Kirinzan Junmai Ginjo Nama Genshu "Potari-Potari Blue"

A wonderful sake that pulls me back to being 8 years old on a sunny afternoon, walking home from elementary school, spending my birthday money on candies at the corner store.

Like Potari-Potari Green, this sake is so, so close to being a bowl of actual fruit...but then you open your eyes, and it's a clear glass of rice. Plush and creamy like gummy strawberry puffs, a little powdered like pixy stix, refreshing like a big glass of Hawaiian Punch after a soccer game, life affirming like an ice-cold can of Orange Crush and a banana after school. Potari-Potari Blue a soccer ball and a kiss on the head from mom.

And yet, all of these candied notes... it's not sweet. It's the suggestion of sweetness, maybe...the memory of sweets. Like a big oaky malbec that tastes like a bar of dark chocolate, this isn't a sugary drink, it's just satisfying, nostalgic and evocative in a deeply personal way. 

Stats:

• Brewery: Kirinzan Brewery
• Prefecture: Niigata
• Grade: Junmai Ginjo Nama Genshu
• Rice: Koshitanrei (local)
  
• Polish: 55%
• Starter method: Sokujo
• Yeast: House
• SMV: +2 (just-dry)
• Water: soft (Tokonami well water)
• ABV: 17%

Profile:

Founded in 1843, Kirinzan Shuzo lies beneath the majestic Mt. Kirin in the northern prefecture of Niigata. According to ancient Chinese legends, the kirin is a mythical animal like a flying unicorn that appears as a sign of the birth of a saint and brings happiness and luck. Both the shape of the mountain and local whisperings of lights and spirits on its slopes gave it the name of this mythical beast.

The beech trees, Mt. Kirin and the Tokonami River that surround the brewery provide the perfect filtration system for the local water to become soft. In the production of sake, soft water allows for a long fermentation and this creates the delicate, elegant style of sake for which Kirinzan is known.

In order to ensure the best quality of rice for the sake, in the summer months the toji (brew master) at Kirinzan works in the local rice fields with his team members and in the fall brews the rice he has cultivated. The brewery is committed to using the finest local rice in order to support the local Oku-Aga agricultural community, and in the past few years have moved to using 100% rice from local farmers, and grown within five miles of the brewery.

My visit to Niigata this Winter was eye-opening. Great sake is available everywhere, with sake cosmetics, vending machines, cheesecakes, tastings, available from every business. Everyone who lives and works in Niigata knows a brewer or two personally, It’s like living in the Willamette Valley and being surrounded by wine and wine people. In this setting, freshness and quality is a given: excellent sake is abundant and flows like water. So the standard of production is exceedingly high, and products like Potari-Potari are the best of their kind.