Who will enjoy this brewery
- People who would like to try sake with a fruity aroma and sweetness, and a relatively low alcohol content
- People who want to buy local sake during a trip through Niigata, at places such as Niigata Station or Echigo-Yuzawa (the brewery has not published whether it accepts regular brewery tours)
- People interested in the spring-water scenery of a snowy mountain town
About Naeba Shuzo
Naeba Shuzo (苗場酒造) is a brewery in Tsunan (中魚沼郡津南町), Niigata Prefecture. It was founded in 1907 (Meiji 40). It has three brands: “Yukinomayu (ゆきのまゆ)”, which has become the brewery’s signature; “Mizen (深然)”, made with two-stage mashing; and “Naebasan (苗場山)”, which has long been drunk locally.
Naeba Shuzo has not published whether it accepts regular brewery tours (checked on October 27, 2026). There are days when the brewery opens its doors for a brewery festival (蔵祭り), and its sake is sold through the brewery’s official online shop and by authorized retailers (tokuyakuten, liquor stores that deal directly with the brewery) across Japan.
A town where the brewery is buried in snow, and famous water
Tsunan is an area of very heavy snowfall, where in winter the brewery is buried in snow from top to bottom. In February 2022, the snow reached a depth of 4 meters 19 centimeters.
This snow creates the town’s water. Mount Naeba (苗場山, 2,145 m above sea level), one of the 日本百名山 (the “100 Famous Japanese Mountains”), has high-altitude moorland spread across its summit, which turns into a single expanse of snow in winter. That abundant snow gives rise to clear underground water, including the pond “Ryugakubo”, known as one of the 100 Remarkable Waters of Japan (名水百選). The brewery’s name and the brand “Naebasan” are taken from this mountain.
The brewery’s sake has been made with this underground water and the Niigata-grown sake rice “Gohyakumangoku”, using the skills of the Echigo toji (越後杜氏), Niigata’s guild of master brewers.
Sake not mashed in three stages
Sake is usually made by “sandan-jikomi (three-stage mashing)”, in which rice koji, steamed rice and water are added in three separate additions. Naeba Shuzo’s “Yukinomayu” is made by “ichidan-jikomi (single-stage mashing)”, which does this in just one addition. Because it is pressed at an early stage of fermentation, its alcohol content is relatively low, around 14%, and the sweetness of the rice and the bright aroma produced early in fermentation remain. It is a way of brewing that needs a lot of rice and can only make a small amount at a time.
Yukinomayu has two more rules.
- Nama genshu: It is based on “nama genshu (unpasteurized, undiluted sake)”, which is neither pasteurized (hiire) nor diluted with water. Namazake keeps changing in flavor even in the bottle. There are also pasteurized products (→ Namazake)
- Bag pressing: Instead of using a pressing machine, the moromi (fermenting mash) is put into bags and pressed. The final portion, “seme (the part squeezed out under pressure at the end)”, is not pressed out but left as sake lees. The brewery distills those sake lees to make “Yukinomayu” honkaku shochu as well (→ Sake lees)
Yukinomayu was originally sold under the name “Kamosu Mori (醸す森)”, and the name was changed to “Yukinomayu” on October 1, 2024. The way it is made, its taste and its price have not changed. If you see “Kamosu Mori” in a store or in older materials, it is the former name of the same sake.
The main products are the following three, each available as namazake and as pasteurized sake (checked on October 27, 2026).
- Junmai Daiginjo Yamada Nishiki 40 — a “junmai daiginjo”, made only from rice, rice koji and water, with half or more of the outer part of the rice polished away. It uses Yamada Nishiki grown in Hyogo Prefecture
- Junmai Daiginjo — also a junmai daiginjo. Its namazake is the sweetest type in the series
- Junmai Ginjo — a “junmai ginjo”, made only from rice, rice koji and water, with 40% or more of the outer part of the rice polished away, and fermented slowly at a low temperature. Its pasteurized product is the type with the strongest acidity in the series
Since 2024, 武田翔太, who was born in Tsunan in 1995, has served as the toji (master brewer, the person responsible for sake brewing), entrusted with all the brewing throughout the year. In July 2024, a new brewery building where sake can be brewed all year was completed.
Visiting the brewery
The brewery has not published whether it accepts tours
Naeba Shuzo has not published whether it accepts regular brewery tours (checked on October 27, 2026). The brewery’s (company’s) business hours are 9:00–17:00, and it is closed on Wednesdays and Sundays. The brewery has a shop, but the shop’s opening days and hours have not been published separately. Please check with the brewery by phone (025-765-2011) before visiting.
The brewery festival
The brewery holds a brewery festival (蔵祭り) with tastings, sales of limited products, fill-a-bag sake lees (as much as fits for a set price) and more. In 2026 it was held on March 14 and 15, and on October 10 and 11 (the 27th festival), and in March there were also tours of the brewing building and the new brewery building. The brewery’s own parking lot could not be used, and visitors were directed to another company’s parking lot. Please check the next dates in the news section of the brewery’s official website.
Getting there
Address: 〒949-8201 新潟県中魚沼郡津南町下船渡戊555
- By train: About 1.8 km, about 4 minutes by car, from JR Tsunan Station. Please check the trains, including the last trains there and back, on the JR East timetable
- By car: About 26 km, about 37 minutes, from the Shiozawa-Ishiuchi Interchange on the 関越自動車道 expressway
Travel times are the brewery’s own estimates (checked on October 27, 2026). If you are driving, please do not taste. In Japan, drunk driving is prohibited by law.
Opening days and tour arrangements may change. Please check the brewery’s official information before visiting.
Where to buy Naeba Shuzo’s sake
The brewery publishes more than 200 authorized retailers across Japan on its official website’s list of authorized retailers. For each store, the list gives “常時お取り扱い商品 (products the store regularly stocks)”. From the list, we have picked stores that are easy to stop by during a trip (checked on October 27, 2026).
| Area | Store | Address | Phone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Niigata Station | ぽんしゅ館 新潟驛店 | 新潟市中央区花園 CoCoLo新潟メッツ館 | 025-240-7090 |
| Echigo-Yuzawa | 長田屋 | 南魚沼郡湯沢町湯沢 | 025-784-2132 |
| 十日町 | 道の駅クロステン十日町 | 十日町市本町 | 025-757-2323 |
| Tsunan (the brewery’s hometown) | 茂富屋商店 | 中魚沼郡津南町下船渡 | 025-765-2241 |
| Tokyo Station | リカーズハセガワ本店 | 東京都中央区八重洲 八重洲地下街 | 03-3271-8747 |
| Ginza | 日本酒ブティック GINN | 東京都中央区銀座 | 03-6278-7536 |
| Kyoto | 福島酒店 | 京都市北区 | 075-492-3712 |
| Osaka | 地酒のマルタカ | 大阪市天王寺区 | 06-4305-8805 |
Stores in other areas can be narrowed down by prefecture in the list. The list says that some stores carry the brewery’s brands other than their “常時お取り扱い商品”, and asks customers to contact each store directly about stock.
The brewery’s official online shop gives shipping fees only for delivery within Japan (free shipping for orders of 10,000 yen or more, tax included; checked on October 27, 2026).
Before you buy
- 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 | 苗場酒造株式会社 (Naeba Shuzo) |
| Founded | September 23, 1907 (Meiji 40) |
| Representative | Representative Director 新保光栄 |
| Toji | 武田翔太 |
| Address | 〒949-8201 新潟県中魚沼郡津南町下船渡戊555 Open in Google Maps |
| Phone | 025-765-2011 (fax 025-765-5100). 9:00–17:00, closed on Wednesdays and Sundays |
| Main brands | Yukinomayu (ゆきのまゆ), Mizen (深然), Naebasan (苗場山) |
| Official website | https://www.naebasan.com/ |
| Brewery tours | Whether regular tours are accepted has not been published. Tours have been offered on brewery festival days (checked on October 27, 2026) |
| Brewery shop | The brewery has a shop. Its opening days and hours have not been published separately |
| List of stockists | Published (checked on October 27, 2026) |
| English support | No English official page (machine-translation switching only) |