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Company Name: Yaesen Distillery,
Inc.
Founded: End of the Meiji era (early 20th Century)
Address: 1834 Ishigaki, Ish igaki City
TEL:09808-3-8000
FAX:09808-2-3791 |
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The superb quality of the
water from the Omoto mountains gives a boost to the production of
kusu.
Yaesen is an awamori brand with many fans on Ishigaki
Island, around Okinawa Prefecture and elsewhere. Many people give
its softly sweet aroma as their reason for liking it, and the secret
to that quality is in the water used to make the distilled liquor.
The distillery was founded in 1955. It produces awamori using
the finest selected rice
plus water from the 'Nangara' spring at the foot of the Omoto mountains,
which is believed by local people to be protected by the God of
Water. But the distillery not only uses the best ingredients. Believing
in maintaining a good work environment, the distillery relocated
from an urban area to a rural landscape. Yaesen is fostered
on the hills overlooking Taketomi Island and Kohama Island, surrounded
by blue waters and with a breeze blowing from the south.
The distillery has installed equipment to computerize quality management,
in pursuit of the perfect taste. On the other hand, it does not
reply completely on machinery, but employs traditional techniques
in making the awamori.
The distillery also takes great pride in producing kusu.
Its brands include 5-year-old Black Pearl, which is as smooth
as black pearls, and 8-year-old Yaesen, a superb quality
kusu matured in oak barrels shipped from France which is
said to have a rich brandy-like bouquet.
Ishigaki's natural water is said to be the island's treasure, and
it is true that the granite Omoto mountains produce excellent water.
But without simply relying on the gifts of nature, the distillery
continues to put its affection into each drop of the liquor, according
to its catchphrase-'the Okinawan spirit incorporated in every drop'. |
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