Milky Rice Wine?!

There is a wide variety of sake (Japanese Rice Wine) available in Japan. Actually the word "Sake" just means "alcohol" in Japanese. The correct word for rice wine in Japan is "Nihonshu", which means "Japanese Wine". Some Nihonshu is sweet and others are dry. Some are made with only rice, and others have alcohol infused separately to speed up the brewing process and increase the amount. The alcohol infused type is usually cheaper, has a strong alcohol fume (like rubbing alcohol), and is more likely to give you a terrible hangover. So some people say that a real sake aficionado will only drink sake that is made completely from rice. This type is called "Junmai", which means "pure rice", and it does not have the strong alcohol bite, but rather has a sweet fragrance, is smooth to drink, and often has a light fruity taste.

Regardless of whether it's made purely from rice or not, I think most foreign people's image of sake is the clear type that looks like water, but I'm not sure if many foreigners have heard of "Nigori" sake. This is a type of sake that is milky in consistency because there are pieces of rice still in it (i.e. it is unfiltered). The pieces vary in chunkiness, and the liquid varies in thickness, ranging from cloudy soft to hard grains, to thicker soupy consistency like buttermilk.

Nigori sake is difficult to find outside of winter, as it is mainly produced in the winter. So there is a lot of it available in stores now, whereas at other times it is less conspicuous. My friend bought a bottle today and I tried some for the first time in a long time. It was quite sweet, but had 21% alcohol, so quite strong (usually sake is about 16% alcohol). Anyway we all shared this milky rice wine together and it was quite delicious. In the US Takara sake company produces a Junmai Nigori (scroll down) that comes in a large green bottle, which is affordable and quite tasty. It may be available in your local Japanese store so if you can get some I strongly recommend it. Also, someone who usd to live in Oregon recommended Momokawa sake to me. Although the company is originally from Japan, it is supposedly the first premium sake producer to make sake in the U.S.

Comments

[Sakéman]

Momokawa Pearl and the imported Nigori Genshu from Momokawa Japan are superior! These Americans have found the secret to nigori.

[AzianBrewer]

AzianBrewer said "Momokawa is no comparison to Mu".

[Jonny Angel]

Nigori-zake is my favorite nihonshu!!! Oishiiii.

[Susan]

I have not tried Nigori style sake yet, because I thought that the milky color meant it wasn't pasteurized (I think someone told me that once). Now that I know why it's milky, I will try some. We have a sake bar here in Brooklyn, NY, not far from my apartment that serves quite a large selection of sakes from Japan. I have tried Junmai type and love it!

[Charles]

Nihonshu comes from Nihon. If you want a proper nihonshu, buy some Otokoyama (expensive, very dry), or some Sasawai (smooth, fragrant) or if you can only afford yasuzake, Shirayuki.

There is no decent sake made in the USA. I've tried most of them and they're all horrible. They're not even good enough for cooking, let alone drinking. Gekkikan is especially awful.

You really don't want to drink any beverages made in Golden, Colorado. I used to live in Golden, the "pure mountain stream water" is heavily polluted by runoff from abandoned radium and uranium mines.

[robert]

hmmm..all this is making me want to go play in the snow for some reason. I remember being on some highway in Colorado..outside of Golden...and there is an overlook, right above the Coors plant..so far down. Naturally being afraid of heights ( not so much these days) I went right to the edge..as I sat there, legs dangling, I wondered if I fell would I land in a vat of beer and then drown in a sort of drunken bliss?...then someone yelled at me for being too close to the edge..it almost startled me to my doom. I think I'll take a walk down to Georgetown and see if Marutas carries this.. I suddenly feel thristy. ;p

[Claire （クレア）]

Hakushika used to have a sake brewery in Golden, Colorado, home of Coors beer. (They put pamphlets at the Coors plant: "Come see the other brewery in Golden!")

Sadly, it closed in 2000 or 2001 because of the declining popularity of Nihonshu in Japan. The majority of sake produced was exported to Japan, although a lot was sold and drunk in Denver. It was usually the house sake in any sushi bar or Japanese restaurant back then.

I once went to an okonomikayi restaurant in Kyoto just south of Karasuma Hachijo, behind Kyoto Eki, and they had a big advertising poster extolling the virtues of this fine Hakushika sake, brewed from the pure Rocky Mountain water. It was funny...it reminded me of a Coors beer CM!

I think Momokawa is the first American company to produce sake in America. Gekkaikan, Takara, and others have had breweries here for a long time. Momokawa's sake is interesting. They have a nigorizake and also flavor- infused sake. Ones I remember seeing are nashi and yuzu. I had the nashi once. It was ちょっと甘い、but not bad.

What is "amazake"? I had that one time at the Meitetsu station in Tsu-shi, Mie-ken. It looked like nigorizake, but it was very sweet and served hot. It was a nice winter drink.