Sawahime – Kimoto Junmai

• Inoue Seikichi Co. Ltd., Tochigi Prefecture
• Junmai, Tochigi Sake 14

http://sawahime.co.jp/index.html

Happy New Year! Wishing you prosperous and healthy new year holidays.

First of all, please allow me to write reviews on Tochigi origin Sakes four times in a row as I visited a total of 6 breweries in Tochigi last week. The first review is “Sawahime” in Utsunomiya where local capital of Tochigi Prefecture is located. This Brand was unfamiliar to me, but I decided to pay a visit as I learned that this brand had been awarded world and domestic prestegious contests in 2010s. I picked up “live” one of Sawahime Junmai Ginjyo for my review.

The first sip made me aware of strong sake yeast flavor . It gave me impression of roughness with this Sake rather than sophistication. As it got air absorbed, this Sake got silkier and richier.The color is pretty yellowish, which would be one of the characteristics with Kimoto make. This Sake started with a flavor of citrus, pineapple sweetness in the middle, and ended up with bitterness which is brought by alcohol. But fairly strong yeast flavor underlay throughout the tasting.

This Sake was made from all Tochigi origin ingredients. This brewery boosts it being real local sake. Probably due to the way of making this Sake, some poeple do not like the strong and active yeast flavor. But I am convinced that the high quality of this Sake had deserved world prestegious awards. The retail price after tax is about $15.00.