I’ve always been happy with Sun Luck brand mirin. One time we had some Kikkoman mirin (a daughter bringing home her college apt. stuff) and I’m not positive this memory is correct but I think it tasted sweeter - too sweet, like a lot of added sugars.
Haven’t bought sake for cooking.
Edit - I did some googling and apparently Kikkoman have two products, one Mirin and the other labeled “Aji-Mirin” which according to computer translations means “it’s like mirin”. I’m guessing that what my daughter brought back was the tastes-like product rather than their real mirin product. The Aji-Mirin ingredients are “Glucose Syrup, Water, Alcohol, Rice, Corn Syrup, Salt”.
