Cellar Favorite: 2025 Aramasa No. 6 A-Type Junmai Daiginjo Sake

BY NEAL MARTIN | AUGUST 25, 2025

Every time I show my photo of the No. 6 A-Type Junmai Daiginjo sake to a Japanese Sake aficionado, their eyes light up. It was during supper at my favourite mom ‘n pop sushi restaurant in Ikebukuro that the co-owner, dressed in his traditional dark navy haori jacket, generously offered a special sake on the house. It was his way of thanking me for my regular custom. He uttered few words in English, except for, “Very rare. Very good.”

He was on the money there.

Aramasa is a historic Japanese brewery founded in 1852. Yusuke Sato represents the eighth generation of the family at the helm. In 1935, the company identified a natural yeast in their brewery that they named Kyokai No. 6. This was the first cold-climate yeast that could complete fermentation at lower temperatures, and it revolutionised sake-making to such an extent that they immediately ceased using the previous five strains. Many cultivated yeasts used in contemporary sake-making can be traced back to Kyokai No. 6. Aramasa also employs the Edo-period kimoto method, using ambient natural lactic acid to create the environment for yeast to thrive. It is much more labour-intensive since the rice and koji (malted rice) are ground and mixed separately, which can take up to four weeks. This process leads to more complex sake, engendering what is said to be a more traditional taste.

Aramasa produces various No.6 cuvées, such as T-Type and S-Type, in different-coloured bottles to make them easily identifiable. A-Type comes in eye-catching, lucid red glass and is released on June 6 each year. It comes from 30 hectares of rice grown pesticide-free in the Uyo District on the outskirts of Akita city. Here, the Miyama Nishiki rice is fermented in wooden vats and polished at 66%. This cuvée is highly sought after. Market prices can make Burgundy look cheap.

The No. 6 A-Type Junmai Ginjo Sake stopped me in my tracks. Served slightly chilled, it has a startlingly complex bouquet with intoxicating aromas of lanolin, white truffle and peach skin, hints of pressed dandelion developing with aeration. The weight and density of this sake is extraordinary. Yet, like a great wine, the natural acidity effortlessly counterbalances the intensity such that this is fresh and tensile from start to finish. I noted an almost vinous quality in its exquisite balance and umami. So refined and almost ineffably complex, I must confess that, within my limited experience, this redefined my perception of the heights that Japanese sake can reach. 97/Drink 2025-2040.

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