- Founded
- Ansei era (1854–1860), as its predecessor Kato Shuzoten
- Location
- Mito, Ibaraki
- What they make
- Sake, umeshu, shochu, whisky, gin
- Selected products handled by WAIN99
- Hyakunen Umeshu / Fukushogun / Yukiyazuki / NOEL’S POTION / Annin Miru “Tonshin Ranman”
From one yeast to sake breweries across Japan.
Meiri Shurui traces its roots to the Ansei era at the end of the Edo period, when a toji (master brewer) who had come to Mito from Niigata opened the Kato Shuzoten brewery. The present company took over that business in 1950.
“Meiri Ogawa yeast”, which originated at this brewery, was registered by the Brewing Society of Japan as “Kyokai No. 10 yeast” in 1977, and sake breweries across Japan still use it today. That grounding in research carries through a wide range of drinks, from sake and umeshu to whisky and gin.
Hyakunen Umeshu, made with green ume grown in Japan, won the Tenma Tenjin Umeshu Competition in 2008. Meiri is also active in making drinks with VTubers, and WAIN99 carries Yukiyazuki, NOEL’S POTION, Hyakunen Umeshu Pekora ver. and others. The collaboration with Annin Miru, “Amazuppai Yokubari · Tonshin Ranman”, was planned by WAIN99 as licensee and is produced by Meiri Shurui.
- Yeast from the brewery is used nationwide as “Kyokai No. 10 yeast”
- Hyakunen Umeshu won the 2008 Tenma Tenjin Umeshu Competition
- Fukushogun sake is named after Tokugawa Mitsukuni, known as Mito Komon
- Besshunkan, an umeshu and sake museum, on the brewery grounds
