Kenbishi

Kenbishi Shuzo Co., Ltd. (or simply Kenbishi) is a brewery headquartered in Higashinada-ku, Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, and is the brewery of the "Kenbishi" sake series. It is a long-established company that has been in business for more than 500 years.

Overview
Headquartered in Mikage-gō, one of the Five Villages of Nada, it is nicknamed Kenbishi. Documents from the end of the Edo period (Bakumatsu) record that the company has its roots in Inadera-ya, which was founded in Itami in 1505 (2nd year of Eisho). Inadera-ya's sake was also highly regarded in Edo, but it is unknown when it came to be called Kenbishi. In 1929, it moved to its current location in Higashinada Ward. For a while, the company's reputation was greatly damaged by its OEM (oke buying) practice, wherein it bought sake from other companies and sold it under its own brand, but it regained its reputation by manufacturing and selling sake in-house again.

The traditional manufacturing method, called Kan-zukuri, is still followed, starting from late autumn and leaving the ingredients to rest from early spring to autumn. Combined with casks made of Yoshino cedar, it is characterized by its rich flavor and sharp mouthfeel.

In addition to casks, Kenbishi still uses a lot of wooden products that have been used since ancient times in the manufacture and sale of sake, such as warm air barrels and sake barrels. In Japan's sake industry in general, wooden products have been replaced by metal and resin products and glass bottles, making wooden ones difficult to obtain. For this reason, the brewery established a new factory dedicated to the maintenance and production of wooden sake utensils and straw rope on the land adjacent to the Hamakura Plant. They also undertake orders from other sake and soy sauce companies.

Honjozo sake

 * (Selected) Kenbishi
 * Kuromatsu Kenbishi
 * Top-quality Kuromatsu Kenbishi

Pure rice sake

 * Zuisho Kuromatsu Kenbishi (old sake blend, winter limited product)
 * Mizuho Kuromatsu Kenbishi