Kyokko Junmai Nasu Sansui

The Kyokkō Junmai Nasu Sansui (旭興 純米 那須山水) is a junmaishu (pure rice sake) sold in the local tourist shops and Michi-no-Eki (道の駅) stores of Tochigi Prefecture. It is prepared using locally (rice polishing rate 60%) and has a light taste typical of pure rice as well as a dry taste that allows feeling the umami and the lactic acid of the rice. It can be consumed chilled, at room temperature, or heated.

The Watanabe Sake Brewery (渡邉酒造) is a small Tochigi sake brewery located in the village of Susagi in the Yamizo Mountains in Otawara City (formerly Kuroha Town). The brewery is one of Tochigi's best-known breweries and has achieved excellent results every year in the National New Sake Competition, as well as in the Nanbu Tōji Home-brewed Sake Competition, which has a history of around 100 years. The brewery's young managing director, Watanabe Hidenori, is a master brewer with a great sense of style, using limpid brewing water from the subsoil of the Takemogawa River flowing from Mount Yamizo, high-quality local rice, and a cool climate that drops to -10°C or lower during the cold season. It is overwhelmingly popular in the local area. About 90 per cent of its production is consumed in the northern part of the prefecture, including Kuroba, and it is a rare brew that cannot be found outside the prefecture, even in southern Tochigi.