Miyoshino Shuzo is an extremely small-scale family brewery run by the young brewer Hashimoto Teruaki. This brewery produces around 36.000 litres of sake per year, the brewery is located by the Yoshino river in the ancient capital of Nara. The mountain village of Yoshino is Japan’s most renowned area for its famous cherry-blossom viewing spot and as the best producer of cedar-wood cask, used by most breweries for making cask-sake (taru-sake). Teruaki Hashimoto stepped up to take control of the family business and set them on a path that has seen the rebirth of Hanatomoe as a sake of character, body and a true sense of place.

This Hanatomoe sake is made by using the unique medieval bodaimoto brewing method of Nara breweries, this refreshing has retained the wild and flowery character of young sake.

Bodai-moto is one of the oldest fermentation methods, nowadays, it is very rare, but some sake is still made using this method.

To create Bodai-moto, raw rice and a bit of steamed rice are left to soak in a small tub with water. While soaking, this water becomes rich in natural lactic acids given off by latic acid bacteria. After about three days, the rice is removed from the water and steamed. Next, in the Moto tank, the Latic acid rich water is mixed with the steamed rice, some koji rice and yeast to create the moto. The latic acid in the water kills wild yeast and stray bacteria in the moto and allows the sake yeast to propagate without much microbial competition.

This sake is unfiltered, undiluted, unpasteurized, no yeast added (made with natural yeast). The resulting sake is high in acidity like tart green apples, yet is well-balanced and complex. Full-bodied, rich koji-rice driven aromatics, broad sweetness with an earthy base.