Koshi no Homare "90 Blue" Muroka Nama Genshu
- In stock, ready to ship
[Preorder: Arriving Tuesday, 7/7]
Hara Shuzo's 90 series is a love letter to Niigata's famed table rices. The 90 refers to the level of polish, removing only 10% of the grain to preserve the character of each variety they work with and make a sake that's basically a "rice juice." This Summer release highlights Mizuho no Kagayaki, a cultivar with flavor on par with the iconic Koshihikari, but bred for higher yield and later harvest. It's made with shio koji (white koji, which produces citric acid) for freshness and left a touch sweet (-8 SMV) to balance out the substantial acidity (2.4).
The aroma is savory and pronounced, with notes of tart yogurt, froyo and lemon zest. A tiny bit of fizz lends body to a palate of tangerine, lemon meringue and ultra-ripe fruit. The ricey sweetness coats the mouth like marmalade, leaving a silky coating -- the memory of fruits.
Brewery: Hara Shuzo、原酒造
Brand: Koshi no Homare (or Koshinohomare), 越の誉
Location: Kashiwazaki City, Niigata Prefecture
Rice: Mizuho no Kagayaki (Niigata)
Polish: 90%, 60% for the kojimai
Yeast: Kyokai 701
SMV: -8
Acidity: 2.4
Amino: 1.2
ABV: 13%
Other: White koji
Koshinohomare translates to “Pride of Niigata,” and has been in operation for 210 years as of this writing. Their location on the Niigata coastline, roughly at the midpoint between Niigata City and Joetsu, is a seismically tumultuous area however, and has had the unintended effect of forcing Koshinohomare to rebuild from scratch...more than once. In 1911, a fire swept thrugh Kashiwazaki; fanned by the powerful
sea breeze, the entire brewery and all of its contents were lost. Believing that sake brings happiness to people, the family rebuilt. Nearly a century later, the 2007 Chuetsu-Oki earthquake shook Niigata with tremors of magnitide 7. And again, the flattened brewery was rebuilt. In a way though, this constant rebuilding has interrupted the status quo in Kashiwazaki City, leading to a stylistic divergence from the rest of Niigata which is evident in the 90 series as well as their stylish young neighbors, Abe Shuzo. Making sake
from table rice such as this limits the energy and cost demands of rice polishing, and simplifies the
supply chain, a benefit for farmers and a safeguard against catastrophic loss of demand, as in Covid.
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