Dassai Happou Nigori Sparkling 39 (720 ml)

When Hiroshi Sakurai launched the Dassai brand in 1990, he made a commitment almost without precedent 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 same uncompromising framework while breaking the house's own polished-clarity aesthetic: this is an intentionally cloudy, effervescent sake, retaining suspended rice solids that most premium Daiginjo producers filter away entirely.

Brewed in the mountain valley of Shuto-cho, Iwakuni City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, the sake draws on the region's characteristically soft, low-mineral 'Seiryu' water — purified further on-site — which allows the delicate aromatic compounds of 39% seimaibuai Yamada Nishiki (61% of each grain milled away) to express without hardness or interference. Koji is applied by hand in 10 kg rice batches; fermentation temperature is precisely controlled throughout the moromi to manage yeast activity and protect the fruit-forward aromatic profile Dassai is known for.

Pressing is performed via centrifuge — a technique Dassai pioneered commercially in Japan — separating sake from mash without pressure, preserving the most volatile aromatic esters intact. Pasteurization follows the brewery's patented Hayata method (Patent 2013-008455): bottled cold below 5°C, hot-water-shower pasteurized, then immediately rapid-cooled. The nigori solids and natural effervescence make this the category's most texturally transgressive expression from a brewery that otherwise prizes crystalline precision.