Sake

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

This was my third Sake tasting at Wine Country in Signal Hill, www.thewinecountry.com, . I was looking forward to another information packed evening but "all good things come to an end" . Not only was the rep from the importer lacking in something so was Wine Country's host. No energy or enthusiasm. I was extremely disappointed this year. The only information we received was when we asked a question. No literature was available. No pictures, no nothing except Sake. They did bring out some packets of rice that shows how they mill it for Sake but no one bothered to elborate on it. Since I had done the two previous tasting I knew what it was about but I would think that other people in the audience would like to know some technical information.

Even the food was "blah". In the past two years they have always had small "bites" to pair with each Sake. This year it was the "old standard" cheese and crackers. No imagination at all.

The Sakes for the most part were good. 5 were on the list and then there were 2 additional Sakes brought out to try. One had a very distinct plum taste to it and I really enjoyed it. The only Sake of the evening that I could have done without was the Isizuchi Shirouma Nigori. This was an unfiltered Sake but it had so much residue in it the glass looked like I had drank some pear nectar and I did not particularly like the taste. I have has unfiltered Sake before but not like this.

The two that I really enjoyed the most were the Kizan Sanban Junmai Gingo priced at $27 and the Ishizuchi Shinsei Daiginjo priced at $95.