Mr. Kato — Love is "not about whether something sells, but about wanting to keep selling it."

Kato Liquor Store in Zeze has been home to ANTELOPE from the very beginning.

Back when the word "mead" was barely known.
When there were only a few staple products.
When we didn't have the events or the track record we have today.

Even then, Mr. Kato
kept ANTELOPE’s mead on his shelves.
It’s already overflowing with love, but the real story starts here.

"I knew this was something I had to sell."

Mr. Kato says.

"I didn't know if it would sell or not, but it was so good that I felt I had to sell it."

He says it was less about business conviction and more about intuition and his outlook on life.

He knew we had studied in America.
He saw the atmosphere at the farmers market in Kusatsu
when we first started.
He knows how we’ve kept on making it,
through all the trial and error.

That’s why, naturally,
Mr. Kato says he felt a personal attachment to it.

Even five-year-old bottles sit at the back of the shelf

On the shelves at Kato Liquor Store,
there are still bottles from ANTELOPE’s early days
that you can’t get anymore.

One made with ginger.
A braggot with peanuts.
The first generation Ginger Cat.

"Surprisingly, they’re still delicious, even after all this time."

It’s okay if they don’t sell right away.
It’s okay if they need an explanation.
He gets passionate about explaining from scratch that "it’s not wine."

"Wine is grapes, right?
Mead is honey.
But it has an incredibly long history."

For Mr. Kato,
mead isn’t a "difficult product" to stock,
but a drink worth talking about, he tells us.

Yet he still takes the time to tell us about it; that’s the love he overflows with.

He’s watched us keep on changing

Color Shift, aged in Awamori barrels.
The AP series, our first non-diluted batch.
Various barrel-aged experiments.
Our upcoming transition to domestic honey.

Mr. Kato
has watched the process of ANTELOPE’s constant evolution
from the sidelines all this time.

"Yazawa-kun, I really think you just love making things."

If he has a spare moment, he reads research papers,
thinks about the next brew,
and tries something new all over again.

Even that restless nature of ours,
Mr. Kato says he finds it interesting.

I could cry.

Love means sticking with something for the long haul

To Mr. Kato, love isn’t about
passionate words
or flashy displays of support.

・Keep going even if you don’t see results immediately.
・Don’t give up even if it requires explaining.
・Stick with it even when things change.

He says it’s as simple as that.

But he truly knows that those are the most difficult things to do.
Since we are the ones making it, we know that, but coming from a liquor store owner, we know it's even tougher.

"I don’t think there are many shops outside of Shiga
that stock this much of your stuff."

At Yusuke’s words,
Mr. Kato smiles, looking a little embarrassed.

"I just don't stop because it's interesting."

In the end, Mr. Kato
said it like this.

"In the end, I think it continues only because it’s interesting."

Not because it sells,
or because it’s trendy.

There is someone who finds it interesting,
there is a drink they find interesting,
and they want to keep stocking it.

That accumulation of love
is what has connected Mr. Kato and ANTELOPE.

Closing

Mr. Kato’s love is not about protecting or guiding, but about "keeping it on the shelf."

In a corner of a shelf in Zeze,
ANTELOPE’s mead is lined up again today.

It takes less than 30 minutes from Kyoto Station door-to-door.
I feel like just being wrapped in Mr. Kato’s kindness makes the day brighter.

There are plenty of interesting spots around Zeze Station, too.
Whether you are coming to Shiga from Kyoto, or heading from Shiga to Kyoto or Osaka,
please do drop by.