Nacho wrote:

I'm starting to like sake. at first it tasted like medicine. what brand of sake do you recommend? do you prefer cold or hot sake?

in the old days it is tradition to serve it hot. but nowadays it's quite hip to drink it chilled. sake enthusiests (from the "old school") will also frown upon the new sake that now has a hint of fruit flavor. Old Vs. New, the never endning battle.

Nacho wrote:

I'm starting to like sake. at first it tasted like medicine. what brand of sake do you recommend? do you prefer cold or hot sake?

It's hard to get good sake in the U.S. They only sell a handful in normal stores, and some of those are domestic, not imported (so read the label if you want the real deal). If you go to Japan, you can drink a new sake every day of the week and you won't have to repeat for years. Finer sakes comes from more highly milled rice ... there was a good article in Mangajin a long time ago about this. The 3 main grades are: Junmai-shu (milled to 70%), Honjouzou-shu (milled to 70% and fortified with alcohol), and Ginjouzou (milled to 60% or less).

The article goes on at length. Knowledge of sake is apparently a complex thing

A wine specialty store may have more selection.

I like cold in the summer, hot in the winter

watching japanese TV shows, somehow they ALWAYS make things complex. of course i'm not talking about silly comedies.

then again, if its going to be on TV, what isn't complex.?!

What I don't understand is why would anyone drink high quality sake cold. When you chill the sake, it reduces the amount of flavor that you taste, and when you drink high quality sake, don't you want to be drinking it for the taste?

The new hip trend of drinking high quality sake cold just makes me want to bang my head against the wall.

That reminds me... I still have 3 bottles of homebrew sake in my fridge.

Buruburu wrote:

What I don't understand is why would anyone drink high quality sake cold. When you chill the sake, it reduces the amount of flavor that you taste, and when you drink high quality sake, don't you want to be drinking it for the taste?

I don't think cold sake is ice cold, like Americans serve beer. That would kill the taste. It's closer to room temp.

Many quality sakes (reishu) are meant to be consumed "cold".

it seems like on the east coast here the only quality sake they sell in in the NE (NY/NJ, to be specific). I went thru most of the abc stores, asian markets in DC the area, some parts of philly, but none can compare to the upper tri-state area. So those of you with the home made/quality ones, i gotta ask ya: where'd you get it?

well.. i got my koji from autralia. it was shipped oversea to me. From that. making the kome koji.

I have some pics on my website under the "currently not suppose to be doing" section.

http://moderation.dyndns.org:81/

WOW! you brew it yourself? sugoi!!! I have a friend who brews his own beers, and i thought that was awesome, but sake, thats in another league....

vibius wrote:

I don't think cold sake is ice cold, like Americans serve beer. That would kill the taste. It's closer to room temp.

Only if your room is a fridge. The cold sake I've had in the past was always chilled to around 40-50F...

bmwracer wrote:

Only if your room is a fridge. The cold sake I've had in the past was always chilled to around 40-50F...

That doesn't seem right. It would probably affect the taste. Where was this? Japan? America? Timbuktu?

The actual yield of the sake after decanting is actually quite low. From about 1 1/2 gallon of water, result was about 1/2 gallon of sake. Of course you can "not" decant the sake, but then the sake gets kinda thick and unpleasent to drink due to the texture.

vibius wrote:

That doesn't seem right. It would probably affect the taste. Where was this? Japan? America? Timbuktu?

From what I understand, lower quality in japan're served colder than higher quality for that exact reason. Lower the temperature, the more flavor it masks.

hope this isn't too trivial buru, but is there a link you can provide about starting how to brew your own sake? I'd like to taste some homemade jones instead of driving up to NY to get some quality stuff. Thx in advance.
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This is actually where I got my koji. It also contains instructions on how to brew it. The brew I made is from the beginner's instruction.

http://www.tibbs-vision.com/sake/index.html

vibius wrote:

That doesn't seem right. It would probably affect the taste. Where was this? Japan? America? Timbuktu?

My favorite sushi bar: Hakone Sushi.

I never had sake but i heard a guy on tv saying that it taste like nail polish but i doubt he tried nail polish before. so what does it taste like? is it taste like rice?

bmwracer wrote:

My favorite sushi bar: Hakone Sushi.

Oh, France.

That explains it.

vibius wrote:

Oh, France. That explains it.

Yep. Those damn French!

my dad owns a thai restaurant and has a bottle of sake, but nobody ever orders it. He still won't let me have any

Ren wrote:

I never had sake but i heard a guy on tv saying that it taste like nail polish but i doubt he tried nail polish before. so what does it taste like? is it taste like rice?

perhaps he may be thinking of soju, the korean national drink. sake is very wine-like. it won't mess you up like liquor (unless you chug it like aho). nail polish, hmmm.... can't say that i've tried that.

BTW, buru, thx for the link. very interesting!