How to heat sake?
J. Hapa
Andrew Cieszkowski wrote:
> > The really important thing to keep in mind is that you have to keep an eye
> > on the temperature because once too warm Sake is ruined. North Americans
> > have, for many years, been brainwashed by ignorant restauranteurs serving
> > Sake too warm and have no idea that fine Sake is best served slightly
> > cooled.
Yes indeed. Some sakes are intended to be drunk warm, others at room
temperature, still others chilled. Sometimes the sake maker will indicate
what the proper temperature is on the bottle or box. Blindly drinking all
sake hot is like assuming that all wines whould be served at the same
temperature.
While there are exceptions, the overall trend is for the better sakes to be
drunk chilled (although overdoing this will dull the flavor, so I don't
suggest doing so unless specifically recommended), while heating the
lower-grade ones is often the best strategy. On the other hand, there are
some lower-grade sakes that are designed to be drunk partially frozen, as a
sort of sorbet.
Hope this helps
jonathan c
Without comprehension, knowledge is nothing.
Norm
J. Hapa wrote:
>
> Blindly drinking all
> sake hot is like assuming that all wines whould be served at the same
> temperature.
Great analogy.
>
> While there are exceptions, the overall trend is for the better sakes to be
> drunk chilled (although overdoing this will dull the flavor, so I don't
> suggest doing so unless specifically recommended), while heating the
> lower-grade ones is often the best strategy.
This concurs with info I received from sake brewing "experts" at the
Hakusan Sake Kohnan facility in Napa, California. For frugal drinkers,
the have a decent premium sake that's very inexpensive, best served at
room
temp or slightly chilled. Those visiting the Napa Valley should
consider
free samples with a print-out of their home-page - www.hakusan.com.
Concerning heating sake, I've noticed a lot of restaurants in the
states, warm it in a microwave to about 110 degrees F.
Regards,
Norm Delson
Atlanta, GA
PeopleInternetWork
"Good analogy", Norm, I couldn't agree more, however....
Honest men of goodwill can diagree. I wouldn't give Haku-san to a dog I
didn't like. Sake experts? They why do they foist that stuff on an
unsuspecting public? In my book, absolutely the worst Nihon-shu produced
east of Tokyo, with stiff competition from Shochikubai. Shame, Berkeley
was half decent before they bought the brewery (it was Numano).
I have been buying Japanese-made Kikumasa-mune for around $15.
Sawanotsuru in the milk carton @$10, Hakutsuru about they same. Have
bought Kembishi at $20. With those kind of alternatives, I'd venture that
"friends don't let friends drink the stuff from Napa."
If one insists on warm sake, 120 to 125 degrees, served immediately upon
reaching that temperature. If the temperature goes over that range, toss
it.
Americans are used to hot soup hot, hot coffee hot, etc. It is easy to
see that they would think that tepid sake is the result of negligence.
And then they are the phoney-baloney fake Nihon taberu tokoro that don't
have a clue any way. They don't know better. Of course that goes for a
couple of the self-assured, self-important, albeit oblivious AFS posters..
But I digress. Anybody had the sochu, both regular and lemon-flavoured
they are making down in helLA, aka Shakeytown? D-lish. And half the
price of imported!
Andrew Cieszkowski
>
>But I digress. Anybody had the sochu, both regular and lemon-flavoured
>they are making down in helLA, aka Shakeytown? D-lish. And half the
>price of imported!
I have not had this particular one but had a chance at a recent tasting of
83 jummai-shu sake (tres excellent) to taste 7 types of shochu from rice,
barley and two made from sesame. Overall I was not overly impressed with
them but the sesame ones were by far the best and offered the most
interesting possibilities in terms of serving in the dining room or with
food. By far the nastiest was the soba shochu (buckwheat).
Andrew
http://www.total.net/~andrewc
"...wine maketh glad the heart of man..."
Psalm 104:15
J. Hapa
At 18:35 -0400 23/10/97, Anup S. Jassal (aja...@idt.net) wrote:
> J. Hapa wrote:
> > On the other hand, there are
> > some lower-grade sakes that are designed to be drunk partially frozen, as a
> > sort of sorbet.
> WOW! Tell me more about *this*. Sounds fascinating.
Not all that much to tell you about. This kind of sake is sold in bottles
that are smaller than normal, probably either 300cc or 500cc. It's served
frozen, and you spoon the stuff out into your glasses/cups. As far as
connoisseur sake goes, the quality is not very high - letting it warm up
shows why it is recommended that it is consumed frozen (the freezing dulls
certain undesireable aspects of the flavor). It is considered to be an
interesting novelty, but not as a serious sake.
> Probably the closest thing to a Japanese blender drink, no?
Maybe. It is also possible to get ume-shu served frozen at some
restaurants, and this is pretty tasty. Don't know if you would consider it
to be a sort of frozen cocktail or a sorbet for adults :-).
Regards
jonathan c
The ingredients are important - but so is the chef!
J. Hapa
In article <34518...@news.total.net>, "Andrew Cieszkowski"
<andrew...@total.net> wrote:
> I have not had this particular one but had a chance at a recent tasting of
> 83 jummai-shu sake (tres excellent) to taste 7 types of shochu from rice,
> barley and two made from sesame.
83 varieties of junmai-shu in one location, outside of Japan? That's quite
a feat in logistics. My hats off to whoever organized the event.
Btw, did you have any preferences, did anything stand out? Personally I
find that it is hard to analyze individual sakes when there are too many
good ones, or the food is too good. Makes you forget to take notes at
first, and simply not care about it later :-). Deciphering your own
attempts at handwriting can be pretty amusing, too. At times, I can't even
tell whether I was writing in Japanese or English!
regards
James Adrian van Wyk
Norm wrote:
>
> J. Hapa wrote:
> >
> > Blindly drinking all
> > sake hot is like assuming that all wines whould be served at the same
> > temperature.
>
> Great analogy.
>
> >
> > While there are exceptions, the overall trend is for the better sakes to be
> > drunk chilled (although overdoing this will dull the flavor, so I don't
> > suggest doing so unless specifically recommended), while heating the
> > lower-grade ones is often the best strategy.
>
> This concurs with info I received from sake brewing "experts" at the
> Hakusan Sake Kohnan facility in Napa, California. For frugal drinkers,
> the have a decent premium sake that's very inexpensive, best served at
> room
> temp or slightly chilled. Those visiting the Napa Valley should
> consider
> free samples with a print-out of their home-page - www.hakusan.com.
>
> Concerning heating sake, I've noticed a lot of restaurants in the
> states, warm it in a microwave to about 110 degrees F.
>
> Regards,
> Norm Delson
Traditionally, saki is served warm. Chilled saki is a newer inovation.
javw
Nona Myers
On Sat, 25 Oct 1997 21:34:54 +0900, conn...@gol.com (J. Hapa) wrote:
>Btw, did you have any preferences, did anything stand out? Personally I
>find that it is hard to analyze individual sakes when there are too many
>good ones, or the food is too good. Makes you forget to take notes at
>first, and simply not care about it later :-).
You are forgetting the good company. And good conversations.
Deciphering your own
>attempts at handwriting can be pretty amusing, too. At times, I can't even
>tell whether I was writing in Japanese or English!
Not the result of tasting too many sake, huh??
--
Nona Myers (another hapa)
To learn about hapa: http://www.wenet.net/~hapa/
Andrew Cieszkowski
J. Hapa wrote in message ...
>
>83 varieties of junmai-shu in one location, outside of Japan? That's quite
>a feat in logistics. My hats off to whoever organized the event.
>
It was organized by the Japanese Sake Brewers Association for the
International Sake Festival. I was invited, along with 11 others from
across Canada and the US to judge the entries in this years Festival.
>Btw, did you have any preferences, did anything stand out? Personally I
>find that it is hard to analyze individual sakes when there are too many
>good ones, or the food is too good. Makes you forget to take notes at
>first, and simply not care about it later :-). Deciphering your own
>attempts at handwriting can be pretty amusing, too. At times, I can't even
>tell whether I was writing in Japanese or English!
I was actually quite shocked at how much difference there was between the
sakes. They were organized into five flights, the first was jummai-shu, the
second two were jummai-shu ginjo, and the last two were jummai-shu dai
ginjo. Even within the flights there was an incredible amount of variety in
colours, aromas, concentration, sweetness and acidity. As we progressed
through the flights it was easy to see/taste that the sakes were getting
better and better but still as much variation in components. A very
enlightening experience. Two days later the President of the Japanese Sake
Brewers Association actually came into the restaurant for dinner which was
also a pleasant surprise.