friday sake talk

Robert from garco brought in some interesting sake's to try. definitelynot your fathers sake that taste better warm to hide the bitterness, this rice wine loves the chill to show off its flavors. sake is made from rice, but not just any old rice from rice-i-roni, this is a special type of rice. And then they take the rice and polish it to remove the husk to get to the meat of the grain. The farther into the kernel they get the better but also more expensive, having lost half of their crop in the process.


Hakutsuru is the brand we tried. Their basic Sake with no bells or whistles was first. A touch lemon, a touch hops, very basic but pleasant.

Hakutsuru Draft Sake in a 300 ml container with its own reusable top. They say its the freshest of the brewing. i thought it sort of like free run juice for grapes. There was the same nose as the first sake but a much rounder mouthfeel, nice smooth aftertaste.

Sayuri Niguri Sake 300 ml Sayuri means small lilly, sounds like the name katie and tom gave their daughter. Niguri is a style where the juice is not filtered so it has a milky or creamy look to it. A little sweet on the finish but very nice roundness.

Hatuksuru Junmai Ginjo Sake 300 Jummai means that 50% of the rice has been polished off. Beautiful fragrant nose that reminded me of soft cucumber. very soft on the palate and would make an interesting cocktail with gin i think.

Hakutsuru Plum wine. Sweet plum but not cloyingly so...very refreshing. and the flavor to me was more cherry than plum.. interesting.