Who will enjoy this brewery
- People traveling on Sado Island who want to tour a sake brewery and taste (free; booking required by the day before)
- People interested in new ways of making sake, such as sake pressed in an unusual way using a machine
- People who want to buy Sado sake before crossing to Sado from Niigata Port, or at department stores in Tokyo and Osaka
About Hokusetsu Shuzo
Hokusetsu Shuzo (北雪酒造) is a brewery on Sado Island (佐渡島), Niigata Prefecture. It was founded in 1872 (Meiji 5) in Akadomari (赤泊), a small port town on the island. Its brand is “Hokusetsu (北雪)”.
At Hokusetsu Shuzo, you can take a free brewery tour if you book by the day before (checked on October 27, 2026). After the tour, you can taste sake and other drinks in the tasting corner.
The island’s mountains and water, and sake rice from terraced paddies
Sado Island has two mountain ranges, the rugged Osado Mountains (大佐渡山脈) and the gentle Kosado Mountains (小佐渡山脈), and soft water suited to growing rice wells up from the hills.
Hokusetsu Shuzo believes that sake making begins with growing rice, and together with contract farmers it grows Niigata sake rice such as “Koshitanrei (越淡麗)” and “Gohyakumangoku” in terraced paddies. Grown without relying on pesticides or chemical fertilizers, in paddies that are gentle on living creatures, the rice is certified as Sado’s 朱鷺と暮らす郷づくり認証米 (certified rice, grown “to make a home shared with the toki”, the Japanese crested ibis).
Traditional skills, and a new “move”
While protecting the skills it has inherited, the brewery has taken up one approach never tried before after another. Among these experiments, such as playing music and giving vibrations with ultrasound, is a way of pressing the sake using a centrifuge.
To make sake, the moromi (fermenting mash) that has finished fermenting is pressed, separating it into liquid and sake lees (sake kasu). Hokusetsu Shuzo uses a method of extracting the sake from the moromi with a centrifuge, without applying pressure. Sake made this way has a fruit-like aroma and a fullness of flavor. The main products made by centrifuge are as follows (checked on October 27, 2026).
- Hokusetsu Junmai Daiginjo Koshitanrei 光 (北雪 純米大吟醸 越淡麗 光) — A “junmai daiginjo”: made only from rice, rice koji and water, with half or more of the outer part of the rice polished away. The sake rice is Koshitanrei certified as 朱鷺と暮らす郷づくり認証米, and it comes in a hexagonal bottle
- Hokusetsu Daiginjo YK35 信 (北雪 大吟醸 YK35 信) — A “daiginjo”: with half or more of the outer part of the rice polished away, and a small amount of brewer’s alcohol added. “Daiginjo YK35” — made by polishing away 65% of the outer layer of Yamada Nishiki, a shuzo kotekimai (rice variety suited to sake brewing), and fermenting it at a low temperature for a long time — is extracted with a centrifuge, without using sake bags (pressing bags)
- Hokusetsu Daiginjo 遠心分離 (centrifuge-separated) — A limited sake: a daiginjo made from large-grained sake rice with half or more of the outer part polished away, extracted with a centrifuge
The ingredients and brewing methods differ from product to product, so please check the label for the type.
To NOBU around the world
Even before Japanese food became widely known abroad, Hokusetsu Shuzo believed that sake would be enjoyed around the world as well. It met Nobu Matsuhisa, the owner of “NOBU”, a Japanese restaurant with locations around the world, and since then Hokusetsu sake has been served at NOBU restaurants. Today all NOBU restaurants, in the United States, Germany, Australia, the United Kingdom, Italy and elsewhere, are the brewery’s main customers.
Visiting the brewery
Brewery tours (booking required by the day before; free)
At Hokusetsu Shuzo, you can take a free brewery tour if you book by the day before. If you have time after the tour, you can taste sake, shochu and liqueurs in the tasting corner. Tasting is also free.
| Hokusetsu Shuzo brewery tour (checked on October 27, 2026) | |
|---|---|
| Booking | Required by the day before. By phone (0259-87-3105, 9:00–17:00) or through the inquiry form on the official website. Replies by email can take 2–3 days, so book by phone for dates coming up soon |
| Tour start times | Choose any time between 9:30 and 11:30 in the morning or between 13:00 and 15:30 in the afternoon (the last tours start at 11:30 and 15:30) |
| Duration | About 15–20 minutes |
| Fee | Tour and tasting both free |
| What to tell them when booking | The name of the group representative, the number of people, the date and time, and contact details |
| Note | In winter (the sake-making season) there are days when tours cannot be given |
People under 20, and people who will be driving a car, motorcycle or bicycle that day, cannot taste. In Japan, drunk driving is prohibited by law. The official website does not say what language tours are given in.
Getting there
Address: 〒952-0706 新潟県佐渡市徳和2377番地2
- From Niigata to Sado Island: Sado Kisen (佐渡汽船) runs car ferries and jetfoils (high-speed boats) between Niigata Port and Ryotsu Port (両津港), and car ferries between Naoetsu Port (直江津港) and Ogi Port (小木港) (checked on October 27, 2026). Please check times with Sado Kisen
- From the port to the brewery: The brewery’s official website does not give directions or travel times from the ports to the brewery. Please look up the address above
Opening days and tour arrangements may change. Please check the brewery’s official information before visiting.
Where to buy Hokusetsu Shuzo’s sake
On its official website’s page of places to buy and drink Hokusetsu (購入できる店・飲める店), the brewery publishes stores across Japan that carry Hokusetsu. You can filter by region and by “places to buy (購入できる店)” or “places to drink (飲める店)”. From the “places to buy”, we have picked stores that are easy to stop by during a trip (checked on October 27, 2026).
| Area | Store | Address |
|---|---|---|
| Niigata Port (for Sado) | 佐渡汽船商事 新潟港売店 | 新潟市中央区万代島 |
| Niigata Station | ぽんしゅ館 新潟驛店 | 新潟市中央区花園 |
| Echigo-Yuzawa Station | 駅の酒蔵 CoCoLo湯沢 | 南魚沼郡湯沢町 越後湯沢駅ビル2階 |
| Tokyo (Ginza) | 銀座・新潟情報館 THE NIIGATA | 東京都中央区銀座 |
| Tokyo (Nihonbashi) | 日本橋髙島屋 | 東京都中央区日本橋 |
| Tokyo (Shinjuku) | 伊勢丹新宿店 | 東京都新宿区新宿 |
| Kyoto | 京都髙島屋 | 京都市下京区 |
| Osaka (Umeda) | 阪神梅田本店 | 大阪市北区梅田 |
You can check stores in other regions region by region in the list. The list gives each store’s phone number.
The brewery also has an official online shop. The official website does not say whether you can buy sake at the brewery. Please check when you book a tour.
Before you buy
- The list does not show when it was last updated. What each store carries and its stock differ, and limited products may not come in, so please check with the store before visiting.
- If you are taking sake home abroad: Bottles over 100 ml cannot go in your carry-on bag before security screening. Put them in your checked baggage, or buy them at a duty-free shop after security screening. Please check in advance what applies if you have a connecting flight, and the import limits of the country you are arriving in. → Travel tips
Other breweries in Niigata Prefecture are gathered on our Niigata Prefecture page.
Brewery facts
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Brewery | 株式会社北雪酒造 (Hokusetsu Shuzo) |
| Founded | 1872 (Meiji 5) |
| Representative | 羽豆大, president and representative director |
| Address | 〒952-0706 新潟県佐渡市徳和2377番地2 Open in Google Maps |
| Phone | 0259-87-3105 (fax 0259-87-3173) |
| Main brand | Hokusetsu (北雪) |
| Official website | https://sake-hokusetsu.com/ |
| Brewery tours | Available (booking required by the day before; free; 15–20 minutes. There are days in winter when tours cannot be given) |
| Tasting | Free, in the tasting corner after the tour |
| List of stockists | Published (checked on October 27, 2026) |
| English support | No English official page (only a switch to machine translation) |