Instead of discarding rice bran during polishing, nondo brings it back into the fermentation as part of the flavour of the rice itself.

Based in Tono, Iwate, nondo (non°) created its Gonge series around the idea of exploring the full potential of rice. Rice, koji and rice bran form the core of these craft fermented drinks, allowing the character of the grain and its place of origin to remain visible in the final liquid.

This four-bottle set brings together Gonge Kimoto, MO CHUISLE, Rafters and PEAT. Although they share the same underlying philosophy, different fermentation methods, pressing techniques, tools and treatments of rice bran send each bottle in a completely different direction.

nondo: exploring what it means to drink rice in Tono

nondo is based in Tono, Iwate Prefecture, where the team grows rice and turns it into fermented drinks.

The brand’s guiding idea is to move from an age of simply “eating rice” toward one in which people can also drink and experience rice in new forms.

Rice is grown with close attention to the soil, and the brewery avoids relying on unnecessary additives, instead using fermentation to explore the flavour and character already present in the grain.

The Gonge series is perhaps the clearest expression of this philosophy. nondo argues that the flavour of rice and its land does not reside in polished white rice alone, but also in the nutrient- and flavour-rich rice bran normally removed during polishing.

Four different ways to interpret the same rice

The four bottles are not simply flavour variations of one recipe.

Kimoto changes the way the fermentation begins. MO CHUISLE focuses on free-run liquid with no forced pressing. Rafters revives a historical wooden pressing system. PEAT smokes the rice bran with straw grown by nondo itself.

The series therefore asks a broader question: how many different expressions can emerge from one grain, one landscape and one brewing philosophy?

Gonge Kimoto | The series’ first kimoto expression

Earlier Gonge releases were based on mizumoto, while Gonge Kimoto became the series’ first expression made with the traditional kimoto method.

It is brewed in wooden vats without cultured Association yeast, added brewing lactic acid or chemical additives, and released unfiltered as a nama genshu.

The profile is deep but balanced, with a soft sweetness followed by a clean finish.

Temperature is central to the experience. Served chilled, the balance feels composed and precise; warmed, the rice and rice-bran character becomes fuller while the alcohol structure grows more distinct.

Among the four bottles, this is the one that changes most dramatically with serving temperature.

MO CHUISLE | Sweetness followed by wine-like acidity

MO CHUISLE begins with a sweet cereal aroma. On the palate, the initial sweetness quickly fades before a broad, energetic acidity moves through the wine-like structure.

nondo notes that sommeliers and drinkers have compared it to Vin Jaune or wines from Alsace because of its balance of sweetness, acidity and fermentation character.

Natural lactic acidity gives the liquid volume without heaviness, while alcohol integrates into a surprisingly clear finish.

Its pressing method is particularly distinctive: the mash is not forcibly pressed. Only the liquid that drips naturally under its own weight is bottled.

That makes MO CHUISLE both delicate and deliberately luxurious — a very selective final stage for a series built around using the whole rice grain.

Rafters | Pressed with timber from a 200-year-old house

Rafters looks backwards not only in flavour, but in the physical tools used to press the drink.

nondo uses a traditional system of vertical post, lever beam and wooden vat for pressing.

The main post and lever were repurposed from the central pillar and rafters of a roughly 200-year-old traditional house, while the pressing vat itself was once used in a sake brewery during the Edo period and later restored.

The flavour is marked by sharp acidity, gentle sweetness and grapefruit-like citrus.

Rice grown in healthy soil, centuries-old wood and present-day handwork all meet in a bottle nondo describes through the idea of harmony between nature and people.

PEAT | Turning the smoke of Tono’s fields into flavour

PEAT is perhaps the most direct expression of landscape in the four-bottle set.

In the farming communities around nondo’s fields, open burning of vegetation and rice straw takes place several times a year. During those periods, the area fills with the smell of smoke, straw and dried grass.

To capture that memory, nondo uses straw it has grown without pesticides or fertiliser to smoke-roast the rice bran before brewing.

The name “PEAT” may evoke peated whisky, but no peat is used here.

The smoke comes from Tono-grown straw and rice bran, making the aroma a direct interpretation of the seasonal landscape surrounding the brewery.

Four directions from the same rice bran

Tasted together, the set makes clear that Gonge is more than simply a rice-bran beverage.

Kimoto changes the fermentation pathway.

MO CHUISLE changes the way the liquid is separated from the mash.

Rafters changes the pressing tools and brings historical craftsmanship into the process.

PEAT adds the memory of smoke and fieldwork to the rice bran itself.

The value of the four-bottle set is therefore not in ranking them, but in experiencing how far one rice crop and one place can be stretched into different expressions.

nondo Gonge Four-Bottle Set

Tono, Iwate, Japan | nondo (non°) | Craft fermented rice beverages / “Other brewed alcoholic beverage” classification | Rice, rice bran and rice koji at the core

Gonge Kimoto | 525ml | 13% ABV
Kimoto and wooden-vat brewing. Soft sweetness and a clean finish, with major changes in expression from chilled to warm service.

Gonge MO CHUISLE | 525ml | 12% ABV
Sweetness followed by expansive acidity. Bottled only from liquid that drips naturally, without forced pressing.

Gonge Rafters | 525ml | 14% ABV
Pressed using timber from a 200-year-old house and a restored Edo-period sake vat. Sharp acidity with grapefruit-like citrus.

Gonge PEAT | 525ml | 13% ABV
Rice bran smoke-roasted with nondo-grown straw, translating the seasonal smoke of Tono’s fields into aroma and flavour.

By returning rice bran to the fermentation and then changing starter method, pressing, tools and smoke, nondo turns one agricultural ingredient into four distinct interpretations of place.

Available at IMAMI

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