While Waiting for a Brewery to Be Rebuilt｜Collaborative Brewing in Noto and Sogen

Bacchus Global (BG) previously carried Sogen, a sake from Suzu, Ishikawa Prefecture. Unfortunately, the work required for recovery meant that exports to BG could no longer continue, and we were unable to keep carrying it.

The Noto Peninsula Earthquake on January 1, 2024, caused severe damage to many sake breweries on the peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture. Some were unable to proceed with their brewing plans. Meanwhile, initiatives emerged that allowed producers to continue making sake with help from other breweries while their own facilities were unusable. This is “collaborative brewing.”

Where and how do producers continue working while waiting for their buildings to be rebuilt? In considering Noto’s recovery, it is worth looking at the work that continues while rebuilding is still under way.

Producers Brew at Another Brewery

One form of collaborative brewing involves producers from a disaster-affected brewery taking part in brewing using a host brewery’s equipment. Cooperation spread among breweries within and beyond Ishikawa under the call “#能登の酒を止めるな！” (“Don’t let Noto’s sake stop!”).

One example is the partnership between Tsuruno Shuzoten, which makes Taniizumi in Noto Town, and Fukumitsuya in Kanazawa. After its brewery was completely destroyed, Tsuruno Shuzoten began collaborative brewing at Fukumitsuya in 2024.

Fukumitsuya’s published account for 2025 states that Yukiko Tsuruno, the toji, or head brewer, traveled to Fukumitsuya almost every day and took responsibility for every stage. While waiting for the brewery to be rebuilt, the producer continued brewing with different equipment. This involved both borrowing facilities and enabling the producer to keep working.

That year, the two breweries also tried brewing with rice processed using a “flat-polishing” method that neither had used before. Flat polishing mills rice into a flatter shape. Together, they explored how to achieve the intended aromas and flavors with that rice. Experiments looking ahead to life after reconstruction were also taking place within the daily work of brewing.

A sake studies report published in 2026 also describes collaborative brewing as extending beyond taking over production: it supported the sharing of technical and management knowledge, and helped sustain distribution and cash flow. The report is based on records of a seminar featuring people involved in the initiatives, drawing on individual experiences to examine how mutual support worked.

Bringing Rescued Yeast into the Next Brew

In 2026, the third year of collaborative brewing, another development was reported. Sake was brewed at Fukumitsuya using yeast rescued from Tsuruno Shuzoten’s collapsed brewery.

Yeast is a microorganism that converts sugar into alcohol. For this initiative, researchers from the Industrial Research Institute of Ishikawa and Ishikawa Prefectural University reportedly worked together to select yeast with strong fermentation activity from around ten types that had been rescued.

Rescuing what remained in the brewery and using it to make sake in practice were separate tasks. Researchers and people from both breweries connected the two. However, retaining the yeast alone does not automatically recreate the same sake as before. Brewing decisions still have to account for the equipment and conditions.

Being Able to Make Sake and Being Able to Deliver It

Sogen Shuzo is also restoring its own brewery. In an official update in October 2026, it reported that restoration of the exterior walls of the Heisei Kura building had been completed and that brewing for the current season had begun. Meanwhile, work was continuing at the landslide site on the hillside behind the brewery, and parts of the brewery still required repairs.

The start of this season’s brewing does not mean that all repairs to the facilities or recovery work in the surrounding area are complete. Our experience of interrupted exports to BG also reminds us that the start of this season’s brewing and the resumption of exports to BG are distinct developments.

Both breweries participating in collaborative brewing and those restarting production at their own facilities are continuing their work under different conditions. The simple statement “Noto’s sake is back” makes those differences difficult to see.

We cannot promise here when we might be able to carry Sogen again. Even so, we can continue sharing the background of a sake we once carried, even after it has stopped reaching us. Some are brewing at another brewery; others are repairing their own. From Bangkok, too, we want to keep sight of their continuing work.

This article provides educational and cultural information about joint brewing and brewery recovery in Noto, including Tsuruno Shuzoten, Fukumitsuya and Sogen Shuzo. It does not promote the purchase or consumption of alcohol. Intended for readers aged 20 and over.

บทความนี้นำเสนอข้อมูลเพื่อการศึกษาและวัฒนธรรมเกี่ยวกับการร่วมผลิตสาเกและการฟื้นฟูโรงสาเกในโนโตะ รวมถึง Tsuruno Shuzoten, Fukumitsuya และ Sogen Shuzo มิได้มีเจตนาส่งเสริมการซื้อหรือการบริโภคเครื่องดื่มแอลกอฮอล์ สำหรับผู้อ่านอายุ 20 ปีขึ้นไป