Yoshinogawa Gensen Karakuchi

Last Updated: 7/14/2020

At a Glance: For fans of super dry sake. Super mellow, grainy, medium-body, and food-friendly. Great match with salmon and tempura!

Yoshinogawa Gensen is a prime example of the Niigata karakuchi style. It’s medium-light, food-friendly, and finishes with modest bitterness. Niigata’s famed Gohyakumangoku rice is used alongside alcohol-loving #11 Yeast. These guys don’t quit until all the alcohol is fermented out which creates a very dry sake.

Gensen is great for the sake beginner, the tanrei karakuchi crowd, as well as on the table. Nearly 500 years of brewing history and experience is noteworthy and worth respect.

Pairing/ Service

Yoshinogawa Gensen works well with most items from the sushi bar, plus tempura, soy-based ramen, and tonkatsu. Shines with salmon and trout and other fatty fish. Other than the richest dishes– Yoshinogawa Gensen is made for the table.

Serve either chilled or warm. O-choko will ease the bitterness and provide more balance. White wine glasses will allow access to the muted aromatics and will highlight this brew’s dry nature. Guinomi, as always, will lead you somewhere in the middle.

Tech & Production Info

Rice: Gohyakumangoku milled to 65%    Yeast: #11

SMV: +7   Acid: 1.2   Amino Acid:    ABV: 15%

Futsuu-shu Karakuchi

Sake One Tech      Official Tech

the Yoshinogawa Brewery

Yoshinogawa 吉乃川   Location: Nagaoka, Niigata

EST: 1548    President: Koji Kawakami

Yoshinogawa is the oldest brewery in Niigata. Their on-site well is famous: Tenka Kanrosen 天下甘露泉. The company grows its rice in the summer and brews in the winter and uses only Niigata-grown rice. They primarily use the Gohyakumangoku and Koshi Tanrei strains. In the brewery, they combine modern technology with traditional hands-on techniques. They take a very high-tech approach to koji cultivation. They have several different koji rooms that they use to produce different types of sake. Yoshinogawa also produces yeast commercially, which they of course use in-house. This yeast production extends to baking and other types of alcohol fermentation. Their style is classic Niigata/Echigo: light and dry.

official site– English    Timothy Sullivan gold     

 

Label Translation

Yoshinogawa 吉乃川  Gensen 厳選

Karakuchi 辛口  Futsuu-shu 普通酒

Niigata-ken 新潟県  Echigo 越後

Tenka Kanrosen 天下甘露泉

Gohyakumangoku 五百万石