Asahitaka Tokubetsu Honjozo Yamagata Prefecture

Asahitaka Tokubetsu Honjozo Yamagata Prefecture

This sake is a close cousin of Juyondai, perhaps the only relationship is that they’re produced by the same producer of Juyondai, Takagi Brewery. The price is cheap, almost like a house pour sake price. Honjozo means that it has a lower milling rate than Junmai (not quite as good as Junmai Ginjio), it’s made of 100% proper sake rice, and the rice is milled to 60% of of it’s original size. At 16% alcohol, I didn’t feel that it taste as high as 16%, more like 14%. I popped the 1.8L bottle, obviously I paired it with table full of Japanese food, with all sorts of sashimi. I used our Grassl Mineralite stemware to explore the bouquet of the sake; I wasn’t impressed with the bouquet as it smelled more like uncooked rice grain right out of the rice bag. Content wise, it was pleasant and easy, relatively crisp, sharp and acidic, however, it possessed relatively feminine character. I feel the content has no rough edges, which means it easily lived up to the claim of being a Honjozo. A great value for money sake that has not been hyped up yet.