Dassai Happou Nigori Sparkling 39 (360 ml)

When Hiroshi Sakurai launched the Dassai brand in 1990, he made a commitment virtually unheard of in Japanese brewing: every single expression in the range would be Junmai Daiginjo — no blended grades, no added alcohol, no compromise tier. The Happou Nigori Sparkling 39 sits within that framework as the category's most deliberate transgression: a cloudy, effervescent sake in a house built on crystalline precision.

Brewed in the mountain valley of Shuto-cho, Iwakuni City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, the brewery draws on Iwakuni's regionally celebrated soft water — classified locally as Seiryu (clear-stream water) — purified further on-site. Soft water produces a gentler, more delicate fermentation, amplifying the floral and fruit registers that Yamada Nishiki rice is prized for.

Seimaibuai: 39% — 61% of each Yamada Nishiki grain is milled away before brewing begins. Koji is applied entirely by hand in 10 kg rice batches; fermentation temperature is controlled throughout the moromi to direct yeast toward aromatic development. Pressing is performed via centrifuge — Dassai pioneered this commercially in Japan, separating sake from mash without pressure to preserve volatile aromatics intact. The nigori format retains fine rice solids deliberately, adding texture and a secondary natural effervescence.

The result is structurally unusual: Daiginjo-grade polish and centrifuge clarity of aroma inside an intentionally unfiltered, sparkling body — a format no other exclusively Junmai Daiginjo brewery produces at this polish ratio.