Moonlight is superb example of a full-flavoured, sweet nigori (cloudy) sake from Yamatogawa Shuzo. Nigorizake is made simply by coarse-filtering fermented sake to only partially remove the rice lees from the mixture. This results in a sake with a dense mouthfeel, a heady fragrance and a delicious, rice-forward sweetness from the remaining lees. Moonlight is full-bodied and weighty on the palate with high acidity and amino acidity elegantly balanced with the sweetness of the residual rice.

In terms of how thick this nigorizake is, it’s thick enough to feel the rice lees in your mouth but not so thick to noticeably change the viscosity of the liquid. The rice lees are also generally larger than a lot of nigorizake so it feels more like rice grains suspended in sake rather than a thicker overall liquid (a bit like amazake if you’ve ever tried that).

The rice used is home-grown, Fukushima rice Yume no Kaori (Geek note: Yume no Kaori’s large shimpaku and low protein content means the residual rice will be sweeter).

Moonlight is best served chilled and its thick & silky texture pairs wonderfully with spicy foods (try curry!).

1 x 720ml 16%ABV