When looking for unusual brews you do have to keep your eyes wide open!
To think that Doi Brewery in Kakegawa City put out only 100 bottles of this particular sake by I consider myself lucky to have noticed it in the small supermarket inside the JR Station of the same city!
You do also have to keep your eyes open (that is, if you can read Japanese!) for the comments written on various parts of the bottle:
“霞か雲かにごり酒/kasumi ka kumo ka nigori sake” meaning, “A haze or a cloud? A troubled (like in troubled waters) sake”.
Nothing negative about it as the Japanese call “nigori/impure-troubled” a sake which was not separated from the white lees.
In this case they left just enough of the white lees to create a “haze”!
The name alone of this brew certainly makes for a long sory!
Doi Brewery-Kaiun Hana no Ka Junmai Ginjo Genshu Nama Nigori Homare Fuji
Doi Brewery: name of the Brewery located in Kakegawa City
Hana no Ka: The Flower Perfume, name of a special series of sake
Junmai Ginjo: the level of the sake. Junmai also denotes the fact that no pure alcohol was added
Genshu: unaltered sake to which no pure water has been added
Nama: unpasteurized
Nigori: in this cas more or less unfiltered
Homare Fuji: name of the rice. Homare Fuji rice is exclusively grown inside Shizuoka Prefecture
Doi Brewery-Kaiun Hana no Ka Junmai Ginjo Genshu Nama Nigori Homare Fuji/土井酒造・花の香純米吟醸原酒生にごり誉富士
Rice: Homare Fuji
Rice milled down to 55%
Alcohol: 17 degrees
Yeast: Shizuoka Yeast
Limited to 100 bottles
Bottled in March 2011
Clarity: Very clear if unshaken. Smoky if shaken (white lees)
-Color: Transparent if unshaken, whitish, cloudy if shaken
Aroma: Strong fruity alcohol. Banana, custard
Body: Fluid
Taste: Not as strong as expected. Pleasant and easy to drink.
Fruity, almost liquorish. White lees do not influence taste as much as expected.
Fruity: oranges, banana, hints of coffee beans and dark chocolate.
Varies little with food.
Disappears quickly and pleasantly with oranges, lemon, and notes of almonds.
Great balance between acidity and slight sweetness.
Overall: For all the fact it is a nigori, it revealed itself as softer and more pleasant than expected.
The higher alcohol is barely noticeable.
Marries so well with any food, especially heavy izakaya fare.
If chilled could be drunk as a dessert wine or liqueur!
A discovery!
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Must-see tasting websites:
-Sake: Tokyo Through The Drinking Glass, Tokyo Foodcast, Urban Sake, Sake World
-Wine: Palate To Pen, Warren Bobrow, Cellar Tours, Ancient Fire Wines Blog
-Beer: Good Beer & Country Boys, Another Pint, Please!
-Japanese Pottery to enjoy your favourite drinks: Yellin Yakimono Gallery
Fully non-smoking!
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