Private Lab Nirugame
⏳ Drinking Window
Typically best enjoyed within 1–3 years of release to appreciate its vibrant acidity and fresh, complex profile.
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
roasted pork belly, grilled mackerel, aged hard cheeses
✨ Technical Specifications
Part of Aramasa's avant-garde 'Private Lab' series, 'Nirugame' (meaning 'Nirvana Turtle') is a revolutionary sake that challenges the modern convention of highly polished rice. While premium sake often polishes away the outer layers of the rice grain, Nirugame is intentionally polished to just 90%, leaving the vast majority of the grain intact. This ancient-style approach, combined with Aramasa's signature Kimoto starter method, fermentation in traditional cedar wooden casks (kioke), and the legendary Kyokai No. 6 yeast, yields a sake of extraordinary complexity. It boasts a striking, cider-like acidity, deep umami, and a textured, rustic profile that pays homage to historical brewing techniques while remaining thoroughly modern.
🍾 About the Producer
Established in 1852 by Uhei Sato in Akita Prefecture, Aramasa Shuzo stands as one of Japan's most revolutionary and revered artisanal producers. The brewery earned historic distinction in 1930 when its in-house culture was isolated as Kyokai No. 6, the oldest surviving yeast strain in active distribution. Under eighth-generation kuramoto Yusuke Sato, who took over in the late 2000s, Aramasa embarked on an uncompromising renaissance. Sato committed strictly to pure Junmai brewing, utilizing exclusively local Akita-grown rice cultivated without chemical pesticides, including over 30 hectares farmed in the Uyashinai district. Reviving traditional Edo-period techniques, all fermentations rely purely on indigenous lactic bacteria via the kimoto method and take place entirely in wooden cedar vats (kioke). Fermented using only pristine soft local mountain water and Kyokai No. 6, Aramasa's sakes—such as the iconic unpasteurized No. 6 series, the terroir-driven Colors collection, and the experimental Private Lab bottlings like Amaneko—are globally benchmarked for their electrifying acidity, pristine structural tension, and vinous elegance.
🍷 ABV
13%