
Raku no Yo Yamahai Junmai Unfiltered Raw Unpasteurized Sake
Marui Partnership | Aichi Prefecture
Marui Partnership
Marui Gomei Kaisha, founded in the mid-Edo period in Aichi Prefecture, once sold barrels to Kenbishi. They have brought back their own brand, Raku no Yo, which was once on the verge of disappearance, and are now showing off their unique individuality.
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In Hoteicho, Konan City, Aichi Prefecture, Marui Gomei Kaisha was founded in 2 along Iwakura Kaido (now Yanagi Kaido), a road that was developed by Oda Nobunaga during the Sengoku period and lined with sake shops, miso and soy sauce breweries, and indigo dyers during the Edo period.
Initially, they brewed sake under the brand name "Aratama," and from the Showa period onwards, "Raku no Yo," and sold their products in barrels to "Kenbishi" until 2019. Selling in barrels is a system similar to direct order production from major manufacturers, and as the buyer is decided in advance, there is no loss and it is possible to brew sake in a stable environment. However, on the other hand, the production volume of their own brand "Raku no Yo" decreased, and the contract volume for selling in barrels also gradually decreased. This made current brewer and master brewer, Murase Mikio, feel a sense of crisis.
Realizing that they could not continue relying on barrel sales for long, the brewery was forced to choose between going out of business or strengthening its own brand. The brewery chose to revive the dormant "Raku no Yo" once again. However, there was no point in releasing a sake that was only popular for a short time into the world. Fortunately, they had been selling barrels to Kenbishi for many years, and had established a way of brewing sake that was not influenced by trends, so they decided to change course and make "sake that they themselves think is delicious."
The revived "Raku no Yo" is mellow and rich. It is a one-of-a-kind sake with a rich flavor, strong sweetness and acidity, and a distinctive character. The brewing process uses underground water from the Kiso River system drawn from a well 40 meters underground, and the sake rice is basically Yamada Nishiki from Hyogo Prefecture, polished to 70%.
The brewing method is unified in the Yamahai style, with the greatest feature being the "four-stage fermentation process using hot fermentation." Normal sake is brewed in a three-stage process in which water, rice malt, and steamed rice are poured into the tank in three separate batches to prevent the growth of bacteria, but Raku no Yo is brewed in four batches, with freshly steamed, heated rice being poured in. This method allows the enzymes in the malt, which break down starch, to work more effectively, resulting in a sweet, full-bodied sake. What's more, different rice is used in the fourth stage only, creating a different character. Raku no Yo is brewed without filtering, leaving the original flavor intact.
"Raku no Yo", which has returned in the Reiwa era, continues to steadily increase the number of fans who are attracted to its individuality. The brewer's wish is to make sake that can be drunk for a long time, without blindly increasing the lineup. The restart of "Raku no Yo" is just the beginning of the development into the future that will continue from now on.