# Niigata, Japan

I bought my first bottle this season at Hachikura in Nagamori, where Hakkai Brewery is located. It has a clean alcoholic aroma and taste that is typical of junmai sake.

It is said to be a limited edition sake for registered stores. Purchased at Kanazawa-ya in Shiozawa. The color is almost transparent, the aroma is mild and not bad, and the taste is tangy and seemingly fizzy.

This time, it is a special junmai that has been aged for two years at the koji shop of Hachikaisan Honten. The aroma is subdued, but has a nice aroma of soft yeast. The color is colored by two years of aging

This May, the "Tokujun" nama-zume is released every year as a summer sake. Now, I had to decide whether to buy this year's freshly brewed or the one-year aged one on the line!

The long-established Niigata brewery, whose style has become old-fashioned and declining, has recently introduced Blue Bottle's Kawafui and Green Bottle's Kawafui to meet modern taste preferences.

Purchased at Muikamachi Aeon. It is a sake from the Tamagawa Sake Brewery in the neighboring city of Uonuma, but I had never seen the label before. When I looked at the distributor, it was Takano Sohonten K.K. of Nagano Prefecture.

Hakkai Brewery's summer sake is now ready. It is the season of "Summer Jun" again this year. Delivered right from our directly-managed stores. This year's rice is hidari and hard

This will be a lineup of modern acceptable sake from the Ishimoto Sake Brewery, which has dominated Niigata Prefecture, or Japan in the past. No longer classified as Tokkyu or First Class sake.

It is a local sake from Minamiuonuma City. It is slightly colored, which is common in sake, and has little alcohol smell, probably because it is pure rice. The taste is dry, but it is a low-polished sake.

Purchased at an Aeon in Muikamachi, a little over 1000 yen, tastes a little spicy, but one word, not soppy, that's its characteristic. It is Niigata Meikozo from Ojiya. Iwa