Midorikawa Honjōzō

Midorikawa Honjōzō (緑川 本醸) is made with Gohyakumangoku and Hokuriku 12 rice varieties milled to 60%. It is Midorikawa's flagship sake, produced with a marginal amount of brewing alcohol, achieving a carefully balanced profile that preserves a subtle yet refined umami within its light and clean character. The sake offers a deep and nuanced flavour, with a well-calibrated harmony between crispness and savoury depth. It is well-suited to be served either chilled or gently warmed, depending on preference.

Midorikawa Brewery (緑川酒蔵), located in Uonuma's former Koide Town—an area famed for its pure rivers and quality rice—was founded in 1884 and relocated in 1990 to its current site surrounded by fields and mountains. This move, led by fifth-generation president Ōhira Toshiharu (大平俊治), was driven entirely by the superior local water: soft, low in iron, and abundant. The brewery uses its own well water and has constructed a fully temperature-controlled facility, which was uncommon at the time, to allow for low-temperature ageing that preserves freshness and refines flavour.

The brewery is known for its rigorous cleanliness and organisation, with tools precisely stored and operations regularly reviewed by outside experts. It uses only Niigata-grown rice, especially the rare Hokuriku No. 12 (北陸12号), revived from seed by the previous generation. Midorikawa partners with approximately twenty local farms, fostering long-term relationships to ensure the highest quality of produce.

Midorikawa has no website, mail-order sales, or sales team; instead, it entrusts its sake only to trusted authorised dealers. This service distribution system was developed over five years in the 1990s and remains unchanged. The brewery's sake is understated in both aroma and flavour, made to complement meals with elegance and subtlety—qualities the brewery has quietly championed for over a century.