Chiyonosono Junmai Kumamon

Chiyonosono Junmai Kumamon (千代の園 純米 くまモン) is brewed with Kumamoto yeast, Kumamoto rice, and the traditional Kumamoto tōji technique. It has a gentle, refreshing taste with a dry, crisp quality that goes well with Japanese food and meat dishes. Its richness and depth of flavour, so characteristic of junmai sake, make it an excellent heated sake, too.

Chiyonosono Brewery in Yamaga, Kumamoto Prefecture, is home to the Chibusan burial mound and other famous burial mounds. Chiyonosono is one of the few companies in Kumamoto that produces red sake (赤酒 akazake). It was founded in 1896, making it the oldest sake brewer in Yamaga.

Honda Kikuhachi (本田喜久八) was a rice maker who established the sake brewery Yaoya (八百屋) in September 1896. His first son Honada Katsutarō (本田勝太郎), succeeded him. In 1944, Honda Sake Brewery Co., Ltd. was merged with Yoshida (吉田酒造場) and Nishimuta (西牟田酒造場) sake breweries. Katsutarō died in 1945, and Honda Katsutarō III became president. In 1960, the brewery was reorganized into Chiyonosono Sake Brewery Co., Ltd., merging with Chiyoda Co., Ltd. (千代田企業) and Yamakome Co., Ltd. (株式会社ヤマコメ).

In the 1960s, Chiyonosono started focusing on junmai sake. Until the pre-war period, junmai sake, made from 100% rice, was the most common type of sake, but due to rice shortages and rationing during World War II, alcohol was added to junmai sake. In the course of post-war food shortages, the production of junmai was temporarily halted, but in the early 1960s, Katsutarō III began researching junmai sake technology, and in November 1968, the junmai 'Shuhai' (朱盃) was launched.

Chiyonosono produces sake, shochu, akazake, and other alcoholic beverages.

Awards:

• 1989: Gold Medal, Annual Japan Sake Awards
• 1990: Gold Medal, Annual Japan Sake Awards
• 1993: Gold Medal, Annual Japan Sake Awards
• 2004: Gold Medal, Annual Japan Sake Awards
• 2005: Gold Medal, Annual Japan Sake Awards
• 2006: Gold Medal, Annual Japan Sake Awards
• 2008: Gold Medal, Annual Japan Sake Awards
• 2011: Gold Medal, Annual Japan Sake Awards
• 2012: Prize, Annual Japan Sake Awards
• 2012: Kuromatsu: Gold Award, Nurukan Division, Kan Sake Awards. Shuhai: Gold Award, Atsukan Division, Kan Sake Awards
• 2012: Excel Gold, London Sake Challenge
• 2013: Gold Medal, Annual Japan Sake Award
• 2013: Ginjō Kumamoto Shinriki: Gold Award, Atsukan Division, Kan Sake Awards
• 2014: Gold Medal, Annual Japan Sake Awards
• 2015: Gold Medal, Annual Japan Sake Awards
• 2015: Excel: Grand Gold, The Fine Sake Awards Japan
• 2015: Shuhai: Gold Award, Atsukan Division, Kan Sake Awards
• 2016: Award Medal, Annual Japan Sake Awards
• 2016: Excel Gold, The Fine Sake Awards Japan
• 2016: Tokubetsu Honjōzō Sora: Gold Award, Nurukan Division, Kan Sake Awards, Junmai Daiginjō Tsukikasa: Gold Award, Premium Kanzake Division, Kan Sake Awards, Junmai Ginjō Kumamoto Shinriki: Gold Award, Premium Kanzake Division, Kan Sake Awards
• 2017: Prize, Annual Japan Sake Awards
• 2017: Excel Gold, The Fine Sake Awards Japan
• 2017: Tokubetsu Honjōzō Chiyonosono Red Label: Grand Gold, Value Nurukan Division, Kan Sake Awards, Junmai Ginjō Shuhai Getsusen: Gold, Premium Kanzake Division, Kan Sake Awards
• 2017: Junmai Shuhai: Platinum, Junmai Division, Kura Master 2018, Junmai Ginjō Shuhai: Gold, Junmai Ginjō/Junmai Daiginjō Division, Junmai Ginjō Taito: Gold