Holiday Sake: Senkin Snowman Nigori

Hello everybody and welcome to Sake Revolution. This is America's Very first Sake podcast. And I'm your host, John Puma. Happy holidays to everybody out there. I'm from the Sake Notes and I'm the guy who started up the internet sake, discord and moderates Reddits r/ sake community.

And I'm your host, Timothy Sullivan. I'm a Sake Samurai, I'm a sake educator, as well as the founder of the Urban Sake website. And every week John and I will be here tasting and chatting about all things sake and doing our best to make it fun and easy to understand. Now, John, I hear a little tickle in your throat. You, you doing okay?

Um, I got a little, I caught a little something. no, no worries. It is not, it is, it is nothing with a, with a 19 in it. Um, but, but it is nonetheless a very annoying cold that I've picked up. Uh, no fever or anything like that, just like makes me a little raspy. I don't know what's going on. just in time for the holidays.

and just in time for recording today too. Well, you know what they say in Japan, they say that sake is the best medicine.

Uh, well, I, I've not really, honestly, I have not had any sake since I started getting symptoms. So it's been, five days. Which is some kind of record, I'm sure for

a record for you,

Well, maybe when I had Covid, I think I probably, that was probably more than five days, but, you know, whatever. It is what it is. It's, it's, it's happening. The holidays are here, Tim?

I can see that from what you're wearing. Now, our, our, our listeners at home cannot see what I'm seeing over Zoom, but you have to you, you mentioned on a previous episode that you are, you indulge in the Christmas sweater. Uh,

Christmas sweater thing.

tell our listeners what you're wearing.

Uh, so I have my, this is my one of, I have a few, one of my ugly Christmas sweaters and it is a Star Wars theme. Darth Vader on, it's some crossed lightsabers and they light up when I move. It's a very nice, it's very fun. It's very festive. In a nerdy sort of way, but yes, this is ostensibly our holiday episode, right, Tim?

yes.

Right.

is our holiday episode.

is our holiday episode and Tim's just wearing his normal shirt and, and I dressed up. I should have put on a hat too. That would've been great. because you know, radio, it really matters what kind of hat you're wearing.

Well, I, I appreciate the sweater and you've just, just looking at you and Darth has gotten me in the Christmas spirit.

Well, you know, it is what it is.

so it is that time of year. The holidays are upon us, and we've talked about this before, but I think it is worth revisiting. You know, sake does make the perfect gift, don't you think, John?

I have given sake as a gift on many occasions.

Yes. And I was just wondering, wanted to pick your brain if you had any ideas of what sake. You've come across lately that might make a good gift, or what types of sakes you might give to certain types of people? Like if you had a coworker or if you had a family member or someone who you know has never had sake before, what sake might you pick for them?

Well, I wanna say that when I'm looking to give somebody sake as a gift, I'm often looking for something that comes in a box.

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Boxes are a little bit, it's a little bit nicer. You kind of, you know, it's easier to wrap. Uh, when you bring a bottle that's just wrapped in, in wrapping paper, it's a little obvious what you're, what you're giving them. Although they might think wine. might think wine or maybe, uh, some kind of hard. Hard liquor, a spirit of some sort, and then, oh my God, it's sake. But now I, I do like to lean with boxes.

Yeah. Yeah. That do, that does level up. The gift giving when it's

I like that. Levels it up.

Now, have you ever heard of Furoshiki? Furoshiki?

It's not ringing a bell for me right now.

Okay, so Furoshiki is the art of wrapping gifts in a reusable cloth. Does that ring a bell?

it does? It does actually ring a bell.

We may have talked about this in our last gift giving episode, but it's a wonderful eco-friendly way to wrap a bottle and then people can use this fabric to wrap their next gift and pass it on. And I think it's a wonderful, wonderful way to give the gift of sake. And there's even some ways you can wrap them and tie it where it has a little handle on top and you can hand it to people. So, uh, that's a wonderful thing to check out.

Yeah, I remember seeing an example of this once. Uh, do you remember like the, the tatenokawa Phoenix series of sakes? Uh, you know, around the band Phoenix?

I love those sakes. Yes.

Yeah, in Japan, I don't know if it made it over here, but in Japan they sold a version of the sparkling that came wrapped in a Phoenix T-shirt in the way you're describing.

oh my God.

And I thought that was the coolest looking thing. I was like, such a, such a great idea cuz it's wrapping and it's a t-shirt and you're getting the sake and the t-shirt all in one. It wasn't a box, it was just wrapped around the bottle. But you know, what are you gonna do?

Oh my God. I love that idea.

Yeah,

That's so awesome. What a cool story. Yeah, so you can use any, any cloth, any fabric to wrap the bottles and that gives you a wonderful eco-friendly wrapping paper, t-shirt, whatever. Works for you, So we got the box and we got the T-shirt and I purchased this year. I purchased, uh, a set of wine gift bags. Kind of just had a polka.design on it and handles on top, and they're just plain.

Nice. Nice. I, I like those. And um, Myshell is a big proponent. I'm pretty sure we have some just in case bags in the closet. You never know when you're going to give the gift of sake. All of a sudden,

Yes, exactly.

it happens, it spurs on you. Oh, hey, why don't we bring a bottle of sake? We don't have a ah, we do have a bag that's right here. So, yeah, that's why we have those, for those surprise sake occasions.

Now, let me ask you this. What do you think about. Cost as far as gift giving goes, because sake generally runs from about, let's say for, for a standard seven 20 ml, like starting at 25 bucks up to hundreds, right?

how good a friend are we talking here to?

Well, there's all different, scenarios. I think, it goes without saying that it has to be a good sake, right.

It does need to be a good sake, and I have a, I have a thing in my head of like trying to find a really good, uh, price. To taste ratio like I think. Especially when you're, you're introducing somebody to sake, uh, you wanna give them something that is attainable, right? And at the same time, very delicious. So, I don't wanna jump in right in and be like, here's a $300 sake. Good luck. You know? Um, I, and I also don't wanna be like, well, here's the cheapest sake I could find. Merry Christmas.

Mm-hmm.

that'll be the thing I'd give them, because it's like, you're a gift, so you want to go a little bit outside of your comfort zone. So I think I would find something in that, like that, that $60 area, you know, 50, 60. I like, I'm friends with this person, right? I'm, I'm, they're very close We're very close to my, this imaginary friend. We're talking about

Yes. Well, that would be a very generous gift. My rule is that I would never give somebody a sake that I wouldn't love to drink myself. So I feel like I have to be a personal fan and advocate of that sake and that brand. So something I would 110% buy for myself have in my own fridge. So that's my first rule.

The funny thing is you can tell that story and it could be like six different breweries,

Yes. Yes. Or they, they use olive yeast to make this sake. How about that

There you go.

Yeah. So some little, uh, nugget of information that may spark their, their curiosity about the brewery. Now, let me ask you this, Christmas aside. When you bring sake to a dinner party, like if someone invites you over for dinner and you bring a bottle of sake as like a host or hostess gift, do you expect them to open it and share at right then and there, or do you expect them to keep it for themselves and serve it later?

So when I'm bringing it to the dinner party, I'm expecting it to happen while I'm there.

Oh, really?

If I'm giving it as a gift, I'm not.

alright

The sake issues may be influenced by this scenario. So if it's a. If it's something I'm going to definitely partake in, it might be something that I'm a little bit more, friendly towards. If it's something that, that's going to be a gift for them, I may try to think of something that they would like more than something that I would like.

Well, I think if I bring sake to a dinner party at someone's home and I give them a bottle of sake, my expectation personally is that. I'd love them to open it and share it with everyone. But if they choose not to, if they have something else planned with, like if they have a special wine they bought or they have some other vision for the dinner, it's their house. It's their party. I want them to do what they want to do. Um, so I'm not disappointed.

Well, I said I would like, I'm, I'm not gonna insist on it. I'm still a guest,

Absolutely

like, how dare you not open this sake. Hey, while I'm here, I've brought this now, it's not like that. It's not that kind of situation.

Now, longtime listeners of Sake Revolution will know that John, you, you have a particular style that you like fruity. Easy drinking, relax on the couch sake. Now, is that the only type of sake that you will gift, or do you ever veer outside of that and give someone like an earthy sake or Negri or Muroka Nama Genshu or something like that?

Absolutely. I think that. If I know this person really well, also, chances are if I know them, I've had sake with them before. You know, we're, we're, we're pushing sake on people. Tim, we can't prete, we can't pretend like we are gonna, we're gonna buy people Christmas gifts and we've never had sake with them before. Cause that's just, that's not gonna have happened. Uh, but I may, you know, look into things that they've had while we were out and.

that's so thoughtful. That's extra thoughtful. I really like that

otherwise, thank you. Thank you. I try.

Yeah, so, so you, you're willing to break away from your preferred type of sake for gift, so you're really putting yourself in the shoes of the receiver of the gift as to what type of sake they might like. If they're, you know, if they're regularly a bourbon drinker or something like that, you might get them something a little stronger.

Right. Right. And especially if I've, like I said, if I've been out with them before and I have a better handle on what they're into, totally.

Now what about gifting Accoutrement like cups and cups and carafes and things like that? Do you, do you, have you ever done that? Have you ever given people sake sets and stuff?

I don't think I ever have, actually, I imagine, since you're asking me that, you definitely have

Well guilty as charged. have good, I have good friends who are not in the sake or hospitality world at all, and they got married and I gave them a beautiful antique porcelain sake set for their wedding and.

in a couple of years, you're gonna find out that they think it's a very lovely, uh, tea set

Or maybe it's at the Goodwill. I don't know. It could very

I didn't even, I didn't even think of that. That's, oh, that's unfortunate.

Well, personally, I love Cups and Sake cups and oh we, you know, we did the whole vessel series and all that stuff. I think that stuff is totally awesome and it really adds a different dimension to drinking sake. You can decide what type of cup, what ki type of vessel, how you wanna serve it, and it's especially fun when you're sharing a carafe of sake with a friend at home.

Hmm

So that's why I really enjoy gifting. Cups and different presentation things to, to people to enjoy the sake with, if they're getting into it, it's, it's a wonderful kind of maybe a next level gift. If you've given them a few sakes and they really like them, you can give them, uh, special sake cups to enjoy. And I've seen that go over really, really well.

It's one of my favorite things when I'm over in Japan. If I'm there during a, during a a season where that sort of thing can happen, usually, um, I'm either there in like spring, so you get a lot of like Sakura themed stuff, uh, or. I'm there in October, so you see a lot of Halloween themed sake bottles and it's so cool. A lot of places will take their Hiyaoroshi and they'll put like a jacko lantern on the label or something like that, and it's just a lot of fun. It's like festive.

Ooh,

And is here it is in the United States, is available for purchase, and I think that's really cool

you mean we got acute seasonal label sake here in the States?

in the States.

Fantastic. It's a literal Christmas miracle, so you must be talking about a certain holiday themed label I've seen around the shops lately. Do you wanna let our listeners know which holiday themed sake we're gonna be tasting?

Today we are gonna be tasting the Senkin snowman Nigori Junmai Daiginjo. And so, so number one, I'm gonna tell you Snowman and it's a nigori that's lovely. Right. But right, right there. Wonderful. a nigori Junmai. Daiginjo. That's unusual. That's

It is unusual.

different and I don't think I've ever had an Nigori from them before. These are things that pop into my head when I see this label for the first time. And, and the label is just so festive. And, uh, Tim, do you wanna describe what's going on on this bottle?

Oh my gosh. Cute. Oh, oh, cute. Overload, it is a clear glass bottle filled to the top with a creamy white nigori sake. And then the label is a stick figure of a snowman with a red hat and yellow mittens. Just like a very childlike sketch of a snowman, and then underneath it, it says snowman in English and it is very minimal, very cute, and very holiday.

Yeah. And it's perfect for that kind of thing. This would make perhaps a really good Christmas gift.

Oh, absolutely. Do you want to give us the stats for this sake before we dive in?

Certainly. So this, Junmai, Daiginjo is of course from Senkin, uh, and they are over in Tochigi Prefecture. The rice being utilized here is Yamdanishiki the, uh, the king of sake rice. And that is milled down to 50% of its original size. The, uh, sake meter value, that measure of dry to sweet is a very impressive minus 10. Tim, this is gonna be a little sweet, I think.

Yes, this one I would label as chunky and funky

chunky and funky.

Some Nigoris have just a little whisper of cloudiness to them. This one is full on snowstorm. This is a squall.

wonderful. It's a, that's the kind of thing you want to hear about a, about snow. Really. When you ha when you're gonna have snow, you're gonna make a snowman. You want a lot of snow.

Yes. And we have featured Senkin before in one of our branded episodes, and it's worth noting you said Yamadanishiki is the rice used. And the bottle that I have here says that the Yamadanishiki is locally grown. And remember we said all of their rice fields are five minutes from the brewery,

Yes, they do. I remember that being quite a, a, a funny tale

Yes, yes. So this is using the concept of domain where they have all their rice growing within a short drive of the brewery. And to remind people a little bit about Senkin, it is indeed the story of Two Brothers coming back to the Family Homestead Brewery, and reviving. The business from the brink of bankruptcy and putting their own modern twist on their sake.

So I think that Senkin is a very modern style, but they're very, uh, they're very sake nerd. Centric in my mind. you know, their stuff often has high acidity, and, this one's no exception.

I think it's safe to say that they're really. Inspired by the world of wine or wanting to bring a little bit of that wine mystique into the sake industry. I think that that's something that I would use to, to describe this brand.

Cool.

As you said, Junmai, Daiginjo, nigori is pretty darn rare. It's not something you see. So Nigoris are cloudy sake. Junmai Daiginjo is our super premium grade. So those two things don't often go together, so it'll be interesting to see how that pans out.

Hmm.

John, I can't go any further without reading the warning that is on this bottle, so there's a very innocent looking snowman on the label, but there's a hang tag that comes on the neck of this bottle and it says, warning in red letters. warning, keep refrigerated. Do not shake open, careful. Caution, there's a chance that liquid may spurt out due to carbonation in this bottle.

Oh,

Um, open carefully. Do not shake and open in a way that will avoid damage to people. And property.

I don't wanna damage my people. Um, now do remember this is also nigori so you do have to give it a gentle turn. A gentle.

yes.

to, to get everything mixed up. Don't shake it like the warning says, do not shake it. It's interesting. They made a very, very volatile nigori

all right, All right. Did you hear that pop?

I did. I did. Okay. Nice little

Yeah, well, nothing, nothing spilled over, but I did get a bit of carbonation bubbling up.

Yeah.

right, well, let's get this nigori into the glass.

Yes, lets.

All right. Oh, I've got it poured. I can smell it already. So describing it in the glass, it is cloudy, it is white. It's a winter wonderland. It's a snow globe in our glass

Yes.

And when you swirl it in your glass, John, do you get a fair amount of particulate sticking to the side?

Oh, I get a more than a fair amount. I wanna say

Yes. So this is, I would say this is above average in the amount of sake Lees or Rice starch that's in this nigori, making it cloudy. There's, as we said before, there's usually a whole range there, but this is more thick and more, uh, full-bodied in the amount of rice starch that they've included in this nigori. So it's quite white, but it's a beautiful Christmas color. It does look like snow. All right, so let's give it a smell. Okay. Well for me there's one aroma note that kind of jumps out.

I said that overrides the rest.

Yes, there's one aroma note that. Overrides everything else. And for me, that is the aroma of pear. So I'm picking up on a lot of pear and kind of, uh, crisp seeded fruit aroma. It's, it's just, for me, it's, it's really prominent and really out there

Yeah, I, I, I got, I got a, a fruit that I couldn't quite identify and yeah, I think that when you said pear, it was, uh, immediately apparent to me that that's what I was missing.

Hmm. And also there's a note of like, I call it lactic or like a yogurt or cream. There's a, a sweet cream or yogurt, kind of a milky dairy note as well, which is not uncommon in nigoris or cloudy sakes, but it really comes through for me on this one so that that yogurty sweetness is there too.

Yeah.

Yeah. Well, Let's give this sake a taste and see how the aroma follows up on the palate.

All right. Oh, wow.

Well first of all, I see why they put the warning label on the sake. There's a distinct. Prickling on the palate. It doesn't, it doesn't fuzz up like a true sparkling sake, but there is some active bubble in there for sure, and I can feel it on, on my palate a little prickling, a little sparkle. Do you get that as well?

Yeah. Yeah. And this is, this is something I often associate with, I think of when I think of Senkin is this has that, that little bit of bubbling that, that interesting mouth feel, that just kind of, influences everything else about the tasting experience in a really fun way.

Yeah. And it, it has, of course, because of all that, the rice starch that's in there, that MA is making it cloudy. That translates. To a viscosity and a weight

Hmm.

that you're not gonna find in other sakes. So the richness here is kind of off the charts as far as the weight and the coating. Just like it coats the glass, it's in, it's also coating your palate, coating the roof of your mouth

Yeah. It's definitely gonna be hanging around for a little bit.

yeah, and it, it lingers with this yogurty sweetness for me.

Yeah. And for something that is so sweet, minus 10. And nigori, so it's very thick and it's gonna be playing games with you in that way. And it's got all that carbonation in there and, extremely high acidity. It's so interesting how it all comes together and makes for this really, it's a, it's like a nice house of cards and I feel like if anything was missing it would really be a very different experience. Like if, if the carbonation had all.

Right. Yeah, and I don't know if you feel this way about heavy nigoris as well, but for me, usually they lean a little bit too much into that yogurt, dairy note, and they taste very yeasty and very yogurty. And that's not my favorite sipping sake or my favorite way to enjoy it. But this brings in the pear and the fruitiness. And the acidity to balance out the sweetness and like you said, all the threads kind of weave together and make something that is really sippable and really enjoyable.

Yeah. It's a, it's a completely different style of nigori. I, and I really appreciate it. This is a really fun, sake to drink.

Yeah,

Uh, one, one might say festive

It's very festive. Now I do have a very, very important question for you, john. Um, we do have a sake here a nigori with a snowman on the label. Is it appropriate to drink this at other times of the year?

he'll remind you of the holidays,

You don't think they're painting themselves into a corner with a snowman label?

Yeah. I mean, It seems like they're leaning that way, when they put the snowman on the label. But you never know. You never know. I mean, having said that though, I would totally have this whenever, because I am not precious about my sake.

That's right. And I think if it's well chilled, it's gonna be delicious anytime of the year

Mm-hmm. So you're not, you're not looking to warm this.

Oh God, no. No, no, no.

No, I didn't think so.

Yeah, it's almost like a little, I mean, this, this sounds so strange to say, like it's like a rice pudding with pear juice in it, but it, that sounds strange, but it's really delicious.

there's an eyebrow that came up for that one.

Yeah, I think you could enjoy this any time of year. I recommend drinking it nice and chilled to, to maintain that balance of sweetness and acidity. I think temperature is really important to keep those things balanced and to keep the texture a little bit crisper. I think the, the cold temperature is really important.

Yeah, I think so too. And, and I also think that you're gonna want to have this relatively quickly, um, because I don't think that carbon is gonna last that long once you open it up. I think once you pop it open, you've got a couple of days before that's gonna go away. That's going to go away. It's going to dissipate and it's going to change a little bit about the way you enjoy. The sake still gonna be delicious, but it's gonna be a little bit different.

Yes. I think that leads us to the ultimate conclusion that the Senkin Snowman Junmai Daiginjo Nigori is the ultimate gift giving sake, cuz you can enjoy it with your friends.

You should enjoy this with your friends. I should enjoy all sake with your friends, obviously, but I like this one a lot too.

Yeah, I do too. And you can't beat this label. You can't beat this flavor. So it's a really special sake for the holidays, and I'm so glad we got to profile Snowman before the end of the year.

Yeah, just in time for the holiday.

All right. Well, John, great to taste with you. Hope you're feeling better soon. And uh, I am so happy to be sharing this Snowman nigori with you.

The feeling is very mutual, Tim.

And, uh, I also want to thank all of our listeners so much for tuning in. We really do hope that you're enjoying our show. If you'd like to show your support for Sake Revolution, one of the best ways to support us now is to join our fantastic community on Patreon. We're a listener, supported show, and all the support we receive from our patrons allows us to host, edit, and produce a podcast for you each and every week.

Did you know there are other ways to support our show at our website? You can find a wonderful array of. T-shirts and stickers that you could perhaps, I don't know, buy a gift bottle of sake for somebody wrap the t-shirt around it, you know, and then close it, you know, with a sticker, and then boom, there you go. You've got it all in one place. And I think that that will be a, a really nice holiday present.

Absolutely. And if you would like to learn more about this episode, please visit our website SakeRevolution.com to see our show notes. And there you can also find a written transcript of each and every episode.

exactly. So everybody at home, and Tim on the other side of the Zoom call, raise your glass. Remember to keep drinking sake and come by.