ZAKIMI Aged Awamori Brand

Yaesen Distillery, an awamori producer founded in 1955 on Ishigaki Island in Okinawa, combines tradition and innovation in its production—preserving ancient direct-fire distillation while adopting barrel aging, a rarity in the awamori industry.

Awamori features aged varieties known as “kusu,” yet these do not command prices reflective of their quality compared to whiskey or wine. To express awamori’s latent value appropriately and help create a brand with significant added value, we conceptualized and developed “ZAKIMI” together with the distillery.

With Ishigaki’s unique climate—situated in one of the world's major typhoon paths—as our theme, we developed three varieties: “Yuku” (8-year aged), “Kao” (a blend of 10-year aged and 10-year barrel-matured), and “Typhoon” (30-year aged). These spirits mature in the wild, exposed to fierce storms, gradually developing a unique roundness. To capture the essence of this “typhoon-brewed sake,” the label features dynamic calligraphy by Kazuki Kamamura, evoking the raw power of nature.