Shibanuma Shihou Shoyu (柴沼醤油 紫峰)

The story behind it

Say shoyu (soy sauce) country and people say Choshi and Noda. But there is another name that tends to get forgotten: Tsuchiura. In the Edo period it was one of the three great brewing towns of the Kanto region.

Shibanuma Shoyu Jozo was founded in 1688. Across more than 330 years, it still holds to brewing in kioke (wooden barrel). Its flagship, Shihou, takes its name from another name for Mount Tsukuba, visible from the brewery. The name also touches on a proposed origin for calling shoyu murasaki, or purple, so it carries some history.

Dense in savoriness and crisp, this is koikuchi (the standard dark shoyu) as the Kanto region makes it. The pride of Tsuchiura, which helped feed the food culture of Edo, is carried forward in this bottle.