The Sake Anatomy › Sake Brand Index › Shimeharitsuru
No.63 · Brewery Profile
Shimeharitsuru〆張鶴 · Miyao Sake Brewing 宮尾酒造
Since 1819, Miyao Sake Brewing has drawn on soft snowmelt from the Asahi mountains and Niigata-grown Gohyakumangoku rice to brew Shimeharitsuru. The house sits comfortably inside Niigata’s tanrei-karakuchi tradition — light and dry — but keeps a gentle aromatic lift and a trace of real rice flavor that stops the sake from turning austere.
Who makes Shimeharitsuru?
Miyao Sake Brewing, founded in 1819. It draws on soft snowmelt from the Asahi mountains and Niigata-grown Gohyakumangoku rice, sitting comfortably inside Niigata’s tanrei-karakuchi (light and dry) tradition, but keeps a gentle aromatic lift and a trace of real rice flavor that stops the sake from turning austere.
What does Shimeharitsuru taste like?
Tagged Dry & Crisp and Elegant & Refined, Jun is light, delicate and dry with gentle aroma and living rice flavor at SMV +2, while Tokusen is fuller-bodied (3/5) with restrained aroma and a smooth, clean, dry finish at SMV +4.
Which bottle should you try first?
Jun captures the house’s signature balance most clearly — gentle aroma, living rice flavor, light and dry — making it the natural starting point ahead of the fuller-bodied Tokusen.
How does Shimeharitsuru compare to other Niigata breweries?
Shimeharitsuru’s Dry & Crisp, Elegant & Refined pairing is closely shared with prefecture-mate Koshi no Kanbai, tagged the same two styles, while Kubota sits purely in Dry & Crisp and Kikusui leans Rich & Umami instead.
Frequently asked questions
What water and rice does Shimeharitsuru use?
Soft snowmelt from the Asahi mountains and Niigata-grown Gohyakumangoku rice.
How does Shimeharitsuru’s style differ from a purely austere tanrei-karakuchi sake?
It keeps a gentle aromatic lift and a trace of real rice flavor, which stops it from turning fully austere despite its light, dry character.
How many bottles does Shimeharitsuru make?
Two on this page: Jun and Tokusen.
The bottles
Jun純
爽酒 Soshu · Light & Smooth“Gentle aroma with living rice flavor; light, delicate and dry.”
Tokusen特撰
醇酒 Junshu · Rich“Restrained aroma over a smooth, full body with a clean, dry finish.”
Reading the bars: an editorial flavor reading (0–5) of each bottle — Dry→Rich, Light→Full, Subtle→Aromatic, Low→High acidity — not laboratory values. The colored badge is the SSI four-type classification (薨酒 Kunshu · 爽酒 Soshu · 醇酒 Junshu · 熟酒 Jukushu). SMV and acidity appear only where the brewery publishes them.
Sources: shimeharitsuru.co.jp · niigata-sake.jp