Umenishiki Junmai Ginjō Sakaso!

Umenishiki Junmai Ginjō Sakaso (梅錦 純米吟醸酒 ＳＡＫＡＳＯ！) is made of Shizukuhime, a rice variety grown in Ehime Prefecture, milled to 60%. Sakaso is a new Ehime sake brewed exclusively with local ingredients, using an original sake yeast made from flowers, developed jointly by the Ehime Sake Brewers Association, Ehime Prefecture, and Tokyo University of Agriculture. It has a mild flavour and a refreshing finish.

Founded by Yamakawa Yurata in 1872, Umenishiki Yamakawa Brewery is a distinguished sake maker with a long tradition of excellence and innovation. Using Ehime's rice and water and various yeast types, it brews sake and other drinks that have won many awards and honours, such as the first prize at the National Sake Appraisal in 1932, the gold medal at the same appraisal for twelve years in a row from 1965 to 1976, and the Minister of Labor Award for its master brewer Yamane Fukuhei in 1993. It has also diversified its products by obtaining the first local beer license in Japan in 1994, making miscellaneous sake and liqueur in 1996, creating 100% rice sake in 2001, and getting the spirits license in 2005. In 2010, Nakamura Hiroshi became the new master brewer. In 2016, it won several prestigious awards, including the Ehime Prefecture Governor's Award, the gold medal at the National New Sake Appraisal, the gold medal for ordinary sake at the International Wine Challenge, and the gold medal at the National Hot Sake Contest 2016 for "Toji no Sake", sake by the master brewer. It also sold all its shares to Hakutsuru. In 2017, it won the gold medal in the main category with its "Tsu no Sake" (ginjō) at the Fine Sake Award Japan.