[Breaking News] Niizawa Brewery Wins IWC "Sake Brewer of the Year" for Fourth Consecutive Year!

Among the winners, NIIZAWA SAKE BREWERY, one of our business partners who produces HAKURAKUSEI, ATAGO NO MATSU, ZANKYO, and REIKYO, has been awarded "Sake Brewer of the Year" for the fourth consecutive year in 2022, 2023, 2024, and now 2025!

Additionally, "Sake Prefecture of the Year," awarded to prefectures where multiple entered breweries achieved excellent overall results, was given to Miyagi Prefecture, home base of NIIZAWA SAKE BREWERY.

What is IWC (The International Wine Challenge) ?

The International Wine Challenge (IWC) is one of the world's most prestigious blind tasting competitions, established in 1984 and held annually in London.

The SAKE category, introduced in 2007, has grown exponentially and is now the largest and most influential Japanese sake competition held outside of Japan.

The 2025 SAKE category is divided into ten categories: "Futsu-shu," "Junmai," "Junmai Ginjo," "Junmai Daiginjo," "Honjozo," "Ginjo," "Daiginjo," "Sparkling," "Koshu," and "Aged."

This year, 1,476 entries were submitted, and 153 were awarded gold medals through blind tasting.

The "Sake Brewer of the Year" award given to NIIZAWA SAKE BREWERY is presented to the brewery whose entries receive the highest overall evaluations.

NIIZAWA SAKE BREWERY's Gold Medal Sake

The following 19 products from NIIZAWA SAKE BREWERY won Gold Medals.All products are available through our company, so please consider this opportunity to explore these award-winning sakes:

(★ indicates Trophy winners)

Honjozo Category

• ★ATAGO NO MATSU Special Honjozo
• ★ATAGO NO MATSU Prefectural Honjozo
• ATAGO NO MATSU Honjozo Extra Dry

Junmai Daiginjo Category

• HAKURAKUSEI Michiba Rokuzaburo Junmai Daiginjo 2024
• HAKURAKUSEI Michiba Rokuzaburo Junmai Daiginjo 2023
• ZANKYO Junmai Daiginjo Super7 2023
• NIIZAWA Junmai Daiginjo 7% 2023
• ★NIIZAWA KIZASHI Junmai Daiginjo 7% 2021
• NIIZAWA KIZASHI Junmai Daiginjo 7% 2023
• REIKYO Junmai Daiginjo Absolute 0 2022
• REIKYO Junmai Daiginjo Absolute 0 2024

Aged Sake Categor

• ★ZANKYO Junmai Daiginjo Super7 2018
• ZANKYO Junmai Daiginjo Super7 2019
• ★NIIZAWA Junmai Daiginjo 7% 2018
• NIIZAWA Junmai Daiginjo 7% 2019
• NIIZAWA Junmai Daiginjo 7% 2020
• NIIZAWA KIZASHI Junmai Daiginjo 7% 2019
• NIIZAWA KIZASHI Junmai Daiginjo 7% 2020
• REIKYO Junmai Daiginjo Absolute 0 2019

For a full list of the Gold Medal and Trophy-winning sakes announced in May, please visit the official IWC website.

︎▶︎Official IWC website here

Congratulations to all the winners!

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