清水清三郎商店Shimizu Seizaburo Shoten

In May 2016, the G7 leaders sat down to dinner at the Ise-Shima Summit in Mie Prefecture. Among the sake poured that evening was Zaku, from a brewery in Suzuka that had spent most of its 147-year history making bulk sake for other people's labels.

Shimizu Seizaburo Shoten was founded in 1869, the only sake brewery still operating in Suzuka today. The city sits between Osaka and Nagoya on Mie's coastal plain, at the foot of the Suzuka Mountains, and has a sake history stretching back to the Yamatohime-no-Mikoto travel diary, which records the area as "Umasake Suzuka no Kuni" — the land of fine sake. Cold, clear subsoil water filters through the Suzuka range and down into the Ise Plain. The brewery has drawn on it for over a century and a half.

The break from contract brewing came in 1998, when sixth-generation president Shimizu Shinichiro decided to build an own-brand identity. He had been watching the rise of Juyondai in Yamagata and understood the arithmetic: one signature brand, pursued without distraction, could redefine what a brewery was. He chose a name with two readings and two meanings. Written as the character 作, meaning "to make" or "to create," it reads as Zaku — clean, sharp, easy to say. The philosophy is encoded in the name: sake's value isn't finished when it leaves the tank. It's finished by the person who recommends it, pours it, drinks it.

Master brewer Tomohiro Uchiyama joined the project and shaped a house style: mellow fruit notes, crisp finish, what the brewery calls a "refined sense of clarity." Fermentation happens in small batches with daily sensory monitoring. Five consecutive gold medals at the National New Sake Appraisal Competition from 2006. At the 2017 Sake Competition, Zaku took both first and second place in the junmai category — the same year, the same brand. In 2021, the International Wine Challenge named Shimizu Seizaburo Shoten Sake Brewer of the Year. Multiple labels continue to earn IWC gold medals.

Key facts

• Founded 1869 in Suzuka City, Mie Prefecture; the only remaining sake brewery in Suzuka, a city with sake history traced to the Yamatohime travel record naming it "the land of fine sake"
• Water source: subsoil water from the Suzuka Mountains, which filters into the Ise Plain as cool, clear groundwater
• Zaku brand launched 1998 by 6th-generation president Shimizu Shinichiro; the character 作 means "to create," reflecting a philosophy that sake's value is co-created between brewery, retailer, and drinker
• Toji Tomohiro Uchiyama leads small-batch production with daily sensory fermentation monitoring
• Five consecutive gold medals at Japan's National New Sake Appraisal Competition from 2006
• 2017 Sake Competition: Zaku took 1st and 2nd place simultaneously in the junmai category, an unprecedented result
• 2016 G7 Ise-Shima Summit: Zaku was served to world leaders at the summit dinner held in Mie Prefecture
• IWC 2021: named Sake Brewer of the Year; multiple labels continue to earn IWC gold medals through 2025