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新潟県

Niigata

The Hoshitoge rice terraces in Tokamachi. Water-filled paddies of many sizes step down a hillside, surrounded by cedar groves and green mountains
The Hoshitoge rice terraces in Tokamachi City. Paddies filled with snowmelt rise tier upon tier among the mountains.M Murakami ／ CC BY-SA 2.0 ／ Wikimedia Commons（resized to 1280 px on the long side）

Sake in Niigata

Niigata Prefecture lies on the Sea of Japan side of Honshu, roughly in the middle of the island. The Niigata Sake Brewers Association has 91 member sake brewing companies (as of February 2026). Niigata sake is described as “tanrei” (light and clean): a taste with few off-flavors that is crisp and does not linger. In February 2022, “Niigata” was designated under the geographical indication (GI) system, which protects the names of sake-producing regions. One of its conditions is also “generally tanrei in quality.”

Snow and water are what support this taste. Niigata gets a lot of snow, and while its winters are cold, temperatures do not drop to extremes, so the koji mold and yeast used in sake brewing work slowly. Snow that piles up in the mountains melts into rivers and eventually becomes the well water of sake breweries. This water is soft water, low in minerals.

Rice and people support it too. Gohyakumangoku, a rice variety suited to sake brewing (shuzo kotekimai), was born in 1957, and Niigata Prefecture went on to develop Koshitanrei by crossing Yamada Nishiki with Gohyakumangoku. In 1930 the prefecture set up the Niigata Prefectural Brewing Research Institute, a research body devoted to sake, and in 1984 the Niigata Sake Brewers Association opened the Niigata Sake School to train the people who make sake. Niigata Sake no Jin, an event that brings together brewery owners from across the prefecture, was held in March 2026 at Toki Messe in Niigata City.

Brewery map

Nagaoka: 16 breweriesNiigata: 14 breweriesJoetsu: 12 breweriesItoigawa: 5 breweriesSado: 5 breweriesKashiwazaki: 4 breweriesShibata: 4 breweriesMinamiuonuma: 3 breweriesMyoko: 3 breweriesAgano: 3 breweriesKamo: 3 breweriesTokamachi: 2 breweriesAga: 2 breweriesGosen: 2 breweriesMurakami: 2 breweriesOjiya: 2 breweriesUonuma: 2 breweriesTsunan: 2 breweriesYuzawa: 1 breweriesSanjo: 1 breweriesYahiko: 1 breweriesNagaokaJoetsuItoigawaSadoShibataMyokoKamo1. 尾畑酒造12. 阿部酒造23. 朝日酒造34. 八海醸造45. 今代司酒造 / 6. 石本酒造5–6

Close-up (Niigata)

5. 今代司酒造56. 石本酒造6

Breweries by municipality (dot size shows the number of breweries)Featured breweries

  1. Obata Shuzo 尾畑酒造Sado
  2. Abe Shuzo 阿部酒造Kashiwazaki
  3. Asahi Shuzo 朝日酒造Nagaoka
  4. Hakkai Jozo 八海醸造Minamiuonuma
  5. Imayotsukasa Shuzo 今代司酒造Niigata
  6. Ishimoto Shuzo 石本酒造Niigata

The 89 breweries on our list are grouped by the municipality where they are located. Each dot marks a representative point of the municipality, not the brewery itself (featured breweries are shown at their actual locations). Locations are based on the address search of the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan.

Featured breweries

  • Abe Shuzo 阿部酒造Abe あべ / Koshi no Otokoyama 越乃男山KashiwazakiRead the article
  • Hakkai Jozo 八海醸造Hakkaisan 八海山MinamiuonumaRead the article
  • Asahi Shuzo 朝日酒造Kubota 久保田NagaokaRead the article
  • Imayotsukasa Shuzo 今代司酒造Imayotsukasa 今代司Niigata
  • Obata Shuzo 尾畑酒造Manotsuru 真野鶴Sado
  • Ishimoto Shuzo 石本酒造Koshi no Kanbai 越乃寒梅Niigata