Yamagata Masamune Mysterious Rice (Nazomai)

A mysterious experimental brew made with the brewery's future, as-yet-unnamed rice.

Yamagata Masamune is dedicated to researching and developing its own original rice.
After four years, this experimental brew has finally yielded a full tank of sake.

The project began in 2022.
Dozens of seeds, created through manual pollination, were carefully cultivated, and the potential of the rice as sake rice has been continuously explored through generations grown in the paddies.
Now, in its fourth year, enough rice has been grown for brewing for the first time, and this monumental first sake has been completed.

Behind this challenge lies the aim of cultivating sake rice suitable for an era of global warming.
The project began with the desire to cultivate sake rice in Yamagata, a northern region, that possesses the profound flavors found in late-maturing varieties from western Japan.

While respecting the highly polished ginjo brewing methods cultivated over many years, the brewery also dared to challenge itself by not over-polishing the rice, instead focusing on the unique character of the rice itself.
Precisely because it is a future sake rice that has not yet been named, this bottle offers a taste brimming with unknown possibilities.

Sake rice breeding is a long-term challenge that requires over 10 years.
This sake is not a finished product, but rather a record of the beginning of that journey.

Please enjoy a glass of this first step in cultivating the future of Yamagata Masamune.

◆ Specs
Category: Sake
Ingredients: Rice (domestic), Rice koji (domestic)
Rice used: Brewery's own developed rice
Rice polishing ratio: 90%
Alcohol content: 15 degrees
Storage: Refrigeration required
Producer: Mitobe Shuzo (Yamagata Prefecture)