A foray into the world of Budget Sake- Sho Chiku Bai Creme de Sake Nigori

Back in 2000, I visited Japan for 2 weeks. It was an incredible experience. I took in a show at one of the country's oldest Kabuki theaters, visited temples outside of Kyoto, stayed a night at a monastary in the mountains, and visited the somber site where the bomb exploded over Hiroshima. One night on my trip, I had dinner with the Principal of a small school in the outskirts of Osaka. During dinner with him and his extended family, he decided to teach me about Japan's famous rice wine- Sake. This was not my first exposure to Sake, but his lesson definitely expanded my understanding of this drink. He taught me that this wine is served with the rice both filtered and unfiltered (a sweet drink often referred to as Nigori), and that contrary to my experience back in the United States, Sake can be enjoyed as a cold beverage. We drank a whole lot of the unfiltered sweet Nigori that night, and thanks to the school principal, I have been enjoying this type of Sake ever since.

Last Friday, my good friends Jared and Sarah went to a Sake tasting in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. While at the tasting, they bought a bottle of Sho Chiku Bai's Creme de Sake Nigori. On Tuesday, they brought this bottle over to my apartment, and we had our own tasting.

This Sake was delicious. It was creamy, but not overwhelmingly so. It had the perfect amount of sweet, and it went down nicely. I took my first sip after eating a spicy meal, and I think if I had to do it all over again, I would have had a glass of this Sake with my food, instead of afterwards. In retrospect, it seemed like the ultimate compliment to a spicy dish.

If you've never tried an unfiltered Nigori Sake before, I think that this would be a fantastic introduction. If you're an experienced Sake drinker, I recommend you give this one a try!

Recommendation: Definitely buy it.

 

Comments

[Sakéguy]

If you like the sho Chiku Bai nigori you're going to love the Momokawa Pearl, an amazing example of this style of saké. Check out www.sakeone.com for details on Pearl. Mmmmmmm and generally about $10 for a 750 ml!

[Dorian- Budget Vino]

Thanks for the site recommendation. It looks great! Send me some...

[Alexis]

Yum...sake! :)

I agree with Sakéguy that if you like this, you'll definitely enjoy the mentioned Pearl. It's pretty delicious. (Of course, I'm biased in that I think most of the Pearl line is good.)

[Counting Sheep]

I guess I am the only one that thinks of Sake and my stomach starts to turn?

Perhaps it is all related to my 24th birthday... I was a bartender at a nightclub that also had a sushi bar in it. The boss cut me early and told me I had to do a shot with whatever employees I could find. I did a few shots then wandered over to the sushi bar. The chef said "Let's do a shot of warm sake..." Sounded good to me. It wasn't warm, it was hot. The chef even paused for a moment and turned to me... "that wasn't very good was it?"

nope... It was not very good indeed.

Luckily there was a newly hired bouncer that could clean the employee bathroom after I painted the walls... I felt much better afterwards though...