Sake & brews ── Nihonshu (sake)
Ginjo-shu
Ginjo — alcohol-added sake milled to 60% or less
Sake made from rice milled to 60% or less, with brewing alcohol added and the mash fermented slowly at low temperature — said to bring out fruit-like aromas and a light body, a technique honed partly through competitions judged on fragrance.
Lineage
What it's made of
Rice milled to 60% or less has brewing alcohol added to it. The milling standard matches junmai ginjo, but the added alcohol is said to lift the aroma further and lighten the body. An apple- or pear-like ginjo fragrance is considered the hallmark, and the style is said to suit slow sipping from a small cup, served chilled. It tends to be priced a little below its junmai ginjo counterpart.
How it's made
Ginjo brewing ferments the mash at a lower temperature over a longer stretch than usual. Slow, cool fermentation is said to preserve the aromatic compounds the yeast produces, and the brewing alcohol added just before pressing is said to help draw that fragrance out further. The extra time and labor involved are said to keep output relatively small, and how the koji turns out is said to shape the whole result.
Why it took this shape
Ginjo brewing itself is said to have been refined alongside improving rice-milling technology and the elaborate mashes built for tasting competitions, and the 60%-or-less milling with added alcohol became the formal standard when the naming system was reorganized in 1989 — a technique built for competitions judged on fragrance, formalized into its own named category and now a fixture as a gift bottle too.
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.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Contrast
- 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.
- Honjozo-shuSake made from rice milled to 70% or less, with a small, capped amount of brewing alcohol added — no more than 10% of the white rice's weight — said to lighten the aroma and leave a crisper finish. Considered the most accessible entry point among the officially defined categories.