Kozaemon Tokubetsu Junmai Miyamanishiki

This week, I bought two bottles of this Kozaemon Tokubetsu Hunmai Miyamanishiki: one to ship to @squampton for SakeSwap, one to enjoy at home.

Thursday was such a crappy day; cold, rainy, miserable. The weather had nothing to do with opening this bottle, but E & T at Tokyofoodcast were so glad we did. It immediately warmed us up with well balanced stages at each sip gave us dry, deep umami, followed by acidity. I said “Wintery” and we both agreed it would be so good nuru-kan at about 42 ℃. Food pairing? All the usual suspects and Te-chan continued on to add more savory roasted veggies like parsnips, mushroom lasagna, and aged Mimolette to his wishlist. We tried it with some of Te-chan’s leftover special mac and cheese that night, but that match was voted down. The dish made the sake personality kind of bland. Maybe that mushroom lasgna should just be a roasted or stuffed mushroom-less sauce?

Today, on Sunday, the weather has completely turned around and now I look like I am ready for the beach on this hot summer day, but not yet the horrible humidity of Tokyo summer. As I was writing this post, I took a sip of Kozaemon, chilled to 15 ℃, according to the reading on my Optex infra-red thermometer. Sips from that same bottle now feel like Summer with very nice bitterness at the end and I am thinking of sashimi with light vinaigrette or a citrusy salad.

So, Andrew, I hope you enjoy the bottle at various temperatures and please let us know what you think!

Now, it’s time to try Hakurakusei from Sendai our SakeSwap partner sent us.

Please visit SakeSwap and give Andrew a shout if you are interested in exchanging some sake from around Japan next time!

If you have not read my post on Kozaemon yet, please visit this link: Beautiful brewery – Kozaemon.