Amabuki Ginno Kurenai "Red Rice"
Please note, this product is not available for shipping. It is available for free pick-up or delivery in Portland, OR. Drinks like a rosé! A fairly unusually...
Please note, this product is not available for shipping. It is available for free pick-up or delivery in Portland, OR.
Drinks like a rosé! A fairly unusually styled sake, in terms of not only the rice that it's made from, but also how it's made. It's made from red rice that is completely unpolished. The results are off-dry, refreshing and fruit driven, with a tiny hint of effervescence.
Wonderful as an aperitif, served with fresh fruit, or after dinner with chocolate.
The rice is grown pesticide free. The brewery prides its rice farming on the presence of ducks in the paddies. Maintaining a bio-diverse rice field attracts the ducks, who not only naturally take care of pests, but also introduce oxygen into the paddy as they stalk the mud for their food. The oxygen, in turn, helps the rice grow.
Aside from their innovative ways with rice, Amabuki is also a pioneer in their exclusive use of flower-yeast in their brewing. Flower yeast doesn't actually impart flavors of flowers, it's just where it comes from. What they do do, is add structure and complexity. I'm sure I'll write more about flower yeast in the blog later, but here's a short run down about the topic: The vast majority of sake yeast being used comes from a collection of specially developed yeast strains bred specifically for sake brewing. Not too long ago, a university professor in Tokyo started experimenting with cultivating naturally occurring yeasts from flowers and using them to brew sake. The results were intriguing and clearly opened up new doors to new sake expressions. Use of flower yeast is still fairly experimental around Japan, but rare breweries like Amabuki, who have taken up the mantle of only using flower yeasts, have proven that they can produce remarkable sakes.
Located in Northern Kyushuu, the Amabuki Brewery has been at it for over 300 years.
16.5% Alchohol and made with Saga No Hana rice.