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[Kakurei Yukimuro Vintage]
Before refrigerators, people in the Uonuma region buried food in the snow to preserve it. Grains and vegetables, such as sweet potatoes, that matured in these snow chambers had a sweeter taste and deeper flovour thanks to the low-temperature saccharification. inspired by this snow country wisdom, Aoki-Shuzou built the snow chamber in 2017 and named it "Kakurei's Yukimuro".
The cold air from the stored winter snow maintains perfect humidity and temperature levels inside the cellar throughout the year. Storing saké in the "Kakurei's Yukimuro(=snow chamber)" reduces the stress on the saké and allows it to mature in an ideal environment.
Aoki-Shuzou carefully selects only the best saké which has good ageing potential every year and reserves for long-ageing in this Kakurei's Yukimuro.
The vintage 2017 Junmai-Daiginjou had been released after 5 years ageing. The snow ageing in the snow chamber gave the saké a softer taste and smoother mouthfeel. Yamada-Nishiki 100%, rice polishing rate : 37%. Enjoy this saké chilled to a snow-cold temperature in the beginning and appreciate slowly, then the saké naturally warms up in the room environment, then you will enjoy the changes in flavour and aroma.
Kakurei 鶴齢 - 300 years
Established in 1717 in an area with the heaviest snowfall in Niigata Japan, Aoki-shuzou has been brewing classy sake. Their Daiginjou is one of the top-ranked artisanal authentic sake in Japan, and their popular editions are most loved at home and at restaurant in Niigata as a premium brand.
Pioneer of "Raw Type" - Unfiltered, Unpasteirized and Undiluted
Generally, sake is pasteurized twice to stabilize the quality, added some water to make the texture smooth, and filtered to make sake clear. However, thanks to the development of transportation technology and improvement of sake making, today Raw type(unfiltered, unpasteirized and undiluted) sake is getting popular in Japan and even in foreign countries. Actually, Aoki-shuzou is well known as a pioneer of this Raw type. In the 90’s, it was still difficult to distribute Raw type in the market, but Aoki-shuzou had successfully set about commercialization of it in 1998. Then, in mid 2010's Aoki-shuzou's Raw Sake had achieved kind of perfection.
Go Further
Sake is made by the finest techniques among all fermented products in the world. "Parallel multiple fermentation", "Distilled alcohol added", "Pasteurization", "Adding water"... all these traditional techniques have been refined continuously since 8th century. Needless to say, Aoki-shuzou possesses all these traditional techniques. Although they have played the role of top runner of Raw type sake making for these 20 years, now they go back to the basics yet again and are trying to integrate traditional skills and modern techniques to make higher level of sake. Obviously Kakurei is getting more preciseness and delicacy year by year. Aoki-shuzou never stops, and Kakurei goes further.
Snow Cellar
Today many breweries implement temperature control by refrigerator or air-conditioning for their cellar. But, those electric systems cannot provide stable temperature. The temperature goes up and goes down in cycles with noise and vibration.
Aoki-shuzou built "snow cellar" to store sake without electricity. This eco-drive snow cellar is an ideal facility for long-term and low temperature ageing. The cellar is kept at 5℃ throughout the year stably, then Kakurei is polished calmly and little by little without any stress, and unnecessary factors are shaved off from sake. Niigata is an area of heavy snowfall, and Aoki-shuzou cleverly utilizes this unlimited nature's bounty with free of charge, and feedback to the collaboration between nature and human, called sake.
WAGO - Harmonization
Sake brewing cannot be completed alone. There is the chief brewer and young brewers devoting great time and effort, farmers growing rice crops carefully and respectfully, liquor shop and restaurant keepers full of passion and thoughtfulness and the habitual Kakurei Drinkers. We cannot have done it without the “wago” (harmonization) of all of the people above. It has been almost 300 years since Aoki-shuzou has started brewing Kakurei. We highly appreciate all the constant patronage that has helped us continue to brew sake every year for this long without closing for even a year. We will do our utmost to brew good sake to meet your expectations in the years to come. We wish you happiness from the mountainous Uonuma and hope you will be able to continue enjoying great sake. (by Aoki-shuzou)
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