The umeshu, or Japanese plum wine, is made by soaking plums produced in Aichi Prefecture and high-quality rock sugar in Toshun Shuzo’s sake.
The brewery was founded in 1865 in Nagoya City. The plum wine is made primarily from sake brewed with the ancient “Yamahai” yeast starter method and uses three kinds of plums grown by an orchard in Kasugai City, a town next to the brewery. Then, the liqueur is left to mature for one year to bring out a complex, deep flavor. The refreshing fruity aroma of the plums and the rich umami flavors of the sake create a perfect harmony. A gold award winner of the Japan Umeshu Competition 2021, it is a masterpiece which the “toji” brew master recommends with confidence. With an alcohol content of 11%, the plum wine has a mild taste that can be enjoyed on its own as well as on the rocks or with soda.
“Azumaryu,” the representative brand of the brewery, is named after its founder Tobei Sato and the Azure Dragon, a guardian of the east. While mechanization has taken over sake production in recent years, Toshun Shuzo remains true to the traditional Yamahai approach, which omits the “yama-oroshi” step of rice grinding. Using subsoil water produced in the Kiso Three Rivers (Kiso Sansen), the brewery is committed to make sake with rich umami and crisp taste such as the Junmai Ginjo Sake.