Kinpou Shizenshu

One In a Million by Ne-Yo

Back to blogging about sake again. Today was a gorgeous and sunny day in Kanagawa, so I headed over to Kamiooka Station to visit the Keikyu Department store's sake corner, located in the basement. Once there I ran my eyes across so many incredible looking sake bottles, all neatly adorned with beautiful floral patterned labels each commemorating spring. I never get too carried away with labels though, just go for something I know. I'm pretty good at picking them and I chose two very good sake this afternoon! Normally what I do is look for the classification first, of course - junmai. Then, I look for rice and koji information; brewery, and so forth and so on.

First, I would like to point out a few things. There's a lot of talk nowadays about organic sake. Does it taste better? Will this new trend change future sake production? The answer to both of these questions is a resounding "hell no!" Sure, there will be brewers who will experiment with organic sake, and will realize how cost prohibitive it is to use such methods then revert back to the traditional way, or a slightly modified method. As far as taste goes, no, organic sake does not taste better than conventional sake. So let's lay that hype to rest. Are there good organic sake out there? Yes. I bought one, but in no way does it replace a good traditionally made sake, the Japanese way.

Organic sake generally has less body and complexity than traditionally brewed sake; sort of like a young French Beaujolais wine. Organic sake appeals to new drinkers and those with less developed palates, or for those who are not yet accustomed to rice brew..

The sake in the picture hails from Fukushima Prefecture and is 100% organic and is called Kinpou Shizenshu, a junmai genshu, not ginjo. Genshu means that it's undiluted and has higher alcohol content. The taste has a mellow richness with hardly any tail. Very clean and unusual textured, yet delightful. I actually loved, to be quite honest. I can see myself buying another bottle of this. I do feel that this sake could easily appeal to the first time drinker. Anyway, it would pair well with light dishes. According to the brewer you can also enjoy it over ice.