Tokubetsu Honjozo Nama Sake (300 ml)

Saito Shuzo has brewed along the Takase River in Fushimi, Kyoto since 1895, drawing from Fusui — a soft, low-iron underground spring beneath the Momoyama Hills designated among Japan's top 100 water sources. That mineral-lean water is the structural backbone of Fushimi's onna-zake tradition: sake that is mellow, texturally smooth, and gently aromatic rather than assertive.

This Tokubetsu Honjozo is brewed with Iwai rice, a Kyoto-exclusive variety developed in 1933, revived in 1988, and sourced almost entirely through Eikun — the brewery controls roughly 40% of all Iwai grown in the prefecture, making this terroir expression genuinely unreplicable outside Kyoto. Fermentation follows sandan jikomi (three-addition) cold-fermentation under the direction of a Nanbu Toji guild brewmaster, using Kyoto-sourced yeast.

The critical distinction here is nama (unpasteurised) bottling: unlike the majority of Eikun's range, which undergoes standard hiire heat treatment, this expression skips pasteurisation entirely, preserving the enzymatic vitality of the fresh-pressed sake. The result is a livelier, more immediate character — the soft water's roundness intact, but with a raw, unguarded edge that dissipates quickly once opened. Drink cold and promptly.