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This is a super dry sake with just enough ginjo aroma and a pronounced rice flavour. Notes of green apple. It has a sharp, refreshing taste with a subtle umami. Solid and bitter aftertaste. It is recommended as an aperitif or with savoury food.

Sweet nose with spicy notes, elegant sweetness, and a sour finish with a spicy tingle: the epitome of summer refreshment.

Yoshinogawa Brewery in Kitakata, not to be confused with its namesake in Niigata, is a genuinely local brewery producing for the local market, with "local" referring to Kitakata and the surrounding Aizu area. We found their futsushu at a Gyomu supermarket. In Aizu, even the most rustic grocery shop has three metres of local sake on its shelves—a paradise for orthodox sake aficionados. Yoshinogawa's futsushu comes only in 1.8l bottles. We were surprised by its elegance and perfect balance. It isn't easy to find Yoshinogawa outside Aizu; their futsushu, however, seems to be available on Amazon Japan. The brewery itself does not have a website.

Kokken's Junmai has a fruity nose of bananas and a light body with a tad of acidity and umami. The brewery uses Yamada Nishiki for koji rice and Yume no Kaori for kakemai. It is a dry sake with a rich taste and the right amount of acidity and bitterness. We had it chilled, but it is also recommended to be heated.

Kokken's Junmai has a fruity nose of bananas and a light body with a tad of acidity and umami. The brewery uses Yamada Nishiki for koji rice and Yume no Kaori for kakemai. It is a dry sake with a rich taste and the right amount of acidity and bitterness. We had it chilled, but it is also recommended to be heated.

We found this namachozo at a local Aizu supermarket. It is a limited summer edition and is most likely only available in Fukushima. We could not find any reference on Hanaharu's website or anywhere else. It has a light, sweetish, and refreshing taste. The fresh umami goes down smoothly, it is a pleasant summer drink.

This is an award-winning Junmai that we immensely enjoyed on a visit to the region. It has a fruity nose and, at first sip, a complex character. Full-bodied and well-balanced, it is sweet and fruity and has a refreshing bitterness.

Very mild and light in character, Eisen's Junmai Ginjo is slightly dry but has a presence of umami paired with a delicate aroma. Made of local Toyonishiki rice, Fukushima yeast, and water taken from one of Japan's Top 100 springs, this brew is the epitome of Aizu's sake craftsmanship.

Mild and thin body, approach with appealing acidity, refreshing and easygoing table sake, with an aroma of dried fruits, slightly dry with notes of green.

Like Shiokawa's Cowboy series, the N888 aimed to create a sake that could be paired with Japanese, Western, and Chinese food. The basic strategy: increase acidity. Hence, the label on the bottle's neck reads: "Wine? Sake!" This is definitely sake, not white wine. It has a fruity nose with distinct citric notes. Silky texture. Very smooth, sweet, and thick, with an approach like a lemony tsunami. Lots of umami and a slight bitterness mid-palate. Sour and refreshing finish.

Bangaishu is a blend of parts other than chuukumi (middle part), taken, for instance, from Hanahato's Junmai Ginjo Chuukumi. The brewery affirms this does not result in inferior quality but an affordable price. It has a faint and gentle scent. Refreshing and with a lot of umami, slight bitterness and sweetness. With an alcohol content of 14%, it is light and easy to drink.

When Hanahato" 's master brewers conceived the "Kiyomori", they aimed to craft a sake that resembled the brews mentioned in the 'Engishiki', an old Japanese text describing the details of sweet and mild Heian-era sake. On top of that, it's a kijoshu, a sake that uses junmaishu instead of water. We first tried it in December 2020 (R.1BY), and these were my annotations back then:

Creamy and sweet; rich, eggnog-like taste, slightly effervescent; spicy aroma with a sour finish.

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The R.4BY (R.4 stands for Reiwa 4 = 2023, BY for brewing year) is slightly less sweet than its predecessor but still deliciously rich, creamy and quite acidic. Nice umami, too, with thick sediments. Enjoy this culinary time warp into the Heian period!


It comes in a 500ml bottle.

With an intense nose of alcohol and koji, full-bodied and rich with an elegant sweetness, the Kiyomori is an ideal food sake. It is versatile and can be enjoyed chilled or heated.

This is an autumn sake that goes well with the more savoury dishes of autumn. It is part of Hanahato's "Fruit Series" and follows the "Watermelon Label" popular in the summer.
The Aki no Junmai Ginjō Muroka Genshu is slightly effervescent, rich, full-bodied, and well-rounded, with an outstanding balance of sweetness and bitterness. Splendid food sake and aperitif. Very appealing and on next year's bucket list!

Namachozō (生貯蔵酒) is a type of sake that undergoes only one pasteurisation. Tefu (butterfly) has a promising nose of banana and exotic fruit and a round, gentle and lovely aroma, followed by a soft and delicate texture: great bitterness paired with sweetness and a mild body.

The 300-ml version of Eisen's Akabee is sold as a souvenir sake in combination with an Akabeko ochoko, which is the reason my wife bought it. The aroma is reminiscent of old-fashioned traditional sake, with a hint of acidity and alcohol scent—smooth mouthfeel. The acidity, sweetness and umami spread out in that order, followed by a strong pungency that lasts a little longer and leaves an impression of dryness. It is a souvenir sake that will be remembered for the Akabee character more than anything else.

Toko's Dewa33 has a lot of acidity paired with a lovely umami and a refreshing bitterness. Overall, it is pretty mellow and well-rounded.

A fruity nose, a firm taste, and umami present. Quite dry, with a solid alcoholic aroma midpalate. Bitter finish. Though well-balanced, it has no outstanding characteristics like Toko's other Junmai Ginjo. But that's precisely what makes it so versatile. Cheers to Yozan and his wisdom!

Fruity nose and a sharp attack that melts into a mellow taste carried by a gentle ginjo aroma and pleasant umami. The delicate balance of the ginjoka and the rice flavour makes it a perfect pairing with Japanese food—a sour and slightly effervescent finish. It is versatile and can be consumed cold (10 degrees) to lukewarm (around 45 degrees). It won a Gold Medal in the Fine Sake Award 2014. Well deserved, we must say.

This sake is the epitome of jizake: not only is it made of ingredients grown in the vicinity of the brewery, but it is also only sold at the Michi-no-Eki Urabandai in Kitashiobara. However, we were lucky to find a batch at the local Seven-Eleven. The name "Kasui Utabandai" 「佳き酔 歌磐梯」 is derived from the eponymous song featured in the movie "Ohara Shosuke-san" (小原庄助さん, 1949). This Junmai Ginjo does not have an intense aroma. It is full-bodied, refreshing, and slightly dry. It is very delectable and easy to indulge in.