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Alcohol Drinks Japanese Sake
"Note that the sparkling sake that inspired us to write this article was Gekkeikan's Zipang, which we'd shared and felt compelled to help people avoid - it's not a great beverage."
We previously published a single article discussing two versions of Japanese rice wine: traditional sake (pronounced sah-kay, not sah-kee), and a newer, gentler option: "sparkling sake." After three updates to the article, we decided to split it into two pieces, fix a few details on the grading and milling process (thanks, James), and include new photography in both parts. This half of the article discusses only sparkling sake; click here for our discussion of traditional sake.
Introduced over the last several years, sparkling sake is essentially the wine cooler of the sake world, allowing you to get some true sake flavor that's been mixed with a fruit-flavored water. We'd call that "fruit-flavored sparkling water," but in practice, not every sparkling sake actually sparkles with carbonation. Here are just a few of the sparkling versions out there, along with a recommendation or two as to what we've found best. Now with video!
Kizakura's Stars is a 7% alcohol sparkling sake, served in a pale blue bottle with a "Pure Sparkling" label. It seems to be widely available, especially on the West Coast where it's commonly, incorrectly called Kizakura Pure Stars, yet it's not very good. Relative to other brands, it comes across as watery, and as it lacks carbonation, it's not really "sparkling" so much as it's diluted. There's a strong sake flavor, with a very slight hint of fruit, but there's not much else going on. We'd pass; trying it could easily put you off sparkling sake.
Kitaya's Ai No Hime is a 7-8% alcohol sparkling sake, served in a beautiful blue 180ml bottle. The Japanese price is around $4, the U.S. price around $7. By comparison with Stars, it has a stronger sake flavor, as well as obvious cloudiness caused by low-grade sake, and no carbonation or actual sparkle. We didn't think that it tasted very good, as it possessed an almost spicy citrus flavor, and a gritty heaviness. Again, we'd pass.
Ozeki's Hana-awaka is a 6-7% alcohol sparkling sake, served in an elegant but simple pink 250ml bottle, topped with a metallic pink wrapper. The Japanese price is around $3.50, with a U.S. price of around $6. It's the third-best sparkling sake in this collection, with a balance of junmai grade-strained sake rice and light fruit flavors. Slightly sugary, it's actually carbonated, and we'd call it "not bad," worthy of trying at least once; we might order it if it was all that a restaurant was serving.
The best of the bunch, without question, is the standard version of Hou Hou Shu, a 6-7% alcohol sparkling sake sold in a blue 180ml bottle with a silver top wrapping. It's produced by Marumoto Sake Brewery, which sells Hou Hou Shu through its Kamomidori web site. We first tried this drink at a respected sake bar in Omotesando, Japan, thought that it was fantastic, and figured we'd never find it again in the United States; it was a thrill to locate it in Seattle, then online. The Japanese price is around $4, with a U.S. price of $8 to $9.
The standard Hou Hou Shu can be understood as sake champagne or a sake wine cooler, featuring a wonderful, fruity flavor, carbonated to a froth. There's just enough sake flavor to let you know that there's sake inside, with a crisp finish. A pink-bottled version, topped with a gold seal, is called Hana Hou Hou Shu, and incorporates rose hips and hibiscus into its sparkling sake. It's not as delicious in our view as the blue version, and it's also more expensive - the Japanese price is around $5 for 180ml, or $7 for 300ml, but U.S. importers only seem to bring in the bigger bottle and sell it for $13-$15. Wine aficionados will probably find a lot to talk about in the Hana version thanks to its herbal flavors, but we'd pick the other version first.
Note that the sparkling sake that inspired us to write this article was Gekkeikan's Zipang, which we'd shared and felt compelled to help people avoid - it's not a great beverage, nor is it representative of the genre. It's locally available in 250ml dark green bottles with silver labels for $7 at Global Wine and Spirits - and the best way to describe the flavor is lifeless; it tastes like a mix of seltzer water and decent, ever so sweet sake, leaving no rice particles on the tongue, but a modest sake rice aftertaste. If it wasn't for the carbonation and the 7% alcohol content, a bottle wouldn't be worth drinking at all; even with the carbonation, it's a poor example of what sparkling sake should be.
Our plan is to expand our sake and sparkling sake database over time to make additional recommendations, pro and con, in hopes of helping local diners and restauranteurs to make better selections. Either pure or in sparkling form, sake is a truly wonderful drink - you just need to get the right stuff in order to have an excellent experience.
