Sharaku Junmai Ginjo Banshu Aiyama 2025

Miyasaka Meijo is located in Aizu City, Fukushima Prefecture, a tourist city famous for Tsuruga Castle (one of Japan's 100 most famous castles). Founded in 1955, it has only been in business for about 70 years, but it is one of the top 50 sake breweries in Japan, demonstrating its extraordinary capabilities. After separating from the long-established Haruka Brewery in 1955, the main brand produced is “Aizu Miyasaka”. Miyasaka Brewery uses well water for its sake production, which is a hard water with extremely low iron content. Iron can damage the colour, aroma, and taste of sake, so using well water effectively enhances the flavour of the rice. Additionally, Miyasaka Brewery is located in a geographically advantageous basin area with significant temperature fluctuations, which enhances the richness of the sake's flavour during maturation. Thanks to these favourable natural conditions, “Aizu Miyasaka” has remained a best-selling sake since its launch.

In 2007, Miyasaka Meijo purchased the Sharaku brand from the bankrupt Higashiyama Shuzo and continued production. The current president, the fourth-generation brewery owner Miyamori Yoshihiro, inherited the family business after completing formal training. After studying at the Fukushima Prefecture Sake Academy for three years, he began independently brewing the “Sharaku” series in 2007 and took full control of all brewing operations at the brewery in 2012. After inheriting the family business, Miyamori Yoshihiro established a new management system, including major transformations in hardware, interior design, and brewing data management. After these changes, there was significant improvement in brewing technology and quality control, further enhancing the already excellent “Sharaku” and “Aizu Miyasui” brands. Following its gold award at the “National New Sake Appraisal Competition,” 'Shakura' went on to sweep the top prizes in both the “Junmai” and “Junmai Ginjo” categories at the 2014 “Sake Competition” within just two years.

Currently, ‘Shiraku’ and ‘Aizu Miyasaka’ have achieved remarkable results in national new sake evaluations and on SAKETIME, clearly demonstrating Miyasaka's exceptional brewing capabilities and President Miyamori's remarkable perseverance in never giving up.

This sake is made using the extremely rare ‘Banshu Aiyama’ rice, known as the ‘phantom rice,’ and is only produced once a year in limited quantities. It has a rice polishing ratio of 50%, and after filtration, it is bottled after a single heating process (single fire-heating). This results in a stable sake that retains the freshness and fullness of a raw sake.