Shichiken Junmai Hiyaoroshi

Shichiken Junmai Hiyaoroshi (七賢 純米 ひやおろし) is made of Hitogokochi and Asahi no Yume rice milled to 70%. It retains the fresh, fruity aroma of freshly squeezed sake while creating a soft, rounded mouthfeel. Shichiken's Hiyaoroshi is a junmai sake that has been left to age quietly in a low-temperature environment over the summer from spring to autumn, allowing it to age slowly. It can be enjoyed chilled, at room temperature, or heated. The brewery recommends using a chilled wine glass to capture its breadth of flavour, depth, and aroma even more clearly.

Yamanashi Meijō Brewery is in Hakushu-cho, Hokuto City, in Yamanashi Prefecture. Hokuto is famous for its quiet greenery and natural beauty. Rain and snowmelt from Mount Kaikoma (甲斐駒ヶ岳 Kaikoma-ga-take) upstream seep into the ground and are slowly polished over a long period by layers of granite. The resulting subsoil water is soft and transparent. This area has whiskey distilleries, mineral water factories, long-established Japanese confectionery stores, and confectionery manufacturers, all of which enjoy the rich blessings of local nature.

The brewery was founded in 1750 by Kitahara Ibei (北原伊兵衛), a descendant of the Kitahara family who had been brewing sake for generations in Shinshū (modern-day Nagano Prefecture). The name 'Shichiken' (七賢) was given to their sake in 1835 after the Lord of Takato Castle gave the brewery a pair of fanlights entitled "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove" as a gift. The backroom of the main building, which the Meiji Emperor used as his temporary lodging during his visit in 1880, has been designated as a national heritage site and is open to the public along with the brewery. In recent years, the brewery has become popular as a tourist spot where visitors can spend a leisurely time, as it operates a restaurant that serves dishes using fermentation technology and a café that uses koji sugar, a sweetener made from rice malt.