Bijofu "Kome Hitotsubu Sake Itteki" Junmai Ginjo Yamada-Nishiki (720 ml)

When master brewer Ohara Akira applied Hiroshima-style soft-water ginjo technique to Kochi's even softer nansui — water long dismissed as unworkable for quality sake — he produced a house style that sits outside every regional expectation. Yamada-Nishiki rice sourced from Tojo-cho, Kato City, Hyogo Prefecture is the foundation here, polished to ≤60% seimaibuai and fermented via sandan jikomi (three-stage mash build) over an extended low-temperature moromi using the subterranean Nahari River as brewing water — a source filtered through the Yanase cedar forest, one of Japan's three great forests, yielding exceptional softness and mineral purity. Kochi Prefecture's proprietary CEL-24 yeast, among Japan's most aromatic brewing strains, drives pronounced isoamyl acetate production, generating melon, banana, and green apple aromatics that sit in sharp contrast to the heavier earthiness typical of many Junmai styles. The brewery's coastal-humid microclimate in Tano-cho, pressed between the Pacific and the Yanase mountains, sustains the cool, stable fermentation temperatures this yeast demands. What is unusual: Bijofu achieves a simultaneously dry Kochi profile and a soft, aromatic texture that peers in the prefecture do not — a direct consequence of nansui brewing mastered where others abandoned it. As a non-vintage expression, this is designed for near-term drinking, best served lightly chilled at 10–12°C to preserve the yeast-driven aromatics.