Tenryohai Utashiro Hiyori ‘Beautiful Day’

Utashiro Hiyori ("Beautiful Day"), from Tenryohai Shuzo's Gagakudai series, is a direct-pressed nakadori (middle-cut) sake bottled unpasteurized at a notably gentle 12.5% ABV. Where much of Niigata sake leans light and crisp (tanrei), Hiyori pushes that further into new territory: a light, subtly sweet, easy-drinking style built for casual, any-occasion sipping. The nose opens with hints of green banana, then a soft effervescence carries through delicate sweetness and rice-driven umami, tightened at the close by a clean, crisp acidity. Brewed by Tenryohai Shuzo on Sado Island under the leadership of young president Senichi Kato, who took over the near-shuttered brewery in 2018 and revived it around the guiding idea of "brewing smiles."