In 1995, the Great Hanshin Earthquake nearly leveled Kobe, devastating the brewery and leaving only a few tanks of shubo remaining. Shubo, which means ‘the mother of sake’, is an essential element in the brewing process. Not fit for sale because it had not finished fermenting, the brewer decided to store the batch and hoped time would salvage it. Twenty years later, the batch was rediscovered and found to have undergone a fantastical and miraculous transformation. A bittersweet reminder that from unthinkable disaster, greatness can be born.