gurdymonkey | The pleasures of the cup

As some of you know, I host the occasional sake party. As a result, I sometimes get questions about how to chose something to serve or whether a particular sake is good or not.

Honest answer? I can't tell you. Taste is highly subjective. Don't let stemware swirling wine snobs tell you different. What I like may not be what you like and vice versa and ultimately it all comes down to what tastes good to the person drinking the libation at the time. I can tell you what I like - I cannot tell what you will like.

That said, sake is an exotic to some folks, hard to come by in some locales, and people are understandably curious about how to pick something or even whether it's something they will like.

If you Google "sake reviews" you'll find sites who do just that, sake sites, wine sites, food bloggers, the lot. Now, repeat after me: Taste. Is. Subjective. John Q. Reviewer may be waxing rhapsodic about hints of pear and melon, but you could drink the exact same thing and not taste that at all. If you're a wine drinker, think about what sort of characteristics you like in your wine. Sweet? Fruity? Dry? You can use those criteria to help you make a selection, just remember that John Q. Reviewer's taste buds are his taste buds and yours are yours.

http://www.sake-world.com/ belongs to John Gauntner, whose The Sake Handbook I acquired very inexpensively, and which was a great introduction to choosing and drinking sake . It helps to know things like the different grades of sake, what the sake-meter value (a sweet-to-dry scale) is, and that you should definitely look for a date stamp on the label.

It has been suggested that cheap sake is not worth drinking. This is not necessarily true. Remember: Taste. Is. Subjective. One of the staples of my sake parties is good ol' Sho Chiku Bai Nigori, brewed and bottled by Takara USA in Berkeley. So ubiquitous in the Bay Area you can find it in most supermarkets. It's a cheap unfiltered sake - I think I paid $3.99 for a 375ml bottle. It's on the sweetish side, and I. Like. It. Recently a friend cracked open a gifted bottle of "g" (about $18.00 in an arty black bottle). I didn't care for it. Taste. Is. Subjective.

That said, if you're new to sake and are afraid to risk serving swill to your guests, price is a factor that may help you in your selection. If you pick up a bottle and it says "junmai daiginjo" on the label, it's probably going to cost more than one that says "junmai." If you can't remember all those foreign Japanese words when you get to the store, $20 a bottle as opposed to $4 a bottle should tell you something. (My boss is a big Irish whiskey and beer kinda guy. At Christmas, he goes into his local BevMo, corners a sales clerk to help him pick out whatever the most expensive bottle in the house is and that's my Christmas present. Every year it's been something different, every year it's been good sake.)

So what happens when I make a sake buy for the House of Cheerful Monkeys or Rising Sun?

The 350ml bottle is my friend. Many sake are available in small bottles, ranging in price from $3.99 to $15.99 for the premium stuff such as the delightful Rihaku Wandering Poet. Smaller bottles at modest prices mean more sake to taste and try.
Check the date stamp. Sake is perishable. Light and heat are its enemies. (I have stopped buying sake at the Jack London Square BevMo because they put it on a shelf where it gets strong late afternoon sunlight. I wrote them an email about why this is a Bad Thing. The sake is still next to the window, which means they can sell it to someone who is not me.) Deciphering date stamps is sometimes a little tricky, depending on whether the bottler put the month or the year first. If it looks like it's been sitting on a shelf since V-J day, don't buy it. If you're at an Asian market where the stock is likely to turn over more often, you're probably OK.
A "gateway drug" helps get people who don't think they're going to like sake to try it. Finding a good "gateway" sake will be subject to what's available in your area and how well you know what your friends are likely to enjoy. Momokawa's USA branch has a line of fruit infused sake marketed under the Moonstone label. I can usually find the Asian Pear flavor at BevMo: it's crisp, fruity without being overly so, and very smooth. Ozeki's Hana Awaka, a sparkling sake at it's girliest, has turned out to be a surprise hit, particularly with ladies who like their drinks sweet.
This is MY chance to try something new too. Seriously. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Besides, it's a party. I might not be wild about a particular choice, but one or more of my guests might like it.
Go ahead: let the label suck you in. I am guilty of teasing my younger sister about buying wine solely because it came in a bottle with a pretty label. Then one day, faced with a dizzying row of bottles, many covered with writing I could not read, I spied a bright red box with a lady on it in full Heian finery. It had a $25 bottle of sake in it. Jinyu. 100 poems. How could I not try it? The risk was worth it - Jinyu may be my favorite sake these days. Delicate, subtle, smooth as Ono no Komachi's five foot long mane of hair, poetic as her thoughts.
Sink or drink? After reading Mr. Gauntner's Sake Handbook, armed with all sorts of useful knowledge, I was remorseful but ruthless about pouring out any party leftovers. After all, the bottle had been opened! Surely the sake would go off before I could drink it and it would be wasted whether I poured it out then or later, right? Well, maybe not. At Mists Coronet just a couple weeks ago, Theia came up to me with a bottle that had been opened at a party at Estrella, told me it was good sake brought all the way from Japan, and I was welcome to have it. I unscrewed the lid - it smelled fine. I told myself it was cocktail hour somewhere and took a cautious taste - it tasted terrific. (This is the Tamanohikari that Tony identified the other evening by my description of the label.) I immediately capped it, stowed it in my cooler and served it that evening. As a matter of fact, there's still about 3" in the bottle and I had some last night and it's still delicious - despite the warnings of various internet sake experts (who may or may not be trying to stimulate sake sales with said warnings). So,keep your opened sake cool and out of the light when it's not out on the table being enjoyed. Sniff and taste-test if it's been around in the fridge awhile: it may not be as good as it was the night you opened it, but it may still be quite drinkable.
Hot or cold? Traditionally, the Japanese would serve sake warm (only about 100 - 105 degrees F) in winter. Most sake is best slightly chilled, particularly much of the sake marketed in the US where we've all been canalized into having ice in our drinks. Check the label and see if the maker or importer recommends a particular serving temperature.