshuzo".