Kikusui Junmai [1 Koku - 39]

Located in Echigo, Niigata Prefecture, Kikusui is a moderately sized brewery (some 140 employees) founded in 1881. The name, translated as chrysanthemum water, was apparently inspired by a Noh song, Kikujidou, in which the water of the chrysanthemum was considered to bring about longevity and "perpetual youth." So there you have it... Ponce de Leon had it all wrong... it wasn't some babbling brook in Florida, it was a bottle of sake from the Japanese Alps. I can buy that.

Kikusui's Junmai is made from Gohyakumangoku milled to 70%, SMV +1, acidity 1.6, and 15% abv. According to Kikusui, this is their "standard" sake, "designed to compliment (sic) your every day meal." Mild, sweet nose, full-bodied, but drying and clean, with a faint flavour of marshmallow, followed by a clean yet rich finish. Tasty, but funnily, I think time hasn't stopped. Unlike for some.

Pay close attention to the end of the match. Homasho may have been beaten by Shimotori, but he wasn't the real loser:




And while we're on about the sumo, a fond farewell to Chiyotaikai.