BacchusNY
Tonight's drink is a beer bottle with a lid that looks like the crown of a beer bottle. A bubbly one made by the champagne process. I'm afraid to open the bottle on a soup plate. When I pour it into the champagne glass, beautiful bubbles rise. The aroma is of fruit with a hint of acidity. When you put it in your mouth, you feel a strong acidity, followed by a refreshing sweetness. The sweetness increases as the temperature rises. Delicious! The ume-zuke (plum and vinegar) salad with mekabu and daikon (Japanese radish) brings out the flavor of the sake by controlling the strong acidity, and when paired with the nore-sole (egg yolk marinated in soy sauce for 2 hours), it washes away the stickiness of the yolk and is a nice touch. Sushi rice and sashimi also go well with sake. As you continue to drink, the lees become entangled in the sake, making it creamy on the tongue and enhancing the flavor of the rice. I was surprised at the sourness of the sake at first, but as I continued drinking it, I enjoyed it. The bottle is heavy, by the way!
Japanese>English