[Grand Prize] Sugino Mori Brewery

As the revitalization project was launched in 2020, Sandberg Hiroshi, the CEO of Kiraku Co., Ltd., which handles business revitalization consulting services throughout the country, including revitalizing Kyoto-machiya inns and creating luxury accommodation facilities that have been fully renovated from old Japanese houses in Miyazaki Prefecture.

Initially, the plan for revitalizing Suginomori Sake Brewery was to make it an accommodation and restaurant that sells its hot spring facilities that make use of the atmosphere of the sake brewery. However, Sandberg put up a wait there.

Sandberg, who was in charge of business revitalization, began working on reconstructing the existing sake brewing environment, which is a division of labor for a large group, and is prepared in the winter.

The area of ​​the workshop has been reduced to one-third of the previous model, and the tanks have been reduced to a smaller size, creating an integrated production system where all processes can be supervised by a master brewer. Furthermore, the refrigerator has created a winter environment, when the preparation period is occurring, and the "Four Seasonal Brewing System" that can be produced all year round has been adopted, creating an environment where small lots of sake can be produced in high quality and value-added. This is an innovative system that is not bound by common sense, and only reached by entry from different industries.

In addition to the environment where the altitude is about 940m and the charm of being able to brew sake using his own initiative, Irie was interested in the fact that since its founding in 1793, landscapes have traditionally been used as a pre-built water. He says he felt the possibilities in its deep flavor.

Similarly, Sandberg shares the charm of landscapes and waters like this.

"The taste and water temperature of the wells, which are commonly used in sake brewing, are constant, but the landscape and water change depending on the season. The season when the snow melts is fresh and delicious, and the summer water is rich in minerals, which can be said to be the blessing of the earth. I thought that the change with each preparation is due to the brand's unique personality."

The bottle design uses direct printing to improve the efficiency of sticking stickers and other items on the bottle. The graphic, which gives off a sense of the mountain range and the company's name, cedar forest, is based on the woodworking that was on the walls of the building, and is printed in black ink on a black bottle, expressing a stoic worldview that is not too assertive.

It is also available in star-story restaurants and luxury hotels in Tokyo, and to expand the group of sake drinkers, we are taking on the challenge of combining it with not only Japanese food but also French cuisine.

In addition, a major feature is that you can see the sake brewing process from the restaurant at the attached accommodation facility. We are committed to designing as a "stopping sake brewery" with the introduction of a tank with a matte texture with a greenish black color inspired by the cedar forest.

▲The restaurant has a unique space where the lighting fixtures of Ichito Bottle, which were once used to prepare sake, drop from the ceiling of the atrium. Even if you are not a guest, you can enjoy a meal while enjoying the sake brewed in a "stolen sake brewery."

"In the Kiso area, where forestry is already popular, traditional wooden wooden houses and wooden barrel shops still remain. Even if they break, they are working hard and repaired, and I feel that by using them, we can now spread the word as an industry, including the Naraijuku cityscape," Irie said.