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A few days back it was the six-month anniversary of this Sake Matters blog.
I started getting to grips with it back in late March, a few days after my plane touched down from Osaka and its half capacity of passengers, many sporting PPE (white is the new black in 2020 I believe), skulked gingerly through a very quiet Hong Kong arrivals hall.
A few weeks back I inadvertently blurted out a phrase that has made me giggle a few times ever since: ratfaced. Possibly on the cusp of being a little ratfaced myself, I employed this wonderful epithet to categorise all those revellers pouring en masse out of Britain’s pubs, choosing to sport their beer-soaked face masks as a chin warmer or avant garde jewellery accessory. Hope you all had a good night…
The more I learn about Sake, the more admiration and respect I have for those passionate folks on the other side of the brewery walls to me. Similarly, each time I hear from Zenkuro and taste their latest creations, I feel even happier to be a consumer of their fine Sake.
Happy World Sake Day everyone for 1 October! Please be sure to Kanpai all the hardworking folk in the industry around the world.
This is a timely Sake review to celebrate one of the enduring greats, in my opinion, from Hokkaido.
Through all the bottles of Sake consumed chez Sake Matters, I can’t recall having had a bad one, one that I didn’t like enough that it was relegated to the drains amidst much cursing and possible retching.
It’s a centre of great rice production, has its own Brewers’ Guild (Echigo Toji) and a range of vertiginous mountains cascading clear snow melt waters that make for very famous pristine, clean, dry Sakes. Many would wager it’s perhaps the most popular place for consistently great Sake brewing in Japan. But does Niigata have too much of a good thing?
Although summer sake - known as Natsuzake - has no specific technical definitions surrounding it, we shouldn’t be so fast (‘natsu fast’, get it?!) in dismissing it as a clumsy seasonal marketing ploy.
Ichi Koji - Ni Moto - San Tsukuri.
Many industry scholars agree that in making Sake, first in importance is the Koji, next is the yeast starter ‘Moto’, and third comes the fermentation ‘Tsukuri’. In this article I’m leapfrogging Koji for now to take a look at Moto.
No, I haven’t lost it and decided to reminisce about Antipodean star-crossed lovers Kylie and Jason, and their 1989 big hair video for Especially For You, but rather it’s an appropriate title for this blog about Tokubetsu: special Sake.
Turbot, I love it, when I can afford it. Scallops too, overwhelmed by a tidal wave of foaming nutty butter in a pan but sometimes I just crave a simple piece of grilled mackerel with a squeeze of lemon, rather than a truffle beurre blanc sauce. And the same applies to my approach to Sake drinking.
As the media continues to share an almost Groundhog Day-like monologue of virus centric headlines, I hear many talking about what they achieved in the first half of 2020 in lieu of a normal existence.
It seems that everything is in a state of change these days. Climate, politics, how we as people behave, and how we look after each other. The Sake world also has seen some significant changes in the short and medium term, but it is good to see that in the export market data, Hong Kong remains in second place, after the USA, on Sake import by value.
After some international stories this month, I thought it time to bring things closer to home. I have access to some great Sake in Hong Kong, an amazing selection of Japanese restaurants, I’m even learning Japanese face to face (well, face to Perspex to face) with my tutor from Osaka, yet I am still craving to be in Japan.
I’ve found myself recently having lots of conversations around just how long ago things happened - graduation (1992), the (first) Rolling Stones ‘farewell tour’ I went to see (1995) and the like. So when it comes to what has happened in the six year timeline for Kanpai London, from idea hatching to where there are now, it’s quite remarkable just what has been achieved.
Conveniently following on from my recent review of Daimon Brewery’s delicious Road To Osaka Nigori, this week I lucked out by stumbling across a just delivered consignment of Origarami Namazake.
Just over 18 months ago, I had my first taste of Zenkuro Sake, and it became immediately apparent that passion and determination are critical ingredients to making quality Sake into a global phenomenon outside of Japan.
Welcome to my first official Sake review. Yōkoso!
And, a quick search online makes me believe this may well be the first Asia review of Road To Osaka, recently created by Daimon Brewery. Either way, I’m claiming it as a ‘first’, so I hope you enjoy reading it, although probably not as much as I enjoyed researching and tasting for it.
A multi-Michelin starred flashback coupled with an overdose of David Chang’s addictive series Ugly Delicious had me rushing out to buy one of Hiroshima prefecture’s most food friendly Junmai. It was time for a nostalgic re-tasting of Houken.
Terroir, just seven letters, is a concept we all get, kind of. We have a view of it, a feeling about it, but try and put those thoughts down comprehensively on paper (as I thought I would easily be able to) and you’ll soon find yourself reaching for a second sheet.
This article takes a curious look at the significance of the bottling date with particular emphasis on Namazake.
