Gassan no Yuki Junmai Ginjyo [1 Koku - 37]

"Snow of Gassan" from Yamagata Prefecture's Ginrei Gassan Shuzo. Dewa 33 (dewasansan) milled to 50%, SMV +1, acidity 1.3, amino acidity 1.2, 16% abv. Very fresh, clean nose, almost wintergreen and gumdrops. Sweet, wide, anise entry, narrowing over the mid-palate, with melon and crunchy sugar, and dissipating into a finish of starchy, dry acidity... a quickly dissolving flavour-sword stabbing the palate. Delicious.

In its current form, this Gassan Shuzo (not to be confused with the Gassan from Shimane Prefecture, which is actually Yoshida Shuzo) is a youngster, founded in only 1972. However, it is the result of a merger of three older breweries, with a combined history going back to the beginning of the 18th Century.

And what of Dewa 33? This is a special sake rice developed in Yamagata, such that the starchy "white heart" of the rice kernel, the shinpaku, is all that remains after milling to 50% (whereas other varietals, even at this Daiginjo qualifying level, may still not be pure starch.) Consequently, a characteristic trait for sakes made from this rice, brewed only in Yamagata, is a notable sweetness on the palate, even if the sake is brewed dry. A number of Yamagata brewers release a junmai ginjo Dewa 33, brewed with a Yamagata yeast, and the bottles easily identifiable by a sticker with three white mountains (san san) on a blue field: