Akashi Tai Tokubetsu Honjozo Sake, 72 cl

Product Information

The different temperatures provide a changing array of flavours for the palate to appreciate. Warm sake is rather unusual in the world of alcoholic beverages, but it has a long history.

Again, I tried the sake at various temperatures and room to warm were the best in my opinion. Jidai has a deep and rich taste and high acidity, especially when you drink it chilled or at room temperature. However, the higher you heat it up, the more mellow it becomes. Honjozo Akashi-Tai’s sake is made to be slightly lighter in style than their other types of sake, using high quality rice and a small amount of brewers alcohol to create a crisp, dry and easy to drink sake.

The drinking of warm sake spread from the aristocracy to the common people during the middle part of the Tokugawa Period (1600-1867), when the drinking of sake itself became popular with the masses. Usu Nigori means a cloudy sake with very fine rice particles remaining after pressing. They give the sake a nice mouthful texture. Kanpai Tsuki is also genshu sake, undiluted with an ABV of 17%. Overall, all these characteristics make Kanpai Tsuki a perfect sake to drink warm. Akashi-Tai Tokubestu Junmai is quite pleasant chilled. It has an elegant but subtle aroma with notes of apple, elderflower and rice. The sake is quite acidic and dry with a simple taste, creamy texture and short but pleasant finish. Since then, Akashi have taken pride in brewing sakes with the choicest ingredients, that are more often than not produced locally. The brewery’s proximity to the coast and their insistence of tanks with Japanese cedar wood lids leads to sea air impacting the flavour of Akashi-Tai sakes with a slightly salty and particular character. The key ingredient, however, is the yamada-nishiki variety of rice. Known as a superior strain, it’s native to the region just north of Akashi, and considered for sake production above all else because its starch molecules are loosely grouped. This allows koji mold spores to easily enter the structure, and produce superior koji and malted rice. Akashi aren’t traditional or artisan for its own sake, - as in sake, not sake - oh for goodness sake! I mean - never mind...

The Tedorigawa brewery makes a wide range of excellent sake from classy Ika na Onna to sweet and clean Kinka and mellow Yamahai Junmai Daiginjo. You can enjoy all of them at various temperatures. But Tedorigawa Yamahai Junmai was probably specifically made to drink warm. Tamagawa Tokubetsu Junmai is a savoury full-bodied sake with a deep taste and silky texture. For me, it tasted sweeter chilled or at room temperature than hot. The sweetness seems to dissolve as you warm the sake up. As many junmai sake, Tamagawa is not particularly aromatic sporting some rice notes and a bit of earthiness. Still, 'sake' will get you what you want both here, and in the bars of Tokyo. The drink is crafted from four ingredients – rice, water, yeast, and the fungus koji-kin (more on which later) – and although it falls in a similar ABV range to wine, it's brewed more like beer.Though sake is a drink steeped in ancient Japanese tradition and history, it’s a category that’s not always easily understood outside of Japan. Fortunately, quality, craftsmanship and taste are universal – and Akashi-Tai places all of these at the forefront of its production to create elegant, balanced but characterful sakes. Keeping tradition alive