054 Atago No Matsu Tokubetsu Honjozo

Atago No Matsu Tokubetsu Honjozo, brewed by Niizawa Jozoten in Osaki City, Miyagi Prefecture, is a honjozo built around the brewery's proprietary flat-milling (henpei seimai) technique, which polishes the rice more evenly than conventional milling to strip away off-flavors while preserving a fuller kernel. The result is a remarkably clean, refined honjozo for its price point, showing gentle banana notes on the official tasting sheet (many drinkers instead pick up ripe melon), with a smooth, polished mouthfeel and no harsh alcohol edge despite being an alcohol-added style. It won a trophy at the International Wine Challenge (IWC) 2022, the same year the brewery itself was ranked the world's top sake producer in an international ranking. Exceptional value for an everyday food sake, with no drop-off in quality from first pour to last.