Kid

Surrounded by mountains in Kainan City near Wakayama, Heiwa Shuzo was founded in 1928. The site where the brewery is located had been used as a temple for over 500 years before the establishment of this brewery. Heiwa Shuzo is situated in a valley surrounded by mountains; the area is blessed with high precipitation, which results in a boundless supply of good quality soft spring water, perfect for brewing sake.

Fourth generation Toji Norimasa Yamamoto returned to the family brewery with a passion for bringing sake into the new world. Yamamoto-san graduated from Kyoto University with a degree in economics, with an aim and mission to earn a great reputation for his family’s brewery. The birth of the Kid name comes from combing the Kishu 紀州 name of the area with fudo 風土(environment) into Kido 紀土. And this was shortened to “Kid”. This whimsical name captures the spirit of the brand; Kid is young, upcoming, and ambitious. It is also the only sake brewery to have ever gone into space: their big project in 2019 was to create a sake that could be used as rocket fuel.

The ‘Tsuru-ume’ range was created to reflect the quality of the many local products available in Wakayama. Working directly with famers of products Wakayama is known for—Ume and Yuzu—allows Heiwa Shuzo to secure some of the finest fruit in the country. Wakayama’s Ume production accounts for 40% of all Ume grown in Japan and is considered the finest Ume fruit source in Japan. Citrus fruit such as lemon, yuzu and mikan are also grown locally and used to make products in the ‘Tsuru-ume’ range.