>Friend knows love Japanese things
>bought me a small sake serving set (minus sake) for my birthday
>didn't have the heart to tell him I've never actually tried sake before.
Where do I start, Veeky Forums? Any good entry level brands? Do I try it first hot or cold? In that case, what's the best way to heat it up?
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floatingworldsake.com
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>In that case, what's the best way to heat it up?
In your anus.
Make a bong out of the jug and use the smaller things as egg cups.
Boil water and put the big serving jug in it for a few minutes
>Do I try it first hot or cold?
General rule of thumb is cold is best for high end stuff, hot for cheapo.
>work at a sushi place all through high school
>sake comes in giant boxes with a nozzle
>drink sake mixed with coke every shift
Sorry, can't help other than all of the expensive kinds we had were served cold, so I assume it's better
Sake is one of the most disgusting alcohols I've ever tasted. All Asian booze is fucking horseshit disgusting unless it's an Asian imitation of a western booze.
>cook Asian food occasionally
>there is a clear difference between sake used for cooking and drinking
>mfw I see people drink sake meant for cooking cause it is cheaper
I keep a big 'ol bottle of Gekkeikan in my fridge for the occasional Japanese meal. I find myself using Shaoxing wine more often than sake, and regular white wine even more than either of the Asian stuff.
If I don't like white wine is it unlikely that I will like Sake?
This always sounds counter-intuitive to me because in the West the worse a drink is the more we chill it.
I can see the similarity but at the same time they're completely different.
Sake isn't really like wine, or beer for that matter.
It's one of those things you just have to try.
That's simply not true.
Both high end and low end sakis can be good both hot and chilled, or even room temp.
This, really.
People often make comparisons to wine (similar alcohol %) or beer (since it's brewed from grain), but the fact is that it tastes different from either one.
And just like wines or beers there are many different styles so don't think that you don't like any of them just because you tried one kind.
Honestly.
You're better off using the thing for actual wine. Sake tastes just like some milder version of watered down flower vodka.
I expected it to taste a bit fruity and like white wine but i was severly dissappointed.
Sake sets look cool though.
t. destroyed tastebuds
>I expected it to taste a bit fruity
it's rice wine, why would there be any fruit taste and where would it have come from?
>Do I try it first hot or cold?
I only ever tried sake at sushi places where you get it hot and this weren't extremely posh places, so I only ever got to taste shit that tasted like lukewarm jetfuel.
Alas, I hate sake.
Went to Vancouver a while ago and was walking around Granville Island (one of their hipster ghettos) and they had an Artisan Sake maker.
They had a fairly affordable taster set and the gf wanted to go for it, so I just figured I man up and be done with it.
>chilled sake, lots of shit about awards won and local sourced and artisan on the lable.
>Smell it.
>Whoa, just like a kind of different, nice wine.
>Drink it.
>Whoa, jjust like a kind of different, nice wine.
>WTF, I love sake now.
I'm an alcoholic who will drink literally anything and sake is the one thing I just won't do. I tried to like it but I can't. Shame.
I kinda fucked this up, it seems. Whatever. tl;dr:
Good sake is really great, assuming you liek wine and dont mind spending a bit. Tried a few others so far and I'd say you get drinkable stuff starting at 15$ a bottle.
Saké is the easiest thing to drink that isn't hard liquor.
It's like a godsend to drunks, none of the acidity of wine and none of the carbonation of beer and it's pretty clean hangoverwise as well because it's relatively neutral.
if you're drinking it in the US, it was probably long past it's drink by date.
In japan the bottling date is printed on the bottle, and you're supposed to have opened it within the first 2-3 months after bottling. And once opened it should be drunk quickly (within a week).
Most Sake in the US wont even reach store shelves until at least 5-6 months after the bottling date, and it will generally sit on the store shelves for months or years because Sake isn't popular in most areas of the US.
You have to go to specialty stores in NYC, or San Francisco to really get decent sake in this country.
Makes complete sense to me but I was just so averse to the taste. I may give a different kind another shot in the future. It's been so long since I've had it I can't even remember what kind it was, but I believe it was in a blue glass bottle and wasn't too expensive.
From fermentation. It's just the same as with wine.
Its from grapes, so it should only taste of grape…
Sure, you can take it to the extremes and be a total faggot about it, but if you can't find any nuances in decent sake or wine, you got ruined tastebuds.
sake is disgusting in any western country, unless you pay big bucks.
same goes for asia pretty much, overall a very unexciting spirit
Yeah, this happened to me then.
There's a lot of hit and miss with the stuff, as with most drinks.
If you're in the midst of crippling alcoholism anything short of 80 proof might just feel like a waste of time though.
Low end is always served hot unless you're a homeless person drinking one of the juice boxes of sake. Good sake is rarely served hot.
The more preimum sakes will generally be best slightly chilled. But that doesn't mean they aren't ALSO good warm. Fuck stick
There's a difference between "CAN BE" and general trends.
Of course there are exceptions to any rule. And there's also the matter of personal preference. One of the books I read about sake stated that there was no right or wrong temperature for a given type of sake, only that you should drink it at whatever temp you prefer.
But none of that invalidates a general trend that higher end sake tends to be consumed chilled while the cheaper stuff tends to be heated.
The best kind of sake for a beginner would be namazake, or unpasteurized sake. Since it's unpasteurized must be always cold, and finished as soon as possible once opened. Which isn't hard at all since it's so delicious, perfect amount of sweetness and fruitiness.
I want kuchikamisake.
Speaking of Granville Island, the brewery of the same name is pretty damn good
Are you serious right now?
>it's from rice, so it should only taste of rice
The only ingredient in sake is rice.
There should be no fruity taste unless they explicitly mention that they added fruit. You're looking for 梅酒
>unpasteurized
Don't know a thing about sake but I tried this at a local ramen place and it was fantastic
floatingworldsake.com
>only ingredient is rice
Well, that isn't correct. You have to create a rice starter that underwent conversion of carbohydrates to fermentable sugars with the addition of koji mold spores, known as koji, and of course add yeast. Acid blend and yeast nutrients are generally added as well. I brew my own (pic related).