Kamokinshu Junmai Ginjo

Kamokinshū is brewed by Kanemitsu Shuzo in Hiroshima and somehow, an open bottle of this Kamokinshū Junmai Ginjo or Kamokin managed to travel halfway across the country with me, from Hiroshima to Tokyo on Wednesday and still have some left. The next day, I finished this Kamokin with Te-chan at home with our supper of brown rice, steamed veggies and some omiyage I brought back from Hiroshima: whole mamakari fish cooked in soy sauce and vinegar.

When I took the first sip, I said, ” Nice, and for some reason, the sake whispered ‘gold’ to me.” My vague tasting note immediately labeled me a victim of marketing according to Te-chan. Is it the fact they have won gold medal at Shinshu Kanpyokai this year? Or, is it for a golden sugidama on the label? Or, for the character “kin”, or gold, that made me think that? To me, Kamokin had sharp kind of glittering yet smooth texture at the beginning then ended with deep golden hue. Clean, yet deep finish, just the kind of personality I like.

So, how did I end up with this open sake bottle from Hiroshima? Kamokin was originally meant to be one of the bottles for nijikai after a big sake tasting gala extravaganza. When that opportunity passed, it was meant to be pre-boarding drinks at the airport terminal, but finally it ended up at our home.

May 27th, was the event of the year in the sake world: the New Sake Tasting in Hiroshima, where almost 1000 bottles of specially crafted sake are entered in the biggest contest of the industry, Shinshu Kanpyokai or The National Newly Brewed Sake Competition were lined up by region across 12 tables. One week prior to the tasting, 249 gold medal winners were announced and the lead-up was filled with a lot of buzz about who won what and the sake trends this year.

Shinshu Kanpyokai Kikizake in Hiroshima

On Wednesday, a few thousand industry people, mostly brewers, lined up to enter a big gymnasium in Higashi Hiroshima, then to move with the continuous flow of people quietly repeating one set of motions. First, empty an eyedropper filled with sake into a plastic cup. Next, bring the cup right up under the nose, sniffing. Finally, make a swirling sound for a few seconds and spit. Jot a note without even pausing before the next one. Everyone there was so serious and I was hesitant to make even the tiniest noise to disturb people around me–a bit like the experience of eating a meal at a zen temple.

The night before the big event, there was a fun sit down tasting dinner where they had about 500 people feasting on special sake from around fifty brewers at display tables. In addition each table was given a few bottles for kanpai. At the closing, plenty of the kanpai bottles on the tables were left because no one stayed at their seat. Once everyone was set free, people moved around rows of tables manned by brewers to try this year’s new and special bottlings. So, at the end of the dinner event, everyone took the sake from their tables to head to the nijikai, or second part of the big party. I grabbed Kamokin from our table, but while hanging out there waiting to figure out where we were going, I chickened out and decided not to go. Being a first timer at the serious tasting the following day, I wanted to be in my best condition to be able to taste as many as I could in a five straight hour standing tasting marathon.

While I missed the opportunity to share that Kamokin bottle with everyone, I thought for sure that after the main tasting the group I was with would easily finish the bottle before the plane ride home. On the contrary, after trying anywhere between 400-1000 sake for the previous five hours, everyone fled for beer. So, I hung on to the bottle.

The most embarrassing moment of this whole open sake bottle episode was at airport security. I was asked to separate the open bottle from my carry-on backpack just like my computer. “What’s the liquid inside this open bottle?” “Sake”. I felt my face flush with everyone around me looking at the object in question. The guy standing in front me teased “How did you smuggle that bottle out of the dinner?”. Oh, well, just another day being sake otaku.

Kanemitsu Shuzo’s Web site in Japanese: http://www.kamokin.com/

National Newly Brewed Sake Tasting Competition related articles by John Gauntner

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fg20000608jg.html

http://www.esake.com/Knowledge/Newsletter/SW/SW2008/sw2008_4.html

List of Gold Medal winners and other prize winners of this year’s contest in Japanese (PDF)

http://www.nrib.go.jp/kan/h20by/pdf/h20yb_preb.pdf