Old and new culture

In recent years, advances in brewing, storage, and refrigeration technologies have made it possible to enjoy fresh sake that is light, fresh, and fruity. In the days when storage technology had not advanced so much, sake was left to mature by the forces of nature and enjoyed as KOSHU(aged Sake), which was a familiar culture. Today, when fresh sake is the mainstream, aged sake is both old and new culture. Please read on for some things to keep in mind when purchasing aged sake.

Date of manufacture. (製造年月日)

The “Date of manufacture” on the label is not the “date the sake was acctualy made.” It indicates “the date the sake was bottled, labeled, and ready for shipping.” It is common for aged sake to be labeled with the most recent year and month of manufacture.

Sold as aged sake has the brewing year clearly indicated, but since there is no obligation to indicate the brewing year, so there are some sake that cannot be determined when it was brewed from the label. We have tried to indicate the brewing year in this site as much as possible by asking the brewer.

Sediment/lees

When aged sake is left to stand, the components in the sake may change over time and a black, white, cottony or waxy substance called lees may settle out. This lees that accumulates at the bottom of the bottle is not mold and is not harmful to health even if drunk. It is also not a very unpleasant taste, so you can drink it.

Some people enjoy collecting only the lees.

Bottling

Aged sake is produced in small quantities and bottled by hands. The liquid level of the same product may vary, but it will never be less than the indicated capacity.

Other

Products stored in ready-to-ship conditions will experience weathering, sagging, burning, and color shifts on the outer box and label due to the age of the label and outer box. In addition, cold-stored products may be strongly affected by condensation during the summer. We hope that you will enjoy this as one of the texture of aged sake.

Japanese sake that is stored in small bottles, such as TO-BIN(18 lt. glass bottle) and ISSHO-BIN(1.8 lt. glass bottle), matures differently in each bottle. When the sake is further divided into smaller bottles for shipping, the taste may differ from bottle to bottle, even for the same product.

Japanese sake matures differently depending on temperature, volume, container, and vibration. Even if a bottle is stored in a cellar, there will be a difference in taste between a bottle near the ground and a bottle two meters above. For this reason, some products are blended to ensure a certain degree of consistency in quality, while others are shipped as is.

I think it’s one of the pleasures to enjoy the power of nature and the flow of time that can’t go according to human wishes.

　Some of what I have written here may need to be improved. However, at Inishie Sake Brewery, we believe that these are also interesting aspects of old and aged sake that existed in a certain period of time. We hope that you will understand this point and experience the charm of old and aged sake.

Please do not consider this as a reason for making a claim or returning an item.