YAMASAN KYOTO UJI Double Brewed Soy Sauce

Soy sauce often gets treated as a background ingredient: add a splash, put the bottle away, move on. YAMASAN KYOTO UJI's double-brewed version makes more sense when that splash is part of the meal's main event. Sushi and sashimi—the manufacturer's recommended uses—give you a straightforward reason to pay attention to the condiment rather than bury it under six other ingredients.

The defining detail is what goes into the second brewing. Instead of salt and water, YAMASAN uses naturally brewed Koikuchi soy sauce. In other words, the starting point is already soy sauce, not just the usual brewing liquid. That's a more meaningful distinction than an elaborate label suggesting the bottle has achieved enlightenment.

YAMASAN also says the sauce is naturally and slowly brewed for more than 1,000 days. The time commitment makes this an interesting bottle for someone curious about fermentation, but a calendar isn't a tasting note. Neither the extended brewing nor the second brew alone establishes exactly how sweet, salty, thick, or intense it will taste. The reason to choose it is the specific process and intended use, not an automatic assumption that older means better.

The formulation offers another point of appeal: the manufacturer says there are no additives and identifies the soybeans and wheat as non-GMO. Those are useful purchasing distinctions if they matter to you, rather than reasons to declare every other bottle in the cupboard morally compromised.

Our take: consider this a deliberate choice for the table, especially if sushi night is already a regular occurrence. It gives a curious eater a particular brewing method to explore in a setting where the sauce won't be lost. If your soy sauce mostly disappears into marinades and busy stir-fry sauces, there's less reason to make this process the deciding factor.