Sake & brews ── Nihonshu (sake)
Genshu
Genshu — undiluted, cask-strength sake
Sake bottled straight from the press without any water added. Ordinary sake is diluted down to around 15% alcohol, but genshu skips that step, coming in at roughly 18 to 20% and carrying a noticeably concentrated flavor as a result.
What it's made of
Sake fresh from the press often comes in around 20% alcohol, considerably stronger than what usually reaches the shelf. Ordinary sake gets water added to bring it down to roughly 15%, but genshu skips that dilution. The result is said to be a more concentrated flavor, a thicker, richer body, and a finish that lingers longer, sometimes resistant enough to alcohol content that it won't fully freeze.
How it's made
Because it's bottled exactly as it comes off the press, every step besides the dilution matches ordinary sake production. With the higher alcohol content, drinkers are said to favor small, slow pours, or to add ice or water themselves to dial in the strength they prefer, sometimes tasting it side by side with the same brewery's standard bottling.
Why it took this shape
Sake in its natural state has always carried this higher strength, and it's said to be the dilution added afterward, for easier drinking, that came later as an extra step. Genshu is described as bottling that undiluted form directly, offering a way to taste the full, unmoderated force of what the brewery actually produced, and it's said to reach shelves almost always in glass rather than cans.
Before you go
- Enjoying a bussanten (regional products fair)A guide to what's sold at a bussanten (regional products fair), how to find one, when it gets crowded, shelf life and taking food home, and how to fit one around a trip.
- How to use an antenna shopA guide to what's sold at an antenna shop, its restaurant or eat-in counters, its tourist-information role, the cluster of shops around Ginza and Yurakucho, and how to use one before a trip or for last-minute souvenirs.
- Sake brewery tours in Nada GogoNada Gogo, spreading from Kobe to Nishinomiya in Hyogo Prefecture, is said to be one of Japan's leading sake-producing areas. Many breweries here have visitor facilities open for touring.
Dishes in the same style
- Akita no SakeAkita sake, brewed with soft water in deliberate contrast to Nada's hard water, aiming for a mellow, delicate character. Breweries buried in snow are said to gain a natural insulating effect from it, a tradition of slow, low-temperature fermentation built around that climate.
- Daiginjo-shuSake made from rice milled to 50% or less with brewing alcohol added — among the officially defined categories, the deepest level of milling, aimed at a pronounced aroma and light body, born of elaborate brewing techniques honed for tasting competitions.