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How should enjoy your bottle of shochu when you’ve bought a bottle from us? We are here to give you some ideas! (If you haven’t yet please check out our Spirits Shop).
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In this hour-long feature for 67 Pall Mall TV our Director, Oliver Hilton-Johnson, talks with industry professional Barry McCaughley about sake’s long and varied history including: early rice cultivation, introduction of Koji, evolution in techniques via the monks & temples, commercialisation, prohibition, Edo Period stability and, finally modern day trends!
A lot is covered, providing an engaging and comprehensive look at sake’s past and present.
– Gozenshu “Misty Mountain” Junmai Bodaimoto Usu-nigori
– Shirayuki “Genroku Redux” Junmai
– Gozenshu “Mountain Castle” Junmai Bodaimoto Nama Kijoshu (now discontinued and replaced with a pasteurised version).
Watch the full episode over on 67 Pall Mall TV
During the COVID lockdown our Director, Oliver, was invited along to the studios in the famous wine establishment of 67 Pall Mall give an Introduction to Sake. Here he talks to industry professional Barry McCaughley.
– Yauemon “Autumn Leaves” Honjozo
– Yauemon “Waning Moon” Junmai
– Konishi Silver Ginjo
– Fukukomachi “Gentle Breeze” Junmai Ginjo
– Fukukomachi “Silent Blossom” Junmai Daiginjo
– Fukukomachi “Hidden Glade” Daiginjo
You can watch this episode for free over on 67 Pall Mall TV and, buy purchasing the sakes, you can taste along too!
I sat down (virtually!) with Alex, from Sugidama Blog, and I talked about sake basics and some of my tips for those just getting into sake. Including:
Give it a listen (no subscription necessary) and see if you learn anything new!
In the podcast I recommend Tatenokawa Phoenix – find this sake in our online store.
It’s been a while since I did an absolute basics for sake so, if you’re new to sake and just want to find out more then this is the session for you! You don’t even need to order any sake for this one, just tune in and find out about sake. To join in just click on the Zoom link below on 18th at 7pm!
ABSOLUTELY FREE
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83397457797?pwd=M1NFSUI4NVZYbXZWUVNNY0x2R0xLZz09
Meeting ID: 833 9745 7797
Passcode: 395819
If you don’t have Zoom then please click the link well in advance and download!
The first in our series of online tastings and lectures, led by our Director and Sake Specialist Oliver Hilton-Johnson, all about namazake.
Including:
What is namazake? Why is sake pasteurised? What are the flavours and aromas you can expect from a namazake? How is namazake best stored? How to tell if namazake is ‘off’.
Looks great but – even though refrigerated – not good for long term sake storage!
Often I get asked the best way to store sake, this is particularly important during the festive or other gift-giving seasons as sake can often sit around for a while. I guess the first thing to address is how long sake lasts, so please read my How Long Sake Lasts blog post.
Now that’s cleared up it’s very simple, sake has two enemies: heat and light. (more…)
Sake will, of course, last longer when it is stored correctly.
The question of how long sake lasts is actually quite difficult to answer and, certainly, there are a few breweries experimenting with ageing and maturing sake longer than what we traditionally consider a ‘safe’ or ‘wise’ period. This process is distinct from koshu (intentionally aged sake for longer than three years) which tends to have rich and deep umami-led flavours, often they are quite sweet too. What I’m talking about here are brewers who are either maturing their sake themselves for prolonged periods of time (but generally less than three years) or designing the sake to be sold ‘fresh’ and then develop over time. Some brewers are even doing this with namazake (unpasteurised sake), some Muroka Nama Genshu (unfiltered, unpasteurised & undiluted) rather suit a bit of maturation! (more…)
A while back I wrote a post detailing which types of sake you can expect to be gluten free and which might contain some. In that post we learnt that some types of sake have a little added, distilled alcohol (often listed as “brewers’ alcohol” on the bottle). Naturally, this begs the question why? Why does sake have added alcohol? (more…)
I was recently asked is sake gluten free or not (some of you may have noticed that on some of our bottles gluten is indeed listed as an allergen). The answer, in a word, is complicated.
Misty Stream
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MUGA Green
Sakura