About This Product :
The Rice: Tamanohikari uses Bizen-Omachi rice, a rare variety regarded as the best rice for making sake. Each spring, brewers visit the locations where their rice is produced. The employees put on long boots and stand next to the riceplanting farmers. As planting seedlings too closely causes quality to suffer, the farmers take care to leave sufficient space in-between. The harvested rice from each producer is inspected to determine the ratios of protein and moisture content. They only use rice that meets Tamano Hikari’s one-of-a-kind strict standards. Nothin’else.
Prefecture: Kyoto, Rice: Bizen Omachi, Semaibuai: 50%, SMV: +3.5, Acidity: 1.7, ABV: 16%
The Sake: The nose is very floral with notes of pear, spicy nutmeg, and a hint of anise. Cottony flavors of nuts, banana, and pear dance on the tongue and fall to a pleasant, pillowy dryness.
The Brewery: Tamano Hikari means, “Brilliant Jade.” Founded in 1673, for over 300 years, Tamano Hikari Brewery has been working their hardest to brew supreme quality sake. Their motto is that “Good Sake comes from Good Rice” and so they polish all of their sake rice – obtained through contracts with private farmers – within the walls of their brewery. They were one of the first to halt the use of additives like alcohol and sugar, but were also the first to halt use of preservatives, and basically reestablished Junmai sake. In 1980, they added Ginjo style sake to their repertoire. Now almost all the sake they produce is Junmai Ginjo style.
