Meihokikusakari Amakuchi

Shinshu Meijo was founded in 1844 in Ueda City, Nagano, building its brewery beside the Yoda River, a tributary of the Chikuma River, to secure the pure snowmelt water essential to Shinshu-style brewing. The brand Shuho Kikuzakari has been the brewery's flagship for generations, and the amakuchi (sweet) style sits at the fuller, rounder end of the Nagano regional spectrum. Nagano's high-altitude, cold-climate fermentation produces sake with naturally clean acidity and defined sweetness, qualities well suited to the amakuchi designation. Shinshu Meijo has earned 11 gold medals at the Annual Japan Sake Awards over 15 years, making this an everyday expression from a brewery with a consistent competition pedigree.