Yano Shuzo, a tiny (4 person) brewery in Saga prefecture, brewed this fabulous, buttery, salty, lip-smacking sake and it reminds me very much of Tibetan butter tea.
With all the classic koshu (aged sake) notes, Yano Umami is a charming, caramel-colored sake that's perfect for enjoying warm or at room temperature. Toffee, mushroom, cinnamon, sweet soy, honey, black tea, and apple butter abound. It's a killer deal for the classic profile, the amount of time and workmanship: 5 years of age, utilizing the time-consuming and risky kimoto wild starter method.
Stats:
- Brewery: Yano Shuzo, est 1796
- Location: Saga
- Water: Soft, Kashima well
- Rice: Kitashizuku (local table rice)
- Polishing: 75%
- Yeast:#701
- Starter: Kimoto
Profile:
About 60% of Yano Shuzo's production volume remains in Saga Prefecture, and their brewery is extremely small with a staff of only 4 people, including the Tōji. They produce a wide variety of premium class sake ranging from aged (koshu) to fragrant Ginjo sake. Kashima's abundant soft underground water shapes the round, cool, and timeless flavor characteristics of their brews, which they make with the aim to revitalize the region through sake brewing. Yano Shuzo wishes to help connect people to food, and people to people, through drinking their sak