思凛 | SHIRIN
Premier Oaked Sake
2021
¥41,800
Concept
Elegance, provided by nature
With Shirin, raw sake rice is polished to 18% for a pronounced clarity of flavor before storage in a mizunara Hokkaido Japanese oak barrel. Hokkaido, known for its pristine natural environs and rural charm, produces these oak barrels that imbue the sake with a forest-like aroma and open the door to a new world of sake.
Dignity in tension
The elegant aroma of a ginjo sake meshes incongruously with oak, resulting in an intriguing elegance. Beyond this tension is a dignity portending splendid flavors.
Profile
A new elegance in oak
Shirin promises layers of aroma and flavor. The flavor is bold and tart in the mouth, smooth and creamy, with pleasant, smoky notes from oak cask storage, an intriguing bitterness and hints of mineral. The flavors are in superb balance, playing off the nuances imparted by oak casks for a truly novel experience.
AROMA
At first, the aroma brings forward fresh fruits, then botanical hints. Aerated, there’s a creaminess that meets the oaken barrel’s smoky, toasty character.
MOUTHFEEL
Shirin’s texture is smooth and creamy on the tongue, with a lively tartness that spreads and lingers.
FINISH
On the finish, an elegant fragrance, bitter almond and a regal quality that lasts. Tartness lingers, bringing balance to diverse flavors.
PAIRING
The faint aroma of oak and a delicate yet firm core flavor lend this drink to pairing with oven-roasted meats.
Manufacturing
An innovative approach: Oak barrel storage
A perfect match of ginjo and oak
Polished to 18%, this junmai daiginjo is stored in Japanese oak (mizunara) to take on a whole new character unlike any sake before it. A deeply-embedded aroma wafts throughout, and Shirin takes on a sharpness characteristic of the Japanese oak it’s housed in for a flavor that is at once tense and dignified.
Nine-day oak storage brings exquisite aroma
Stored as raw sake in oak barrels for nine days, Shirin unabashedly takes on woody nuance. A strong oak flavor at three to four days melts into the sake at five or more, bringing flavors that surprise even the brewers themselves.
Meltwater brings unrivaled quality
Shirin is made with meltwater from one of Japan’s most famed mountains, Mt. Gassan. It sees some of the heaviest snowfall in the country, and the resulting meltwater is soft, clear and ideal for sake making.
