More about Yuho

Yuho is sake for people who think they don't like sake: wild, savory, high in acid, with real texture, and often given years of bottle age before it's released. It comes from Mioya Shuzo in Hakui, a small town on Ishikawa's Noto Peninsula facing the Sea of Japan. The brewery dates to 1897, but the Yuho label only arrived in 2005, and the story behind it is half the fun.

In 2003, after a death in the family, Miho Fujita left a marketing job in Tokyo and moved to Hakui to take over the brewery, with almost no background in sake. Working with toji Toshiaki Yokomichi, who had left a corporate career of his own, she set out to brew the sake they actually wanted to drink rather than follow tradition. The name means "happy rice," and it is also a nod to Hakui's reputation for UFO sightings.

The house style leans on the kimoto method, the 17th-century, labor-intensive way of building a yeast starter by hand, plus long aging, giving rich, earthy, umami-heavy sakes. They are built for the table (pork and cheese are favorites at the brewery), and many of them are as good warmed as slightly chilled. Fujita even likes them best a month or two after opening.