Fukuda Brewery

Fukuda Brewery is a traditional sake and shōchū producer operating at the southern tip of Hirado Island. Situated at the base of Mt. Byōbu and directly facing Shijiki Bay, the complex features traditional, white-walled storehouses that contrast with the deep blue of the nearby harbour. Inside the production facilities, historic timber framing stands alongside modern, temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks installed to protect the sake from the region’s warm coastal climate.

You can sample and purchase a wide variety of regional beverages, as the facility processes local agricultural products into both sake and distilled shōchū. The signature sake lineup features Fukutsuru, a rich and sweet brand crafted to complement the intensely seasoned seafood dishes of the Nagasaki coast, alongside Nagasaki Bijin, a premium variety that frequently earns top marks in national tasting competitions. Reflecting the local landscape, the Fukuumi series utilizes organic rice grown directly in the island’s mountain terraces and is brewed to capture a clean profile with a natural, subtle effervescence. The label features the distinctive peak of nearby Mt. Shijiki.

Beyond sake, the producer distils Capitan, a barley shōchū aged for ten years in oak casks until it’s achieved an amber hue, and Jagatara Oharu, a spirit unique to the region made from locally harvested potatoes. The brewery also produces Cocks, an affordable, unfiltered sweet potato shōchū available in limited batches.

Brewing at this site began in 1688 during the Edo period, when the original founder, Fukuda Chōjibē, received a formal liquor-making license from the ruler of the Hirado Domain. For over three centuries, the business has remained within the same family, currently managed by the fifteenth generation of the Fukuda line. The coastal environment has dictated production methods since the seventeenth century, relying on sea breezes off Shishiki Bay to naturally cool the storehouses during the winter brewing months. While early production focused entirely on meeting local demand for sake within the feudal domain, the operation didn’t remain confined to traditional products, gradually incorporating Western barrel-aging methods and using regional crops like sweet potatoes, which traders first brought to the port of Hirado.

Onsite, a dedicated two-storey museum preserves the deep historical connection between the brewery’s products and Nagasaki’s maritime past. The choice of names for the distilled shōchū highlights specific historical figures from this era. The potato spirit, Jagatara Oharu, is named after a young woman from Nagasaki who was deported to Jakarta in 1639 under the isolationist decrees of the Tokugawa shogunate, leaving behind poignant letters inked onto fabric that detailed her exile. Similarly, the aged barley shōchū, Capitan, derives its name from the Dutch word kapitein, the title used by locals to address the chief factor of the Dutch East India Company trading post based on Hirado Island during the seventeenth century. The colourfully labelled Cocks brand honours Richard Cocks, the head of the British trading post in Hirado, who famously introduced sweet potato cultivation to the island’s shores in 1615. Today, the operation actively supports local ecology by converting its leftover distilling mash into organic fertilizer for the farmers who supply the brewery with raw ingredients.