Masumi Junmai Daiginjo Nanago (720 ml)

In 1946, Masumi's brewers isolated a yeast strain from their own fermentation tanks in Suwa that would go on to define modern sake: Kyokai Yeast No. 7, now deployed by over 60% of Japan's breweries. The Nanago Junmai Daiginjo is the expression built entirely around that origin — brewed at the Suwa Moto-machi kura (est. 1662), where snowmelt from the Yatsugatake Eight Peaks Range filters through the Kirigamine Highlands before surfacing at Shimizu-machi, 'Clear Water Village.' That ultra-soft alpine water shapes a fermentation of exceptional delicacy. The rice is Kinmon Nishiki, a Nagano-native variety milled in-house to Daiginjo grade (≤50% remaining), and the yeast starter is built by the yamahai method — natural lactic-acid bacteria cultivated over approximately two weeks, no commercially added lactic acid — generating a structural backbone of acidity and umami depth that most Daiginjo producers deliberately engineer out. The result is the category's central transgression: a Junmai Daiginjo with the aromatic lift of the grade and the food-tensile structure of a yamahai. As a non-vintage expression, character is consistent across releases — drink now or hold 1–2 years refrigerated for further integration.