Nakano Shuzo, the brewery of "Chiebijin LOVE PINK ,Nigori, Junmai," is only about a 20-minute drive from Oita Airport. Kitsuki City is a castle town where the atmosphere of the Edo period still remains in the streets. Since it was founded in 1874, the brewery has continued to produce a brand of sake called "Chiebijin," named after the name of the proprietress at the time, Chie.
Normally, nigori sake or cloudy sake is cloudy white, but the outstanding feature of "Chiebijin LOVE PINK ,Nigori ,Junmai" is its strawberry milk color, which is made with red yeast. For red yeast, the Brewing Association of Japan website lists it as an association yeast (red yeast for sake/only for pink cloudy sake). The properties and characteristics of red yeast include: 1) it is an adenine-requiring yeast strain of sake yeast, and 2) it produces red pigment in the mash, indicating that it produces a low-alcohol, sweet, soft-type sake.
The rice and rice malt are made from "Hinohikari," a delicious edible rice grown in Sankou-cho, Kitsuki City, and the natural water used for brewing, which comes from 200 meters underground, has won the Monde Selection gold medal for three consecutive years.
The strawberry milk color of "Chiebijin LOVE PINK,Nigori, Junmai" is also the color of cherry blossoms. The color tickles women's hearts just in time for spring, and I was very interested in the taste.
As an accompaniment, I chose was cold marinated tomatoes with Tosa vinegar.
Chiebijin, LOVE PINK, Nigori,Junmai
Pure rice cloudy sake
Rice polishing ratio 70％
Alcohol content 12%
Rice: produced in Kitsuki City, Oi Prefecture
Koji Rice (malted rice): produced in Kitsuki City, Oita Prefecture
Sake yeast: Red yeast
Appearance: strawberry milk, cherry color
Aroma: modest, rice-derived aroma of rice cake and shiratama rice powder
Taste: milky, strawberry-like sweetness, soft acidity, with a thick texture.
Accompanying tomatoes marinated in Tosa vinegar is topped with shiso leaves and dried bonito flakes, and tasted refreshing with the nice harmony of the soft acidity and umami of dried bonito broth sink into the tomatoes.
Tosa vinegar refers to a mixture of vinegar, soy sauce, and sugar or sweet rice wine added bonito broth.