Akashi-Tai reveals the character of hidden details throughout artisanal high-end sakes, both traditional and experimental, created and produced by Kimio Yonezawa.

The style and flavour of Akashi-Tai is far from the neutral and dry image that many have of sake. When Kimio Yonezawa started to produce sake, he considered the Yamadanishiki variety perfect. Rather than try to remove the flavour of rice, he chose to reduce the rice polishing to protect the flavour and character for which he’d grown fond.

From the outset, Kimio Yonezawa’s sakes have demonstrated more flavour and character because they’ve used a larger portion of the outer grain of rice. Over time, Kimio Yonezawa has perfected his production techniques and expanded his range of sakes by adding more advance levels of rice polishing to his products. Both amateurs and experts describe the Akashi-Tai sake as dry, velvety, creamy, well-balanced, fresh, perfumed, floral and savoury, with notes of citrus and honey.

Kimio Yonezawa’s approach to sake production could be considered unconventional, since he has chosen a method that goes against most industry practices by working with a very difficult raw material: barely polished rice. Today, Kimio Yonezawa’s vision is to apply his principles to new products.