Shiraki Tsunesuke Shoten, founded in 1835 in Gifu City, made the pivotal decision in 1971 to specialize almost exclusively in aged sake, or koshu, at a time when no other Japanese brewery was pursuing this path seriously. Darumamasamune is aged at room temperature inside earthen storehouses that naturally cycle between four degrees in winter and twenty-six degrees in summer, accelerating the slow oxidative maturation that gives the sake its amber hue and complex depth. The brewery offers vintages ranging from three to ten years, as well as blends incorporating sake from the 1970s and 1980s.
