| EHIME, FUKUSHIMA, Apr. 23—Many Japanese sake, cocktails, and other alcoholic beverages made with yeasts taken from flowers are hitting the market in quick succession, featuring various flower fragrances. Sake brewers use yeasts taken from local flowers and put flowery labels on their bottles to target young and female customers in Japan and overseas.
The Ehime Sake Brewery Association of Ehime Prefecture has spearheaded the creation of the Ehime Sakurahime Series sake. The unique brews are made with Ehime Sakurahime yeast, a brewery yeast isolated from Sakurahime pink delphinium, bred in Ehime Prefecture, in industry-government-academia research. A total of 22 breweries in the prefecture participated in the first-ever prefectural effort to share the same brewery yeast. One of the 22 breweries, Minakuchi Shuzo Corporation, offers a product called Nikitazu Junmai Ginjo Sake Sakurahime Yeast. The company says it is “a Japanese sake with pleasant aromas like pears or green apples.” Ichido Inc., a sake developer and seller based in Tomioka Town, Fukushima Prefecture, has developed the Enju Series rice-based distilled spirit cocktails using yeasts from cherry blossoms and azaleas. The company uses yeast isolated from the flowers of the town’s popular tourist sites, the Night Forest, famous for cherry blossom trees and azalea gardens. The Enju series product was released on April 30, and they are now available on the company’s online shopping site, other specialty stores, and department stores.  The entire lineup of the Sakurahime Series sake. A total of 22 sake breweries in Ehime Prefecture participates in the project. (Photo by Ehime Sake Brewery Association) |