Onda “88” Junmai
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For this brew, the house-grown local ippon-jime rice is milled down to only 88% of its original size before fermentation— far less milling than most sake, in order to preserve the full and wild flavor profile of the rice itself.
The sake pours nearly clear, but is chock-full of rich, intense rice-laden flavors and funky aromas. Moody notes of nag champa incense, sandalwood and campfire, puerh, soy sauce, rum raisin and fresh plum. If you recognize it, there's a bunch of nukazuke on the nose too.
Onda Shuzo, 恩田酒造
Location: Nagaoka, Niigata Prefecture
Rice:Ippon-jime (domaine grown)
Polishing: 88%
Water: soft well water
Yeast: M310
SMV: -1
Acidity: 1.5
ABV: 18%
Produced by Onda Shuzo in Nagaoka, a city located in the central part of Niigata Prefecture. As a domaine-style sake producer (which is very rare in the sake industry!) Onda grows the local specialty sake rice “Ippon-Jime” on its own land near the Shinano River and the Echigo Mountains. Norio Onda, the fifth generation owner-president-brewmaster, grows the rice in spring and summer, harvests it in fall, and brews the sake in winter.
It's a great pair with Japanese food, as much as it is with a nice dish of braised meat or a big ice cube and a melancholy night.