十九 19 La fee des fleurs

One of Japanese sake's most visually and conceptually distinctive seasonal releases, the La Fee des Fleurs expression from Ozawa Sake Brewery's Juku 19 label derives its signature blush-pink color from red yeast, beni koji, an extraordinarily rare ingredient in sake production that adds a natural tartness and fruity acidity unlike any conventional yeast. Shirakaba Nishiki rice from Nagano Prefecture is brewed into an origarami muroka nama genshu: lightly filtered with fine sediment, uncharcoal-filtered, unpasteurized, and bottled at full strength. Low in alcohol and lightly effervescent, it carries floral, berry-tart sweetness that settles in the glass like cherry blossom petals in still air.