Sake Miyoshino Shuzo Hanatomoe Usunigori Nara

This is a lightly hazy sake, with a rich texture, and deep intense flavors reminiscent of popcorn, nutritional yeast, yogurt, and mango. Hanatomo Usunigori is made with naturally occurring yeast. Using non-commercially cultivated yeasts like this is a rare move in the sake world. For one, it's risky. Sake production in the last hundred or so years has grown to be a highly refined and controlled thing, producing brews of exquisite precision of flavor. Miyoshino Brewery here combines approaches of wild non-interventionism (natty yeast) with a sophisticated and unique 4-stage fermentation process (4-Dan shikomi, for the nerds). Ultimately this is just a long way of getting out that this sake is rich, complex, structured, and very wild, all at once.