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Sparkling Sake

Posted Mar 12, 2009

According to NY food blog Tasting Table, it's time to discover Japan's newest export: sparkling sake.

We'll admit we're fans of exhibition openings even if usually it’s for the glass of ice-cold champagne that accompanies the show. Recently however we’ve grown tired of the ubiquitous champagne trays and are in need of something new, new, new.

Conveniently then we received Tasting Table's email this week - a daily service that delivers food, drink and culture tips to adventurous foodies. For fellow fans of bubbles their recommendation this week is sparkling sake.

With about half the alcohol of other sakes (and therefore indispensable for post-work drinks), it’s slightly sweeter than usual sake. It's described as the perfect pairing for spicy foods and dessert - or as a starting point for the novice sake drinker. Bottled in everything from elegant, long glass vessels to girly pink-and-blue flip-top cans, sparkling sake comes in unfiltered (nigori) and crystal-clear styles.

If you're still not convinced to leave your mojito behind - we've also found two new plum and yuzu sakes that will make their New York bar-scene debut this spring.

Over the last couple of years, there has been an “ume-shu boom” – in Japan, Aragoshi Ume Shu being one of the most popular. Made by the microbrewery Ume no Yado in Nara Prefecture with over 100 years of history, what’s so unique about this ume-shu is that its makers soak local plums in the sake, and then re-mix the mashed plums back into the original sake.

In this way, you taste the natural plum flavour as well as enjoy the nigori-sake like texture on your tongue. To produce the Yuzu Shu the process involves putting the juice from 16 yuzus into a 750ml bottle.

Drink both on the rocks and/or with crushed ice.

Source: Tasting Table & Chopsticks NY

 

 

TAGS: sparkling sake tasting table champagne drink trends chopsticks aragoshi ume shu yuzu plum