To hear Jim Rion tell it, Ohmine Shuzo in Yamaguchi Prefecture is less a sake brewery and more a sake industry black box a la Willy Wonka¡¯s enigmatic chocolate factory.

Staffed by ¡°staff dressed in chic black designer uniforms,¡± the premises look like ¡°a modernist rice museum,¡± and they offer tastings but not tours. The head brewer¡¯s name is not public. The company history written on the cafe signboard consists of a terse seven words: ¡°Born. Dead. Reborn. Against Sake World.¡± Their PR department will only provide generic, unsatisfying statements about their junmai-»å²¹¾±²µ¾±²ÔÂᨭ sake.

Discovering Yamaguchi Sake: A Taster¡¯s Guide to Breweries, Culture, and Terrain, by Jim Rion.228 pagesSTONE BRIDGE PRESS, Nonfiction.