Kirinzan Mellow (300 ml)

When the Saito family renamed their brewery Kirinzan in 1882 — after the forested mountain rising behind the Aga-machi site — they were also naming a philosophy: sake shaped entirely by place. That commitment became literal in 2011 when Kirinzan established an in-house agricultural division after nearly 30 years of collaboration with 55 local growers, achieving 100% locally sourced rice within a 10 km radius of the brewery.

The brewery sits at the foot of Mt. Kirinzan in Higashi-kanbara-gun, Niigata, where approximately 94% of the surrounding landscape is dense beech and cedar forest. Snowmelt filters through those forest soils into the Tokonami River basin, producing exceptionally soft, low-mineral water — the direct engine of Niigata's signature Tanrei Karakuchi (light and dry) character. Soft water suppresses fermentation speed, enabling the extended cold fermentation that keeps the palate clean and the finish razor-sharp.

This Mellow expression is built on Gohyaku-mangoku rice — Niigata's workhorse variety — fermented with proprietary yeast G901 via the sokujo moto starter method, then tank-aged in stainless steel and pasteurized before bottling at 15–16% ABV. Where most breweries treat entry-level sake as a commodity, Kirinzan applies the same terroir logic here as in its Junmai Daiginjo tier — the Mellow format is a deliberate argument that everyday table sake deserves the same craft attention as prestige expressions. The 300 ml format delivers that argument without commitment.