Hakutsuru Junmai Sake 72cl

If you want a sake that feels easy to drink but still has layers to chase, this junmai hits the sweet spot. It’s rice-driven and dry, with soft fruit, a savoury edge, and that clean snap that keeps your next sip loading.

Junmai means it’s made with rice, water, yeast, and koji, no added distilled alcohol. So you get more of that grainy, umami depth that makes sake such a cheat code with food.

• Nose: Steamed rice, pear, honeydew, a little white flower
• Taste: Dry and rice-forward, with melon, apple skin, and a light savoury (umami) feel that makes it seriously food-friendly
• Finish: Clean and lightly peppery, with a gentle mineral note that fades slow

This is the kind of Japanese sake that works whether you’re building a sushi night at home or just want something that won’t bulldoze your palate. It’s also a great bridge bottle if you’re used to crisp white wine, because it brings similar refreshment but with a rice-and-umami twist.

Where it really earns shelf space is versatility. It can handle salty, fatty, and grilled flavours without going flat, and it won’t get lost next to soy sauce, ginger, or chilli. Think yakitori, karaage, ramen, tempura, or even a cheeseboard where you’d normally reach for a dry white.

It’s also a solid choice for cocktails when you want lightness without losing flavour, try it in a sake highball with soda and citrus, or use it to brighten up a spritz-style drink in place of wine.

What you’re getting here is consistency from a brewery that knows how to make sake that tastes like it’s supposed to, clean, balanced, and built for drinking, not overthinking.

Fun Fact: Hakutsuru translates to “White Crane”, a symbol of good fortune in Japan, and the brewery’s been making sake in Kobe’s Nada district, one of the country’s most famous sake regions, since the 1700s!