Nigorizake
My favorite sake maven, John Gaunter, knows just about everything anyone anywhere could ever know about sake. And by the way, it’s spelled sake, not saki. How to pronounce it in Japanese? Ask a native speaker.
I love the stuff, nigorizake, that is, and can never get enough of it. I know, I know, it’s dangerous, but life is dangerous!
Listen to what Mr. Gaunter has to say about White Sake in one of his published articles, this one from the Japan Times a few years ago:
“It is all too easy to get all too serious about sake all too often. Ginjo this and ginjo that, highly polished rice, double-secret yeast, fancy fragrance, full palate, clean finish, yada yada yada. Sake in the end should be fun, and nothing reminds us of this better than nigorizake.
We’ve all seen it, the white, opaque sake, found occasionally on shelves around the country. Just what is it, what does it taste like, and how does it differ from regular sake?
Nigorizake is — just as the name implies — cloudy sake. The “cloudiness” is nothing more than part of the fermenting mash, unfermented rice solids left suspended in the sake.”
If you want to learn more, Gautner runs an online sake newsletter here.
Poor Mari….she’s my favorite. If I ever become a j-pop singer and part of the...
Shes definitely at the top of my hot list.
perfeckt 10:10
Tried this myself. Interesting, to say the least.
I liked Umeshu a LOT more.
July 30th, 2005 at 7:24 amSake, nature, and history buffs are recommended to check out the “doburoku matsuri” at Shirakawa-go in Gifu every autumn.
July 30th, 2005 at 9:51 amWould anyone know if this is anything like the Korean makgeolli? That’s some good stuff, but it gives me quite a headache if I drink too much of it. If nigorizake is a bit more refined than that, I might give it a try. If I can find some here, that is.
July 30th, 2005 at 10:32 amThere’s more than one doburoku festival in Japan; there’s one each discussed in these matsuri reports:
http://japundit.com/archives/2005/04/10/matsuri-report-4/
and
http://japundit.com/archives/2005/02/27/matsuri-report/
I went into a little bit of detail about doburoku in the second (earlier) one.
“Would anyone know if this is anything like the Korean makgeolli? That’s some good stuff, but it gives me quite a headache if I drink too much of it.”
Doburoku is very sweet and still has rice solids floating in it (on purpose). I had makgeolli once, on my first trip to Busan, and as I recall, it wasn’t as sweet (but I forget how sweet it was). There was nothing floating in it, either (g)
It gave me the one of the worst hangovers I’ve ever had in my life, but I had had a few beers before drinking it, so that was probably a factor.
The place where I had it was very interesting. It seemed to be a private home, though the woman came out with food and drink for a party of about 15 people pretty quickly. There were a lot of those big jars of fermenting kimchee in the front yard.
I’m pretty gutsy about trying new food and drink in a foreign country, but they served some stuff (processed fish?) with the drink that smelled pretty bad. I passed on it after one small piece.
We drank the makgeolli out of bowls instead of cups.
The sweetness of doburoku would make me think it could cause a big hangover, too. I bought a bottle once and served it at a party. I wound up having a glass, and that was enough. Sweetness was not my thing with liquor.
Most of it was consumed by a Japanese guy (my boss at the time), who loved it. He got ripped!
July 30th, 2005 at 12:42 pmMakgeolli is sweet, but not too sweet (not as sweet, say, as a lot of the new fruit-based. lightweight liquors they’re coming out with these days, mainly targeted at women). And you’re right, it doesn’t have anything floating in it. At least not until you drink a few crocks of it–then you end up floating in the makgeolli.
July 30th, 2005 at 5:58 pmI have recollections of drinking nigorizake, standing up, and feeling like I should NOT have just stood up, it’s so good…
It tastes like coconut milk. With a sake kick.
by the way, can anyone tell me why many AMericans pronounce SAKE as “saki”, like sakky, rather than SAH-KAY…..?
July 30th, 2005 at 9:00 pm“I know, I know, it’s dangerous, but life is dangerous!”
What’s dangerous about it Danny? Is it because you’re consuming rice that was sitting in a vat for a month instead of merely seperated alcohol?
July 31st, 2005 at 6:06 amOops forgot to fill out my name, above poster was me
July 31st, 2005 at 6:07 amHi Jon,
I am not sure what is dangerous about it, but what I really meant is that it can knock you out, the stuff is powerful. It tastes sweet, like oatmeal or coconut milk or even rice milk, but after you drink 6 glasses of that nigorizake stuff, have fun riding home on the last train!
It’s only dangerous to one’s brain cells, I imagine, and one’s liver. That’s all I really meant.
But it is delicious, and you’ve never tried it once, try it once before you die. It’s worth the memories…
July 31st, 2005 at 12:19 pmby the way, can anyone tell me why many AMericans pronounce SAKE as “saki”, like sakky, rather than SAH-KAY…..?
You mean other than the fact that most Americans are not familiar with and/or do not care about Japanese pronunciation?
July 31st, 2005 at 1:18 pmYes, other than that fact!:lol:
July 31st, 2005 at 1:19 pmI once saw an article in a US magazine, and the reporter, a seasoned writer, spelled sake as “saki”. and forget about how some people there pronounce ”karraoki”!
July 31st, 2005 at 1:21 pmSah-Kay?
That’s just one mispronunciation for another. The e in Japanese words is always pronounced like the e in the English word “men”, so it is sah-keh.
July 31st, 2005 at 2:17 pmIt isn’t just Americans. It’s an English thing. English pronunciation isn’t as restrictive as Japanese. In addition we put emphasis on certain syllables. So やすだ becomes “yaah SUUE daah”.
In other words, we pronounce Japanese the way we think it should sound, rather than the way it actually sounds. We see the “ke” and think, “key” rather than “keh” or “kay”.
July 31st, 2005 at 5:12 pmby the way, can anyone tell me why many AMericans pronounce SAKE as “saki”, like sakky, rather than SAH-KAY…..?
probably for the same reason they don’t say aruko-ru when discussing sake and don’t say nihon when talking about japan.
probably for the same reason the japanese say kompyuutaa when meaning computer and say igirisu when talking about england.
just because one language created a word doesn’t mean it gets to create the international pronunciation guide. =]
August 1st, 2005 at 10:33 pmjust because one language created a word doesn’t mean it gets to create the international pronunciation guide.
Good pointe! BTW, What is ARUKO-Ru?
August 1st, 2005 at 10:36 pmYou mean alchohol?
aruko-ru [アルコール ]
August 1st, 2005 at 10:42 pmyep! look around your favorite 7-11 for the osake [お酒/おさけ] sign. what the japanese retail as “sake” encompasses just about everything under the sun. what most westerners call sake is usually just standard issue nihonshu.
my point was just that every culture twists the pronunciation and even definition of the words they adopt. it’s how we end up with dialects where people who are supposedly speaking the same language can’t understand each other.
at least it makes life exciting. =]
August 2nd, 2005 at 2:06 amjsdhf\uihpfun
April 2nd, 2006 at 3:50 amJust want to throw this out there: come to Japan and ask, with perfect pronunciation, where McDonald’s is or for a salad. You’ll get a blank stare. It is because the pronunciations are different.
It turns out that loan words are often pronounced differently in different languages. Go figure.
No need to get all snobby about it, especially considering you are the ones who are wrong. In Japan it is お酒 (saa-kah) in the states it is sake (saa-key). Neither is wrong. That is just how languages work.
November 22nd, 2009 at 1:23 pm