Post by ♥ COVID-19♥ on Sept 8, 2009 22:53:51 GMT -6
Weekend before Labor Day, I had originally planned to go to the Hedo Reunion at Sandy Hook -- but when Tropical Storm Danny forced me to cancel my plans, I had to quickly figure out what to do instead.
The answer?
Drink, of course!
So, I went to a Sake Tasting at Union Square Wines & Spirits on that Saturday afternoon.
Now, to be honest, Sake isn't one of my top drinking choices -- whether served warm or cold, there's just something about the taste that has always put me off. My personal philosophy, however, is to occasionally revisit things I don't like every few years just to see if my tastes have changed -- this is how I eventually came to drink coffee, post on message boards and perform cunnilingus (please don't ask).
For true Sake lovers, however, this was nothing short of paradise because two dozen Sakes were served, including both filtered and unfiltered varieties. Prices varied widely, too -- from as little as $6 (Kikusui Funaguchi) to as much as $60 a bottle (Aoki Kakurei Daiginjo).
I have to admit, however, that I only tried about half of them -- not because I was feeling some unfortunate after effects of a Sake Bombing Raid, but because the taste was just too overwhelming for me to be able to run the entire gamut of selections. As a result, I'll only report a small handful of them since just a few seemed to stand out.
Kamoizumi makes a Red Maple and Komé Komé brand, which are about as distinct from each other as two Sakes could possibly be. While Red Maple lives up to its name by having a familiar woody taste reminiscent of some red wines, the Komé Komé was very sweet, to the point that you might even consider it as a digestif. These range between $25 - 30/bottle.
Do you prefer a clear (filtered) Sake or the cloudy (unfiltered) kind? I tried one of each back - to - back to both see and taste the difference. Narutotai Junmai Nama Genshu is the clear one that I was told was "unpasteurized"; it goes for almost $40 a bottle. In the different classifications of Sake, I'm given to understand that anything with "Nama" in its name automatically means it's a clear kind of Sake. Although people call Sake a "rice wine", this one looked like a vodka and tasted like a beer -- a little disconcerting for me.
The cloudy one was Ohyama Nigori which had a surprisingly lighter taste than the clear one I'd just sampled. One thing that made it particularly unique is that it had tiny bits of rice floating in it. This one can be had for around $20 a bottle.
Like your Sake in a can? Have I got a Sake for YOU! Kikusui Funaguchi was arguably the most popular Sake there -- the distributor brought a large box of cans which sold out in about two hours ... and given the special discount for the tasting that dropped the price to only $5 per can, you could understand why.
The distributor from the company was one of the few Japanese representatives that spoke fluent English, so he was the only one from whom I was able to get much Sake edumacation. I was informed that all Sake is made of the same essential basic ingredients: rice, water, yeast and enzymes (in reality, a mold). This combination is brewed like a beer (thus making the term "rice wine" something of a misnomer).
He told me that at 19% alcohol, this was by far the Sake with the highest alcohol content of all those present at the tasting. Getting the alcohol content any higher is a bit tricky and not really recommended -- once the alcohol exceeds 22%, the yeast in the Sake actually starts killing off all of the alcohol, so you reach a point of diminishing returns. According to this guy, the added flavor this Sake had was attributed to the fact that it was fortified with brewer's alcohol.
While people believe that Sake is to be served hot or warm, he claims that this is not necessarily true -- good Sake should be served cold, so he recommends that you store Sake in your refrigerator. The reason why people believe Sake is to be served warm is due to the fact that many restaurants serve it this way -- they do this because they purchase the lesser Sake in bulk and heating it actually masks the unpleasant taste. In fact, it was suggested that this stuff was the only Sake that was good to serve on ice because like certain whiskeys, when the ice melts leaving very cold water, this opens up the Sake introducing even more flavors.
With all of that going for it -- especially the price point -- I decided to purchase a couple of cans. They sit in my fridge now. I'm waiting for an appropriate time to crack one open. Like maybe the next time I'm thirsty.
The answer?
Drink, of course!
So, I went to a Sake Tasting at Union Square Wines & Spirits on that Saturday afternoon.
Now, to be honest, Sake isn't one of my top drinking choices -- whether served warm or cold, there's just something about the taste that has always put me off. My personal philosophy, however, is to occasionally revisit things I don't like every few years just to see if my tastes have changed -- this is how I eventually came to drink coffee, post on message boards and perform cunnilingus (please don't ask).
For true Sake lovers, however, this was nothing short of paradise because two dozen Sakes were served, including both filtered and unfiltered varieties. Prices varied widely, too -- from as little as $6 (Kikusui Funaguchi) to as much as $60 a bottle (Aoki Kakurei Daiginjo).
I have to admit, however, that I only tried about half of them -- not because I was feeling some unfortunate after effects of a Sake Bombing Raid, but because the taste was just too overwhelming for me to be able to run the entire gamut of selections. As a result, I'll only report a small handful of them since just a few seemed to stand out.
Kamoizumi makes a Red Maple and Komé Komé brand, which are about as distinct from each other as two Sakes could possibly be. While Red Maple lives up to its name by having a familiar woody taste reminiscent of some red wines, the Komé Komé was very sweet, to the point that you might even consider it as a digestif. These range between $25 - 30/bottle.
Do you prefer a clear (filtered) Sake or the cloudy (unfiltered) kind? I tried one of each back - to - back to both see and taste the difference. Narutotai Junmai Nama Genshu is the clear one that I was told was "unpasteurized"; it goes for almost $40 a bottle. In the different classifications of Sake, I'm given to understand that anything with "Nama" in its name automatically means it's a clear kind of Sake. Although people call Sake a "rice wine", this one looked like a vodka and tasted like a beer -- a little disconcerting for me.
The cloudy one was Ohyama Nigori which had a surprisingly lighter taste than the clear one I'd just sampled. One thing that made it particularly unique is that it had tiny bits of rice floating in it. This one can be had for around $20 a bottle.
Like your Sake in a can? Have I got a Sake for YOU! Kikusui Funaguchi was arguably the most popular Sake there -- the distributor brought a large box of cans which sold out in about two hours ... and given the special discount for the tasting that dropped the price to only $5 per can, you could understand why.
The distributor from the company was one of the few Japanese representatives that spoke fluent English, so he was the only one from whom I was able to get much Sake edumacation. I was informed that all Sake is made of the same essential basic ingredients: rice, water, yeast and enzymes (in reality, a mold). This combination is brewed like a beer (thus making the term "rice wine" something of a misnomer).
He told me that at 19% alcohol, this was by far the Sake with the highest alcohol content of all those present at the tasting. Getting the alcohol content any higher is a bit tricky and not really recommended -- once the alcohol exceeds 22%, the yeast in the Sake actually starts killing off all of the alcohol, so you reach a point of diminishing returns. According to this guy, the added flavor this Sake had was attributed to the fact that it was fortified with brewer's alcohol.
While people believe that Sake is to be served hot or warm, he claims that this is not necessarily true -- good Sake should be served cold, so he recommends that you store Sake in your refrigerator. The reason why people believe Sake is to be served warm is due to the fact that many restaurants serve it this way -- they do this because they purchase the lesser Sake in bulk and heating it actually masks the unpleasant taste. In fact, it was suggested that this stuff was the only Sake that was good to serve on ice because like certain whiskeys, when the ice melts leaving very cold water, this opens up the Sake introducing even more flavors.
With all of that going for it -- especially the price point -- I decided to purchase a couple of cans. They sit in my fridge now. I'm waiting for an appropriate time to crack one open. Like maybe the next time I'm thirsty.