Sake Spotlight!

Kurosawa Junmai Kimoto Sake

$28.99 for the 720ml bottle
Junmai Kimoto Sake

The Kurosawa Jummai Kimoto Sake is the product of one of the most powerful forces in modern times — an enterprising Japanese businessman.

Jun Tanaka was an importer who, in 1996, began a search for a sake that would best fit the American palate. He eventually found what he wanted in a brewery run by the Kurosawa family in the mountains of Nagano, in the southwest of Honshu (the main island). The Kurosawas were making a kimoto style sake named Izutucho. Kimoto sakes require a labor intensive process in creating the sake starter that then produces a rich, nutty sake. Over the next two years, Tanaka worked with the Kurosawas to dial the Izutucho into what he perceived Americans wanted. Finally satisfied with where they ended up, Tanaka rebranded the Izutucho after its brewers and launched the Kurosawa Kimoto Sake.

We can see what Takaka was going for. While so many good sakes go for subtler and subtler flavor profiles, the Kurosawa Kimoto has a (we’re tempted to say) rich taste that swings between nutty and red apple. This is a sake for people who want to have a little more heft in their glass.