Using a Wine Glass for Sake

Lately, sake seems to be gaining in popularity in the United States. They are also holding sake tasting events in that country. When I browse the Internet and visit some Web sites depicting sake tasting event held here and there in the United States, I usually find they are using wine glasses for drinking sake.

This is probably because they don't have many sake cups. But, what I am curious about is how the use of wine glasses affects the taste of sake. So, I tried drinking sake from a wine glass. Also, I tried a sake cup for comparison.

In the photo on the left, I am using a wine glass for drinking sake. The glass is tilted and the brim of the glass almost covers my nose. In the right photo, tilting my face downward, I am slurping up the sake from a sake cup.


It seemed that use of the wine glass made the first aroma note more impressive while the sake cup helped enhance richness in taste. I sometimes hear the argument that the taste of sake depends on the sake drinking vessels. When I actually tried using the wine glass and sake cup this time, I could understand the difference.


Today's Drunkard
Ichibay is drinking Sawanoi Risshun Hyaku-Goju-Nichi Jukuseishu (150-day aged sake that was pressed in the morning of February 4).