New Final Fantasy sake from “Black Dragon” brewery features awesome Yoshitaka Amano illustration

200-year-old sake brewery teams up with Final Fantasy’s legendary designer for a very special Bahamut salute.

There are hundreds of sake makers in Japan, but there are a couple of things that make Fukui Prefecture’s Kokuryu stand out. One of those is its long history. The company has been making sake since 1804, and its seventh-generation owner ensures that the expertise and traditions acquired over more than two centuries go into every bottle.

But perhaps the greatest advantage Kokuryu has over man of its competitors is its incredibly cool name. “Kokuryu” means “black dragon,” and so its fitting that its latest brew features an illustration of a majestic and awe-inspiring mythical serpent on its label. Oh, but this isn’t just any dragon. It’s Final Fantasy’s Bahamut, painted by the video game franchise’s original visual designer Yoshitaka Amano.

Bahamut appears in multiple Final Fantasy installments as a Summon Beast or Esper, always in the form of a dragon. This particular jet-black incarnation is based on Bahamut’s appearance in smartphone game Final Fantasy Brave Exvius.

As with the Final Fantasy whiskey from earlier this year, the Kokuryu Daiginjo Ryu x Final Fantasy Brave Exvius (to use its full name) is no slapdash collaboration. Inside the bottle is a high-quality daiginjo-grade sake, making use of premium Yamada Nishiki rice from Hyogo prefecture polished down so that only 40 percent of each grain, the most flavorful core, is used in the production process.

▼ Amano’s artwork also graces multiple sides of the box in which the sake ships.

The 720-mililter (24.3-ounce) bottle is priced at 5,400 yen (US$48) and can be preordered here through Final Fantasy publisher Square Enix’s online shop. Shipping is scheduled for late January, at which point you’ll have the perfect beverage to sip as you flip through your Yoshitaka Amano Cinderella picture book or strum your Yoshitaka Amano shamisen.

Source: Final Fantasy official portal site, Square Enix (1, 2) via Japaaan
Top image: Square Enix
Insert images: Square Enix (1, 2)

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