The Daiginjo Akashi-tai is made using Yamada Nishiki rice grown in Hyogo Prefecture. A brew master watches over the koji for 72 hours – without sleeping – to ensure the absolute finest of sakes. A fruity fragrance can be detected amid the full-bodied flavour.

The Genmai Aged Sake was created using the finest of rices for sake – Yamada Nishiki – in an almost entirely unpolished form. Because unpolished brown rice was used, this sake required extra special attention to detail, such as double-steaming of the rice. Although brewed in 2002 and bottled after being allowed to age, the Genmai Aged Sake will continue to grow in delicious complexity if allowed to age further. Newly fermented sake cannot provide this kind of mature complexity of flavours. The 2002 vintage brings out all the nuances of fragrance and flavour inherent in rice.

Akashi-Tai's undiluted honjozo Akashi-tai is a satisfyingly full-bodied sake. This is the drink the brew-masters reach for at the end of a working day. Because it is undiluted, this is perhaps the most direct way to savour the full palate of their sake. The flavour continues to mellow pleasingly over time.

Akashi-Tai Junmai Daiginjo uses only the very best of this variety – the top grade of the most highly prized Yamada Nishiki rice grown in a district of Hyogo so renowned for fine sake-making rice it was even given its own designation of Special A Zone. This fine rice is polished until only 40% of the grain remains, after which, two months are devoted to nurturing the Akashi-Tai sake to completion – about twice as long as most conventional sakes. Polishing away the outer portion of the rice grain results in a sake that combines rich yet crisp flavour with sophisticated aroma and depth.

Conventional umeshu, or plum liqueur, is made by preserving Japanese ume plums in distilled spirits. However, Shiraume is a luxurious plum liqueur made by preserving plums in the finest of Japanese sakes – premium ginjo sake made from Yamada Nishiki rice. In Shiraume, the mild flavour of brewed sake nurtured to perfection blends harmoniously with the fruity flavour of ume plums. No sharp tang of alcohol mars the finish to the palate, as sometimes happens with conventional plum liqueurs. Since ancient times and even in Japan today, plum liqueur has long been considered a therapeutic drink. Shiraume can be enjoyed in many ways – it is equally pleasant on ice or blended with either cold or hot water.

Tokiwa is a luxury Japanese spirit called shochu from the Akashi Sake Brewery. Technically classed as Honkaku Shochu in Japanese, Tokiwa is distilled once only from carefully selected rice and koji, giving elaborate rich and sweet aromas. Tokiwa can be enjoyed with ice, mixed with hot water or as a cocktail ingredient.

For over 1000 years, sake has been produced from rice, grown in the Nara region of western Japan, and slowly fermented with special 'Koji' rice yeast and soft mineral water from Nara, to produce the unique and world famous drink from Japan, Sake. Choya sake is produced from locally grown rice in Nara Province which they guarantee to be entirely free of genetically-modified product. Sake is best enjoyed young and does not improve with age. Usually, sake is enjoyed warm, poured from the tokkuri (pourer), warmed in hot water, and sipped delicately from Sakazuki (Sake drinking cups), to be enjoyed with traditional Japanese foods, or even poured over ice as a western cocktail.