Hagi no Tsuyu Genryu Wataribune 
Ginjo Junmai Muroka
For one thing, this Hagi no Tsuyu is so versatile. The other day, we had it with some grilled chicken breast smeared with spicy yuzu-kosho. The many fresh flavors at the start of this nihonshu washed down the zing from yuzu citrus and spiciness of the chili pepper just right. Even simple steamed broccoli, which usually brings out some medicinal flavor of nihonshu, was a surprisingly good match. On another occasion, when I had it with maguro sashimi, the fatty umami of the fish tasted so much deeper with this brew.
Also, Hagi no Tsuyu reminds me of the fun trip to Shiga earlier this year where we were fully introduced to the lake region cuisine at Kitashina. Just thinking about the taste of funazushi that has been aged for three years mixing with Hagi no Tsuyu is simply mouthwatering.
Finally, their sake whispered to me one day in Hiroshima at the big shinshu kanpyokai tasting after tasting hundreds of nihonshu. I know this sounds too wired, so, I will spare you from the details…
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I love the yuzu-kosho on chicken combo – I’ve tried mixing the yuzu-kosho with olive oil for the marinade, and it works surprisingly well (though, why not just use the sake… hmmm.) Mrs. V. on the other hand will no longer eat pizza without either sake or yuzu-kosho.
I’ve never noticed this broccoli-nihonshu reaction you mentioned – any other “negative” pairings that come to mind?
I should try yuzu-kosho marinade next time. I also add yuzu-kosho to just about everything these days, soup, nabe, but haven’t tried with pizza yet.
As far as pairings, we just try sake with whatever we are having for dinner. The other day, big dish of roasted parsnips did not go well with Hagi-no-tsuyu, but went really well with some aged sake from Yamagata.