Sasanokawashuzo was founded in Koriyama-shi, Fukushima, in 1765. It has been gaining more than 250 years experience of spirit making. The company didn’t register officially until 200 years later. The founder at the time discovered that the farmers in the village wasting too much grains due to overproduction and inappropriate storage. He started to purchase their leftover grains and manufacture homemade spirit to sell in the neighborhood. Because it started from a spirit of helping the need, there was no plan or idea of establishing a company to make big profit. This homemade business model has lasted for nearly 200 years, and finally set up Sasanokawashuzo. The whisky is named after the post code which is the location of the company as a reminder of the spirit of the brand and company.
The Japan blended whisky is very popular in Japan after World War II, and it is the time which the popular ‘highball’ emerged. “Highball” indicates a style of drinking blended whisky with sparkling water and ice. It is a very refreshing drinking style, and easy to go with all kind of food. Sasanokawashuzo applied the license of whisky making in 1964, and started distillation. However, like other family style and small spirit makers in Japan, it had to stop whisky distillation due to the national economy crisis in the 1990s.
Yuzulu distillery was forced to close in 2004, and the grandson of the founder, Ichiro Akuto, couldn’t bear to witness all the establishments by his grandfather are gone and decided to purchase all the casks. However, it is necessary to have a permit to be able to reserve any wines or spirits under the Japanese law. The Akuto family had already sold the distillery and lost the permit at the same time. Sasanokawashuzo was very generous to lend the sake plant to Ichiro Akuto to reserve the casks of Yuzulu distillery. These casks are the famous Yuzulu Poker Collection. There is no existence of the collection if there is no generosity of Sasanokawashuzo.
Sasanokawashuzo carry mutual help spirit since 1975, and launched 963 blended whisky in 2016. 963 is a fusion of local distilleries in Japan, and the number ‘963’ is the post code of Sasanokawashuzo. It symbolizes the time when the helpless Ichiro Akuto saw the number and got help from the company. All the 963 items are no chill filtered, no colouring, and 100% represent the authenticity of the whisky which is like the original warm spirit of the company.
