Kubota Sagaminada Tokubetsu Honjōzō

Kubota Sagaminada Tokubetsu Honjōzō (相模灘 特別本醸造) is made of Miyamanishiki rice from Nagano, polished to 60% and No. 9 yeast. It is one of the few Sagaminada honjōzō-type sake, but it is brewed completely by hand, following the same elaborate ginjō brewing process that is also used for daiginjō. It has an excellent rice flavour and transparency typical of Sagaminada. In winter, there is a limited shipment of its namazake version available.

Founded in 1844, Kubota Brewery is located along a tributary of the Sagami River, about ten kilometres deep into the mountains from the centre of Sagamihara City in north-western Kanagawa Prefecture. It is blessed with a relatively cool climate due to its mountainous location in the Kanto region. The brewery has been a wooden warehouse since the company's founding, and sake is brewed from October to March using the traditional cold brewing method rather than all year round. The temperature usually drops below freezing from December to February, when sake brewing is at its peak, to encourage long-term fermentation at low temperatures, which is essential for ginjo-style brewing. A dense forest grows to the south of the brewery, protecting it from direct sunlight throughout the year, so the temperature fluctuates steadily from daytime to nighttime.

The brewery uses spring water from the Tanzawa mountains to produce its Sagaminada sake. The brewery's area remains as rich in nature as it was when founded, with bamboo groves, wild vegetables in spring, and fireflies flitting about in summer. It has been used as a filming location for movies. Sagaminada's sake brewing is based on the basic ginjō style, but the ginjō aroma is only mild and natural.

Kubota offers brewery tours by prior arrangement. The number of visitors at any one time is limited to a maximum of thirty people. The tour lasts about twenty minutes and is followed by a tasting and sale at the shop next to the brewery. The tour, including tasting and sale, will take about one hour.