“Drinking sake is an elliptical experience,” my bartender, Silas, said. He had recently laid out Hachiroku Shokudo’s Variety Mega Sake Flight ($50), a line of not three but eight dots—almost three ellipses’ worth of 1.5-ounce pours, diverse enough to give learners like me a good overview of styles and flavors.
Interrogating those styles and flavors proved quite a challenge. “Mega” language aside, sake is a realm of subtleties, starting with the first step of the traditional sake-making process, in which whole styles are determined by fractional differences in the amount of rice grain that’s “polished” away. Given that my wheelhouse is hard-hitting, high-proof whiskey, I worried I might need help with the far more delicate art of nosing and tasting sake.
Thankfully, I had it. With the understanding that flavors were mostly hints and touches, here are my tasting notes, some of which Silas either directly or indirectly prompted:
#1 Kubota Senju (Ginjo style)
Nose: Green apple, cantaloupe, white grape, maybe milk chocolate. Varnish funk. Brisk.
Palate: Drier than expected, with a blush of salinity tempering the fruit.
#2 Mizubasho (Ginjo)
Nose: Underripe banana, honeysuckle, green fruit.
Palate: Pear, lychee, vegetal spice, burnt sugar.
#3 Ima Oysters (Junmai)
Nose: Pear, honeydew, pineapple, roasted chestnuts.
Palate: Clear uptick in intensity here. Apple, ground cherry, maybe a bit of oaky vanilla. Smooth and round; acidity with swishing.
#4 Akitabare (Daiginjo)
Nose: Yuzu, orange, lemon. Fermented soy. Delightful. (So is the bottle label.)
Palate: Sweet at the top, musky at the bottom and savory in the middle, which arrives a moment late. Earthy, rind-y. Fascinating.
#5 Zaku Miyabi No Tomo (Nakadori Junmai Daiginjo)
Nose: Berries, tropical fruit, vinaigrette.
Palate: Banana, papaya, coconut meat, bubblegum. Florality—hibiscus?
#6 Kamitaka Octopus (Junmai)
Nose: Olive oil, overripe fruit, earthy, musky, briny.
Palate: The nose, with an abrupt finish.
#7 Heiwa Shuzou “Aka Kid” (Junmai)
Appearance: Reddish thanks to the ancient red rice strain used to make it.
Nose: Fresh plum, cured Luxardo cherry. Syrupy, seductive.
Palate: Fresh cherry, cured plum. Silky, still seductive. Slightly tart.
#8 Heiwa Shuzou Nigori (Junmai Nigori)
Appearance: White, cloudy.
Nose: Coconut, vanilla, funk.
Palate: Vanilla ice cream without the sugar. Some funk and slight astringency comes when I search. Drinks easy but also like a brain teaser. Academic, in a great way.
Perhaps you’re wondering: Which of these sakes was my favorite? Which one would I most recommend? Like the “Hand Walk” game on Kinniku Banzuke, my leaderboard kept changing. As the tasting wound down, I started to think my winner was the “Aka Kid,” but, after a final round of sips in quick succession, that choice seemed hasty. The list of subtleties I couldn’t quite name felt at least as long as the ones I could, especially over the flight’s last six selections. Obviously, there were further depths to plumb here.
“An elliptical experience,” Silas had called it, and by the time my flight reached its very open end, I think I had started to grasp what he meant.
Written and photographed by Dan Mims.
