What is old sake?

What is old sake?

Taste that changes with long-term aging

Long-term aging produces sweetness, aroma, and sourness, allowing you to enjoy a rich and delicious flavor. It would be difficult to make domestic aged sake made in that year again.

The taste and aroma will vary depending on the temperature of the year, the way the air blows into the tanks inside the warehouse, and the composition of the raw materials.

The taste of fine sake from ancient times is expressed using three elements : sweetness, sourness, and aroma .
<Sweetness> The stronger the caramel-like sweetness, the more you can taste the aged sake.
<Acidity> The higher the acidity, the sharper it will be and the more compatible it will be with food.
<Aroma> You can feel a variety of aromas such as fruits and spices that you would not expect from Japanese alcoholic beverages.

When all three elements are high, it feels rich, and when all three elements are low, it feels light. A relatively high level of any one of these elements will result in a distinctive drink.

It changes depending on the changes in the ingredients contained, but it is said that the higher the ingredient concentration, the longer the aging period, and the greater the difference in storage temperature, the darker the color will be.

What is old sake?

Japanese traditional culture with a long history

The oldest document that mentions aged sake is said to be a letter written by Nichiren Shonin during the Kamakura period.
(Contents praising the taste of the believers who sent old sake)
After that, aged sake appeared in various texts from the Edo period, indicating that it was prized as a special sake.

However, in the Meiji period, the government adopted a stone tax on sake breweries in order to stabilize finances. High taxes were imposed on production volume rather than sales volume, and tax increases were repeated during wars such as the Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War, and World War II.

Furthermore, due to chronic food shortages during the war, it became difficult to store aged sake. Although the stone tax was abolished in 1944, in addition to continued shortages of supplies, advances in rice milling techniques for producing delicious new sake meant that the time-consuming process of aging sake became a thing of the past.

Later, in the late Showa era and the Heisei era, when the environment for aging sake finally began to improve, breweries producing high-quality aged sake began to appear. After 100 years of blank periods between the Taisho, Showa, and Heisei eras, we have now entered the Reiwa era, and now is the time for all those involved in sake to come together and spread the culture and appeal of Japan's proud aged sake to the world. .

KOSYU to the world!

Ancient Bishu

What is the delicious sake of ancient times?

Brand introduction

What is Inishie no Bishu?

A select brand of aged sake aged for over 10 years.

We have gifted sake, shochu, plum wine, and awamori that have been carefully selected by a sommelier after visiting more than 100 breweries across Japan, and which are generally aged for at least 10 years.

This is an aged sake that you can use to remember time for your loved ones or on special occasions.