Kitaya, "Ai no Hime", Sparkling Sake

Sometimes you just need things to be easy. No fuss, no muss, nothing but pure pleasure. Meet the Love Princess. This little nugget is nothing but a delight to drink. Lightly spritzy, delicately sweet, it teems with a juicy, thirst-quenching fruitiness, which, at 7% abv, goes down all too easily. Despite it's easy-going nature there's some serious sake pedigree behind it. Kitaya was founded almost 200 years ago in Kyushu, an island in the southern part of Japan, and is now in the hands of the 7th generation. Ai No Hime Beni (Love Princess) is bottle-fermented using 60% polished Yamada Nishiki rice and red koji (red yeast grown on white rice). Such was it's charm it's about to become my summer go-to pocket sake for picnics or park rendezvous.