Happy Nihonshu no hi! (Happy Sake Day!)

October 1st is Sake Day.  A day to celebrate all things sake.  To commemorate this special day I thought I would start this blog to share my sake experiences.  My most recent experience is as follows.

Last week I attended the Joy Of Sake event in New York with several objectives in mind.  Some of which were more obvious than others.  I've been to a handful of Joy Of Sake events in Los Angeles and Hawaii and like the others this one did not disappoint.  There were well over 300 sakes available to sample at your leisure. To some that may seem like an alcoholics dream come true and for others a more nightmarish affair but for the majority it is simply an opportunity to taste and experience the great beverage that sake is.  I consider myself to be a responsible drinker with a decent tolerance. I would never consider undertaking an endeavor of consuming 300+ of anything alcohol based or otherwise.

That being said, I chose to focus not on quantity but on a handful of selections from each of the main sake categories as they were presented at the event (Junmai, Ginjo, Daiginjo A, and Daiginjo B). To further reduce my selections in each field, I chose sakes that won awards from the U.S. National Sake Appraisal held in Honolulu in August of this year. I then sampled sakes that I haven't tried before. Of course there were a few exceptions where I revisited a few favorites. Some sake can be hard to find therefore I indulged.
When I taste a new sake I first smell it to try to find clues of how the sake will taste. I then drink a small amount to get an initial, but not complete, sense of how the sake tastes. Portion wise I drink just enough to cover my entire tongue. I do this to clear my palate. I immediately follow that with a slightly larger amount. During both samples I take mental notes of how the sake tastes initially, midway and through it's finish. I'm asking myself, do I like it? Is there anything I don't like about this sake? I jot down some quick notes to help me remember the sake. I then move on to the next.

The evening held numerous great discoveries as well as a couple of not so great experiences. Tops on my list (in no certain order) were:

• Chokai Daiginjo by Tenju Shuzo: I enjoyed this sake so much that all I wrote for notes was, "Fav new sake"
• Five Seasons Rice Wine by Midorikawa Shuzo: For this I wrote only one word, "Buy"
• Tenzan Junmai by Tenzan Shuzo: I wrote, "Smell -> Taste, mild spice". The aroma was soft and pleasantly sweet. The initial taste was exactly that! Midway through mild spicy notes kicked in.

A sake also worthy of mention was Momokawa Ruby by Sake One Corporation: I wrote, "Grabs you! Unique. Stands out - clean".  This sake truly shocked my palate. Like a sucker punch, I didn't see this one coming. It's smell did nothing to warn me either. Shocking I know...  In the end I thought this sake to be just OK. Perhaps I was in shock. I'm already preparing for round 2.  Until we meet again Momokawa.

I consider myself a sake enthusiast with a thirst of not only consumption but even more so to learn and experience all that sake has to offer.  At sake tasting events I try to mingle with everyone I possibly can. I gotta say, New Yorkers take the cake. I said hello to a staff member tending one of the sake tables and his response was, "I don't know anything about sake. I just like drinking it."  Fair enough, I guess a simple hello goes a long way in the big apple. A short while later I was in conversation with a representative from Masumi (Miyasaka Sake Brewing Company) when a guest intervened to ask a question about the impact of World War II on sake production. Now as an American of non Japanese descent I feel that my knowledge of sake is well above average. But this guy? Really!  A brief exchange ensued between the representative and the guy and he departed. The representative knew him well and confirmed that he was quite well versed in sake.

I grasshopper have a long way to go apparently...