Drinking at Home

When drinking at home, you don't need to care about the last train or bus. You can drink as much as you like, get shit-faced, and sink into good sleep, wrapping yourself with a blanket.


Last Saturday, to be exact, from Saturday evening to the early morning of Sunday, we had a sake drinking party in my house.

Two of my friends came to my place around five o'clock, then another came after 30 minutes. So, we were four people, and we enjoyed a little cozy drinking party.

It seems sake lovers always want their friends to drink their favorite sake and bring their recommended sake to friends using every opportunity. Also this time, they actually brought to the party one or two bottles of their favorite sake. How nice these sake lovers are!

While I like a merry big party including several tens of people, with whom I can have good communication, share laughter, and enjoy cuisine with various drink, I also like a small relaxing party held among good affable friends. Since I had told them that they could stay overnight in the drinking hall in my house, they could continue drinking until they became unable to walk without problems (however, no one got drunk to such a degree), and I think they enjoyed themselves over sake, foods, and talk.


We started with kanzake, or warmed sake. I prepared three junmai sakes intended for warmed sake: Junmaishu Koshi no Kagiroi, Junmaishu Kisho, and Mizuho Kuromatsu Kembishi (yamahai junmai sake). We enjoyed the distinct taste of each of these junmai sakes. I think warming some sake fully extracts the potential of sake, making the drink quite enjoyable.

Then, we had other sakes chilled. These sakes were Junmai Ginjo Namazume Oze no Yukidoke, Aizu Chujo Junmai Daiginjo Yuri, Junmai Ginjo Tamura Namazake, Esshu Sakurabiyori (ginjo), and Kasen Funeshibori Muroka Nama Genshu. These were ginjo, daiginjo, or nama type sakes, which had fresh and fragrant flavors.


The last sake, but not as one of the least importance, was the Masudaya Hisatoshi Edozukuri. This sake was very sweet with the sake meter value of -20. The rice polishing rate of this sake is as high as 90%. This value is as almost high as that of table rice we consume as daily diet. In the Edo period, when good rice polishing machine were not available, it was impossible to polish rice down to a degree of 50 or 60%, which is quite normal for modern sake brewing. (This sake is quite thick and sweet in taste, but more importantly it has strong acidity with complex taste of amino acid, making its taste profound and meaningful.) This sake has an elegant aged aroma. Its strong acidity braces the taste, making tasters unaware of its sake meter value. The sake actually feels sticky if it is smeared on your fingers, but tastes rather flinty, even leaving a dry aftertaste.


Anyway, the sake drinking party this time has made me to renew my understanding that the taste of sake is such diverse! The more sakes I experience, the more I recognize the profoundness of the sake world.

Today's Sake
Masudaya Hisatoshi Edozukuri (Igarashi Syuzo Co., Ltd.)
Please see the description above.

Rice used: Yamadanishiki harvested in Saitama Prefecture

Seimaibuai: 90%

Alcohol: 17%

Sake meter value: -20

Acidity: 3.0

Amino acid: 2.4