Sake!

The list at the bottom got out of hand almost as soon as I started, then I couldn’t muster the energy to update. It doesn’t mean much, and some of it is embarassingly uninformed. But I took all that time to type it, so there it is.

• Juyondai  is deservedly famous – every one is different, interesting and delicious, and they make lots of different small-batch brews just to try them out. Incidentally, I don’t understand the “don’t drink the dai ginjo” stuff here (other than the exorbitant prices) – the first time I had one, it was almost viscous and oily, and certainly flavor-packed.
• Jikkon is in a similar vein – always awesome. Kudokijozu is frequently great, especially in their normal bottlings (not the ‘super dry’ Bakuren) of ginjo and daiginjo.
• Gassanryu is another from the same area (Yamagata), and seems to share Juyondai’s philosophy of experimentation as well as some of its quality (but not on restaurant menus).
• Amabuki is my favorite sake from Saga – seems like the best balance of clarity and flavor – although I like the more flowery Nabeshima, and am happy with Azuma Ichi or Shichida.
• Toyobijin is a good brewer; I was converted to them early on when I drank their super high-end product accidentally, but I love their ‘single rice field’ options too.
• Furosen 不老泉is one of my real favorites; brewing everything in wood tanks, old-fashioned techniques, wild yeast…all of that produces big, interesting flavors. They (or their distributors) also seem to encourage getting a year or 3 of bottle age, which makes sake taste great if stored properly (like, at -4 Celsius)
• Senkin 仙禽is similar in philosophy (most or all fermented in wood), but I’ve never seen it on a restaurant menu – only the 10 varieties in my local shop.
• Jokigen 常きげん is another harder-to-find choice, if you’re talking about the one from Ishikawa and not the one from Yamagata. They do things like traditional brewing even at higher levels, which produces a bigger taste that I like.
• If you have to drink major brewer sake, and Niigata at that, I’d go with Shimeharitsuru 〆張鶴 (or Hakkaisan 八海山 in a pinch). Dewazakura 出羽桜 is usually nice too for something so available; you may have noticed that I favor Yamagata sake in general.

And now, the out-of-hand, largely-meaningless, but still-existing list:
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About the ‘Liked It?’ rankings (1-4): I drank all these at sake specialists. They’re all famous, small-to-medium producers. I don’t usually write down things I hated. Thus the scores are very toppy; ordinarily I’d check the average and re-base my system (really). As it is, anything with a 2 is pleasantly drinkable, 3+ is good or great. 1 isn’t a value judgement, it just means it’s not to my tastes – these are all famous, well-regarded producers, and my tastes are immature anyway.

DAMN that’s a lotta sake.