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Company Name: Taragawa
Distillery Co., Ltd.
Founded: 1948
Address: 85 Sunagawa, Gusukube Town, Miyako-gun
TEL: 09807-7-4108
FAX: 09807-7-7705 |
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Awamori made with
natural underground water full of minerals in Gusukube has a soft
but powerful flavor.
The town of Gusukube on Miyako Island is blessed with a rich underground
water source. The liquor is named after the underground Taragawa
River. Being an island formed from elevated coral reefs, Miyako
Island is mostly made up of limestone and red clay. It has many
limestone caves and shares a similar geology and environment with
the southern part of the main island of Okinawa. This is one of
the reasons why the Taragawa Distillery has started a new attempt
to produce liquor that is born on Miyako Island and raised in Tamagusuku
Village. 88 proof unprocessed liquor made on Miyako Island is combined
with the renowned water of Kakihana Hi-jah in Tamagusuku Village
in the southern part of the main island of Okinawa. It is shipped
out to markets on the main island as well as to mainland Japan.
The Taragawa Distillery is also known for its use of a limestone
cave in a sugarcane field on Miyako Island as its kusu cellar.
The company offers to keep the 'limestone cave liquor' for special
occasions such as wedding anniversaries and birthdays. It takes
responsibility for keeping 'San-sho' bottles (approximately
1.5 gallons) for between 5 and 12 years, enabling the customers
to feel at ease and wait for their liquor to mature. Limestone caves,
with a stable year-round temperature, are said to be ideal for storing
kusu.
The present president of the Taragawa Distillery is the second generation,
Keiichi Sunagawa. He says that sugarcane and barley koji
were used to make liquor when the company started. It was hard to
obtain Thai rice, which is the main ingredient of awamori,
so they had a very hard time then.
The master distiller is 72-year-old Seikichi Ikemura, who works
hard to take full advantage of the characteristics of Miyakojima's
hard water to create a refined taste. |
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