TAMAGAWA IBUSHIGIN | The Kinoshita Brewery

Each individual bottle has its own unique label
cut from vintage kimono fabric

Kyoto’s remote Tango Peninsula is known for its harsh winters and fine rice.
The Kinoshita family brewery has been making sake there with soft spring water for almost two hundred years.
The brand which has been nurtured by the local people is Tamagawa.

Today, Tamagawa sake is not only enjoyed by the local people, but by Nihonshu fans throughout Japan and across the world.
Its idiosyncratic brews are prized for their tremendous adaptability with food and stunningly variable expressions as serving temperature changes.

Many Tamagawa products have an extra dash of character from the secret ingredient, time.
Tamagawa sake evolves and grows from the moment is pressed.
The Ibushigin project showcases the most intriguing and exciting results of this process.
Ibushigin (literally “smoked silver”,) refers to the beautiful burnish that the precious metal takes on over time.
Savour the lustre that only years of ageing can bring.

Spontaneous Fermentation, aged unrefrigerated.

Ibushigin, written with the characters for “smoked silver”, signifies an understated beauty that comes only with age – like the lustre that only time can bring to silver as it oxidizes. This is our metaphor for the depth and subtlety that only aged sake can offer.

For ease and safety, orthodox contemporary sake brewing uses pure yeast cultures and lactic acid. But much of our sake is made adding nothing but water, rice and rice koji, thanks to the power of the micro-organisms living in the earth-walled wooden buildings where Tamagawa sake has been made since 1842. We call this time-consuming and risky pre-modern style of brewing “Spontaneous Fermentation”.

Long years at room temperature after pasteurization have given this sake lovely colour and smoky aromatics. The natural punch of Spontaneous Fermentation when young has been softened with the transparency that only long-term ageing can bring.

Just as we haven’t relied on refrigeration in creating this sake, so we find that it drinks better in higher temperature ranges, room temperature or heated. We recommend trying it at a variety of temperatures to enjoy the shifting facets of its flavour and aroma.

Tamagawa Ibushigin Aged Sake Project, #2

2010, Batch 43. Spontaneous Fermentation, aged unrefrigerated.

Enjoy this unique expression, born from the power of Spontaneous Fermentation and more than a decade of ageing at all-natural temperature.

Price　：　30,000yen (After tax 33,000yen)

Alcohol	15-15.9%
Ingredients	Rice(Domestic), rice koji(Domestic rice)
Size	720ml

Each bottle has its own one-of-a-kind label

Bringing the deeper pleasures that only come with the years, Tamagawa Ibushigin Aged Sake Project.
In this release, we have combined the subtle depths of matured sake
with selected cloth labels cut from vintage kimonos.
No two labels are alike, each unique pattern making a fitting decoration for this unique sake.

Tamagawa Ibushigin Aged Sake Project.

“Jewel Dragon” 2008, unpasteurized

Junmai Daiginjo made with ambient yeast, aged unpasteurized at low temperature.
Ginjo finesse combined with the power of fermentation driven by natural microorganisms.

Price ： 30,000yen (After tax 33,000yen) Sold out

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