Fifteen years ago, Akihiko Sugawara began dreaming of sunken treasure. The fourth-generation president of Otokoyama Honten sake brewery in the town of Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, he was captivated by tales of ancient wine bottles discovered in shipwrecked boats.
“I’d also heard that wineries were aging wine underwater, and that the results were fantastic,” he recalls.
Soon, Sugawara started to contemplate whether sake could also be matured under the sea. He already knew of cave-aged sake in Tochigi Prefecture, and of bottles being stored in yukimuro — warehouses kept cool with packed snow — in northern regions such as Niigata Prefecture. How, he wondered, might the gentle currents in the cold, crystalline waters off the coast of Kesennuma affect the development of the company’s elegant Sotenden lineup of brews?