LIBROM is one of the most exciting stories coming out from the craft Sake world.

Founded by two high school soccer friends, they've very interestingly set their sights on bringing Sake-making to Italy, yet life had other plans.

Yagyu (left) and Anami (right).

Whilst being students, Yagyu and Anami, had spent time in Europe, with their childhood dream of playing soccer professionally there. Yet they would later conclude that it would be more meaningful for them to bring a slice of Japanese culture to Italy, where there was still a nascent understanding of the country's traditions and way of life. The pair would spend four years training in Sake-making, and would call their endeavour LIBROM, which is a combination of the words "Liberta" and "Romanzo", which are taken to mean "Freedom" and "Romance" in the Italian language.

By the time they had completed Sake training in May 2020, the Covid pandemic had hit, and thus there was no possibility of going over to Italy to fulfil their dreams. They would thus start their microbrewery in in their hometown of Takasago, Chuo-ku, Fukuoka, honing their skills until the world had opened up again.

Just one problem - the duo would discover a huge obstacle in obtaining a Sake making license insofar as they were based in Japan. As Japan is currently home to close to 2,000 Sake breweries, the local government has significantly limited the ability for new entrants to add to the huge list of Sake breweries already in existence, for fear of over-saturation. This was where some inventiveness and out-of-the-box thinking would do Yagyu and Anami well! 

The pair realised that if they added additional ingredients to their Sake, thereby making a finished Sake, and unlike traditional Sake, they could obtain a license more easily under the category of "Other Brewed Alcohol". This category would prove to become the most exciting category in Japan's otherwise traditional Sake brewing scene in recent years, with the re-emergence of long discarded old school Sake styles from Doburoku (unfiltered Sake which contains a significant amount of rice mash) to hopped Sakes (which have hops flowers added to it, much like that of beer).

This was right down LIBROM's alley of not just embracing a "free brewing style", but also to create a Sake that had a more modern feel to it, one that deviated away from the otherwise traditional mainstay styles. Together, they would produce over 50 expressions and counting, making use of locally sourced produce and typically in collaboration with local farmers and food producers. At LIBROM you can find everything from Fruit finished Sakes to Flower finished Sakes as well as incorporating non-traditional ingredients like Hawthorn, Shiso, Cacao, Tea and Verbena. The possibilities are truly quite endless. These ingredients are added during the brewing process and fermented along with the rice mash to achieve the finished Sake.

Their microbrewery is located near to Tenjin, close to the city center, and would be adjoined by a brewpub that serves dishes that are paired with any one of an array of LIBROM's craft sakes. Some of the dishes at the brewpub includes Sake ingredients such as in the Sake Lees Cream Croquette.

In 2024, the duo announced that they had finally achieved their goal of making Sake in Italy. Through the collaboration with a winery in Barbaresco, they would operate out of the winery, and in turn teach European winemakers how to make koji.

But for today, we're going to try LIBROM's Strawberry craft sake!

In Fukuoka, strawberries are also called "Amaou" (an acronym for "red, round, big and delicious" in Japanese), and is a highly regarded premium fruit that is sweet and slightly dry. The Amaou used in this expression comes from the Uruu Farm in Kurume City, Fukuoka, where it is specially cultivated to high organic standards. LIBROM first froze the Amaou strawberries and then subsequently blended them before adding it to the moromi, which is then fermented. 

Let's go!

LIBROM Strawberry | LIBROM リブロム ストロベリー 無濾過生原酒 - Review

Tasting Notes

Color: Hazy White

Aroma: It starts with a milky yogurt scent, along with a rustic yeastiness and some light vegetal hops, almost reminiscent of a Helles lager.

Taste: Higher toned strawberry candy, backed up by more rice mash. There's abit of savouriness and packs abit of heat. It's a really interesting combo of high toned fruit bubblegum and then also that deep, rich sweetness of rice pudding.

Finish: Clean finish, really smooth, light receding sweetness of the rice mash, deep warmth.

My Thoughts

This was very interesting and very tasty, I honestly did not know what to expect, but here was a very approachable and sessionable combo of strawberry bubblegum and rice pudding - does that not sound like a damn good combo?

On the nose, it's got this rustic and raw quality that reminded me of traditional Bavarian lagers, the sort you find in a Brauhaus during Oktoberfest. The palate was rich and fruity but also because it's really smooth and drinkable, it passes pretty quickly so multiple sips are in order to nail down that higher toned strawberry bubblegum. I did really enjoy that contrast of fruity bubblegum and richer and denser rice pudding that made it feel fuller in flavour spectrum. It's got a nice clean finish with that classic Sake deep rice mash sweetness that is just chefs kiss.

Definitely keep a look out for LIBROM - whatever you think of Sake, change your mind.

Kanpai!

@111hotpot