Bishonen Mokuzaemon Tokubetsu Junmai

The Bishonen Mokuzaemon Tokubetsu Junmai (特別純米 杢左衛門) has an elegant scent and a mild taste with a delicious rice flavour. It can be enjoyed cold for its refreshing taste or warmed up for its mild flavour. The sake is named after Kawahara Mokuzaemon (河原杢左衛門) who devoted his life to irrigating the Kikuchi area of Kumamoto, where the Bishonen Brewery is located and cultivating rice. Thanks to his efforts, Kikuchi, became a famous rice-producing area in Japan. This Tokubetsu Junmai is made with sake rice called Hananishiki, pure water from the Kikuchi Valley and Kumamoto yeast.

The Bishonen Brewery is located in Kikuchi, Kumamoto Prefecture. It was founded in 1752 by order of Hosokawa Shigekata (細川重賢, 1721-1785), the daimyō of Kumamoto. The brand name "Bishonen" was first used in 1920. Later, the brewery changed its name to Hinokuni Shuzō. Bishonen Co., Ltd. was founded in 2013, the same year Kikuchi Suigen Elementary School closed after 137 years. The brewery converted the school into a kura, with rice steamers, coolers, tanks, and filling and labelling facilities all installed in former classrooms, teachers' rooms, and the cafeteria. The brewery won awards at France's Kura Master Sake Fair and the US National Sake Appraisal (the world's oldest sake competition outside of Japan).