Igarashi Shuzou Brewery is in the Saitma Prefecture located at the confluence of the Naguri and Nariki Rivers. This is a rare sake produced using pink yeast. There are two companies within the prefecture, including Igarashi Shuzo using this pink yeast. Pink yeast is very delicate, to the point the pink colour becomes less noticeable when mixed with even the slightest difference in yeast. Because of this delicacy, special tools are used for this sake and has been produced with such care to prevent other yeasts from contaminating it. Don't let cute pink colour fool you, this sake is not as sweet as it looks. It has a balance of sweet and sour taste.

Ota Shuzo Dokan's Umeshu (plum wine) is a joyous drinking experience. Made with one year-old sake instead of soju, and then elevated with the maceration of ume plums and korizuta sugar, this wine manages to be highly drinkable and complex all at once.. Produced by a 5th generation samurai family, it's evident that the decades of precision and dedication have given Ota Shuzo Dokan the skillset to make the finest umeshu available in Australia. Not as sweet as other umeshu, this wine is perfect in cocktails or as a simple, solo treat, served cold over ice. Once opened the Ota 'Umeshu' will last well for at least 10 - 12 weeks, ideally in a refrigerator.

The ‘Furu-Tsuru-Ume’ is made with Nankō Ume fruit from Wakayama. The fruit is steeped in Sake for 4 months, then aged in a tank for 2 years. It is then placed in used oak barrels for further ageing of at least 8 years. This is one of the oldest wood-aged Umeshu in the market. A rich and complex example of Umeshu with a spicy oak character on the finish, this is best served slightly chilled in a wine glass to appreciate the intense and complex aromas and flavours on display here. Once opened the Heiwa 'Furu-tsuru-ume Umeshu 10YO' will last well for at least 12 - 15 weeks, ideally in a refrigerator.

Tsuru-Ume series are brewed and blended with the long experience and the rich skill and recipe in the liquor sprits brewing works of Heiwa Shuzou brewery. The most specific idea of living in this modern world stands on the understanding of “Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability.” In this idea, the Tsuru-Ume series are hand-crafted in the concept of LOHAS style. That is why this series is not for mass production and easy consumption. You will know it when you try! Among the products produced in Wakayama prefecture, Heiwa Shuzo Tsuru-ume Suppai Umeshu is a new plum sake from Wakayama Prefecture, the plum heartland of Japan. The Heiwa Shuzō brewery has its own orchards and sticks to the principle of slow-brew. For this exquisite and full-taste umeshu, three times more plums have been used than usual in this recipe and the plums have been kept in the sake for 3 years, giving extra plum taste and aroma and making it extra sour or 'Suppai'. Cool it and enjoy it straight or on the rocks. After opening, store in a refrigerator and drink as soon as possible.

Tsuru-Ume series are brewed and blended with the long experience and the rich skill and recipe in the liquor sprits brewing works of Heiwa Shuzou brewery. The most specific idea of living in this modern world stands on the understanding of “Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability.” In this idea, the Tsuru-Ume series are hand-crafted in the concept of LOHAS style. That is why this series is not for mass production and easy consumption. You will know it when you try! Among the products produced in Wakayama prefecture is Heiwa Shuzo Tsuru-ume Natsumikan (Summer Orange). The Natsumikan or Japanese summer orange is somewhere between sour orange and mandarin, the flavour is bitter and sweet together and refreshingly pleasant not unlike seville orange marmalade. Cool it and enjoy it straight, on the rocks or with soda. Mandarin pulp may settle or float so you may want to give the bottle a little shake before opening. Store in a cool and dark place away from sunlight to avoid spoiling the taste. After opening, store in a refrigerator and drink as soon as possible.

Product Information: Building upon a rebalancing of the four base botanicals of the drier, flagship Bermutto, Oka Kuru's taken on dry vermouth. OKA Sweet Bermutto incorporates a powerful fifth ingredient: a bitter Japanese plum called ume. Ume’s tart astringency is right at home in this bitter botanical blend and is perfectly complemented and balanced by raw cane sugar from Okinawa. The wine base is Junmai Sake (fermented rice alcohol, not wine). There are five botanicals: Yomogi, yuzu, Kabosu, ume and cane sugar. Yomogi is Japanese wormwood. Yuzu is an acidic aromatic citrus as acidic as a lemon with a flavour that's reminiscent to lemon, grapefruit, and mandarin orange. Kabosu is a very high-acid citrus profile and flavour similar to yuzu and lime. Ume is a tart Japanese green plum. Lastly it's all sweetened with kokuto (Okinawan cane sugar). Oka Kura Bermutto is a uniquely Japanese take on the category of vermouth made from aromatized, shochu-fortified sake. While not technically a vermouth because it is not wine-based, it functions in cocktails as a vermouth should—a botanically-infused, low ABV modifier—and generally bridges a gap between sake, shochu, and vermouth. Maker: Founded by Yuno Hayashi and named for her grandfather, OKA BRAND offers a growing range of distinctly Japanese spirits and liqueurs made from local rice spirits, Junmai sake, and hyper-regional botanicals. Each expression provides not only endless drinking possibilities, but a gateway to Japanese flavours and traditions. Distillery: OKA BRAND spirits and liqueurs are produced by the legendary Tsutsumi Distillery in the Kumamoto Prefecture in Kyushu, Japan. Tsutsumi has been producing shochu for nearly 150 years in the Hitoyoshi Basin just 5 km from the Kuma River, the longest river in Kyushu. It is one of only 28 distilleries certified by the World Trade Organization as a Kuma Shochu producer, a designation similar to the protected designations of origin of Scotch, tequila, and Cognac. The Kuma River is renowned for its reputation as the clearest stream in Japan, lending itself to crafting fine sake and shochu, all from rice grown within the Kuma River system. Influenced by the fortified, aromatized wine producers of Europe while drawing on Japanese tradition, OKA BRAND took the cocktail world by storm with the introduction of their flagship expression, Bermutto. A yuzu liqueur and sweet, ume-based formulation of Bermutto followed, and now with the introduction of rice-based vodkas and gin, OKA offers an even wider range of exceptional products for use in cocktails by the world’s most discerning bartenders and mixologists. Nose - Yeast, Tropical Fruits, Lavendar Unmistakably plummy, evocative of of umeshu and sloe gin with sour cherry, orange peel, and brown sugar. Palate - Rice, Faint Plum, Piquant Peppers On the palate, oolong tea, tart cherry, grapefruit zest, plum. Finish - Yuzu, Grapefruit, Pleasant Bitters Caramel, plum, marzipan, faint sake, lemon, orange

Product Information: Oka Kura Bermutto is a uniquely Japanese take on the category of vermouth made from aromatised, shochu-fortified sake. Technically it's not a vermouth because it is not wine-based, but it works in cocktails as a vermouth should—as a botanically-infusing, low ABV modifier— that bridges a gap between sake, shochu, and vermouth. Oka Kura Bermutto is essentially a dry vermouth. There are four botanicals used in the production of Oka Kura: Yuzu, Kabosu, Sansho peppercorn, and Yomogi. Yuzu is an acidic aromatic citrus as acidic as a lemon with a flavour that's reminiscent to lemon, grapefruit, and Mandarin orange. Kabosu is a very high-acid citrus profile and flavour similar to yuzu and lime. Sansho peppercorn is a peppery and slightly citrusy peppercorn that's relative Sichuan peppercorn only it produces are milder, numbing sensation on the palate. Lastly there's Yomogi – A Japanese wormwood, also known as Japanese mugwort. FYI: Bermutto is a Japanese phonetic spelling of vermouth. The Japanese language has no “v” sound, so the v's in foreign words are written and pronounced with “b” instead. Maker: Founded by Yuno Hayashi and named for her grandfather, OKA BRAND offers a growing range of distinctly Japanese spirits and liqueurs made from local rice spirits, Junmai sake, and hyper-regional botanicals. Each expression provides not only endless drinking possibilities, but a gateway to Japanese flavors and traditions. Distillery: OKA BRAND spirits and liqueurs are produced by the legendary Tsutsumi Distillery in the Kumamoto Prefecture in Kyushu, Japan. Tsutsumi has been producing shochu for nearly 150 years in the Hitoyoshi Basin just 5 km from the Kuma River, the longest river in Kyushu. It is one of only 28 distilleries certified by the World Trade Organization as a Kuma Shochu producer, a designation similar to the protected designations of origin of Scotch, tequila, and Cognac. The Kuma River is renowned for its reputation as the clearest stream in Japan, lending itself to crafting fine sake and shochu, all from rice grown within the Kuma River system. Influenced by the fortified, aromatized wine producers of Europe while drawing on Japanese tradition, OKA BRAND took the cocktail world by storm with the introduction of their flagship expression, Bermutto. A yuzu liqueur and sweet, ume-based formulation of Bermutto followed, and now with the introduction of rice-based vodkas and gin, OKA offers an even wider range of exceptional products for use in cocktails by the world’s most discerning bartenders and mixologists. Nose - Yeast, Tropical Fruits, Lavendar The nose is fruity and yeasty with notes of grapefruit, peach, guava, lavender, and plum. Palate - Rice, Faint Plum, Piquant Peppers On the palate, the sake base is immediately evident with base notes of rice, yeast, and faint plum. Yuzu and sansho peppercorn brighten things up. Finish - Yuzu, Grapefruit, Pleasant Bitters An undercurrent of yomogi provides earthy grapefruit from beginning to end.

Meaning beauty in japanese, Bi is one of Houraisen's flagship sake's. It is a very elegant style of the highest grade of sake, Junmai Daiginjo. Tank matured for 10 months at 10 degrees in order to have a rounder and more mellow character, it has a nose that indicates sweet fruits with the palate showing good balance between the gentle acidity and the sweet fruit flavours.

This Heiwa Shuzo Tsuru-ume Yuzushu is made with a one-year-old Junmai Sake and Yuzu juice, at a 1 : 1 ratio. This is higher than most Yuzushu produced elsewhere. The yuzu fruit is grown in Wakayama and is juiced with its peel, giving all the qualities of the fruit, sweet, sour & bitter. This example has a marvelous full aroma of fresh yuzu, with a zesty, citrus tart character and a fruit sweet and fresh finish. Store Yuzushu in a cool dark place, trying to avoid direct sunlight. Once opened the Heiwa 'Tsuru-ume Yuzushu' will last well for at least 8 - 10 weeks, ideally in a refrigerator.