The texture becomes creamier and almost velvety with a very luxurious feel. The acidity softens and some sweetness appears. Jidai Yamahai Junmai Ginjo has a long and lavish finish and holds acidity at a higher temperature pretty well.

Given the region’s reputation for producing sake, it’s no surprise that the brewery is dedicated to deep-rooted brewing traditions and heritage. Akashi-Tai is true artisan sake, handmade in small batches by the toji (or master brewer) Kimio Yonezawa and his close team of trusted craftsmen. But to Akashi-Tai, respecting tradition also means keeping it alive, in an unending quest to challenge and improve throughout every step of the sake-making process. Enjoyable either warm or chilled to complement the season, traditional Japanese sake can be savoured across a wide range of temperatures. As relevant now as it was then, Akashi-tai continues to be a market-leader and relentless tailblazer of authentic, Japanese sake. If you fancy a taste of something new, or enjoy the odd sake and want a prime example, you’re in the right place. Kanpai! Records the default button state of the corresponding category & the status of CCPA. It works only in coordination with the primary cookie.Akashi-Tai Honjozo Sake, is a medium-bodied sake with hints of citrus and straw, this is the drink the brew masters reach for at the end of a working day The company incorporated in 1918, after which it made the most of a geographic location ideal for making fine sake. In brewing its select sakes, Akashi Sake Brewery uses only the choicest ingredients, often produced locally. The drinking of warm sake spread from the aristocracy to the common people during the middle part of the Tokugawa Period (1600-1867), when the drinking of sake itself became popular with the masses. You can drink Tedorigawa Yamahai Junmai chilled but it doesn’t give it justice. Made by using a yamahai method, the sake acidity at 1.6 and SMV +2.0. It’s not that aromatic which is normal for junmai sake with gentle green tomatoes, rice, lemon and timber notes.

While people outside Japan are just catching on to the great potential of sake and food matching, it’s a known fact in sake’s homeland that it can all but transform a meal. What’s more, it goes with a variety of dishes beyond what we might think of as its classic partner, sushi. As the Japanese saying goes, “sake and food never fight”. Next you have ginjo, at 60% polishing, and daiginjo, at 50%, both of which can be junmai or not. Here you get more delicacy, with fruit flavours, a smooth mouthfeel and clean aftertaste. Junmai versions ramp up the umami and acidity. How to drink sake A step up lies junmai sake, which is polished to at least 70% (ie 30% of the rice has been stripped away). These tend to have more umami, savoury flavour profiles. Rather confusingly, 'junmai' also refers to unadulterated sake; non-junmai sakes have distilled alcohol added, to add new notes and smooth out flavours. Honjozo is non-junmai sake polished to at least 70%, and often is well balanced and a good companion for food.

A Word from our Toji

Akashi Tai Junmai Ginjo Sparkling Sake is made using only locally grown rice from the Hyogo Prefecture. Ginjo is a premium type of Sake made with rice that has to have at least 40% of the outside of the rice grains (the bran) polished away. Junmai means no distillers alcohol is added which it can be in other Sakes e.g. Honjozo Sake. The Sake undergoes a careful, low temperature fermentation and it is then undergo a secondary fermentation in the bottle with some more koji (the fungus used in fermentation process) to produce the fizz. The sake is carefully fermented at low temperature and it is allowed to undergo a secondary fermentation in the bottle with some more koji (the fungus used in fermentation process). The different temperatures provide a changing array of flavours for the palate to appreciate. Warm sake is rather unusual in the world of alcoholic beverages, but it has a long history. Due to the Japanese wanting to become more western, wanting to drink beers and whiskey and cognacs, the poor little sake brewers have really had a hard time," says Cheong-Thong. The thinning out has, however, had the unexpected benefit of improving production standards, and slowly sake's popularity is rebounding as more premium examples appear, in which history meets modern brewing techniques. For example, the company uses the yamada-nishiki variety of rice — a superior strain — grown in the region just north of Akashi. The Tedorigawa brewery makes a wide range of excellent sake from classy Ika na Onna to sweet and clean Kinka and mellow Yamahai Junmai Daiginjo. You can enjoy all of them at various temperatures. But Tedorigawa Yamahai Junmai was probably specifically made to drink warm.