Shimizo-No-Mai Pure Snow Sake (300ML)
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Akita Shurui Seizoh Co. is located in Akita, Japan - one of the country’s top regions, known for producing excellent artisan sake. The brewery maintains this honor, and is proud to have won ten consecutive gold medals at the "National New Sake Awards," the only national sake competition in Japan. They are the only sake house in the history of this prestigious competition to have won this number of consecutive gold medals.
Sake with the lowest milling requirement at no less than 30% milled, so that 70% of each rice grain remains, is simply called Junmai. It is made of water, koji mold, yeast and rice. The categories of saké are established not by rice variety, but by their polishing or milling percentages. Junmai is also brewed in the absence of added alcohol. Some brewers, in search of other flavors, aromas and textures, will add a small amount of distilled alcohol during the brewing process. But the alcohol in any saké labeled Junmai will come purely from fermentation.
The introduction of the waterwheel in the 17th century, which eliminated the need for the manual polishing of rice grains, allowed Japan to begin producing saké at an industrial level for its greater population. Today Japan remains at the cutting edge of technology in its brewing practices. However, the traditional methods of handcrafted, artisanal saké remain alive in smaller and often family-owned breweries. Many of these showcase local ingredients and focus on microclimates to make what is known as ‘jizake,’ or regional saké.