..in an attempt to take my mind off Friday Nite Darts and the torrent of goo pouring out of my nose plus the usual “domestic issues” and glowing from the effect of a scaldingly hot bath plus fuelled with a couple of snifters of my fathers favourite brandy it occurred to me that flowers always remind me of wine..(so I surfed around – as you do)

“Some confusion may be due to terms used to evaluate or express wine and sake. If common or wine terms are used, aged sake can be expressed as having a pleasant “coffee-like” aroma due to an increased amount of low boiling point aldehydes or furan compounds and a decrease of acetate esters which commonly cause a “banana/fruit-like” aroma. Other flavor characteristics can be described by terms of common use in wine tasting such as “flowery”, “rosy”, “fruity”, “citrus”, “woody”, “cider”, “casket”, etc. In our tasting of the snow-aged rice wine, it has a faintly chocolate aroma with cherry smoke.”

http://www.greenriversake.com/story/sakeandwine.htm

righty-ho! so WTF is “snow-aged” sake?..this deserves further investigation afterall one would’nt want to appear to be ignorant of such matters would one?

(fast-forward twenty years) – I can hear myself saying

“Your getting married Osa? – have you taken leave of your senses boy! look, sit down and have some of Daddy’s best snow-aged sake and reconsider..”.

Yes,I definitely better know more about this – and a few other things.

*back-in-a-tick*

rem.

seeing that the original question was “what is snow-aged sake?” and that whole subject of sake itself is so large I was reluctant to go near any of the better known and authoritative sources of information to avoid getting bogged down with superflous detail not related to my query.

But this I know thus far about koshu (from sake-world).

*Its a long article I warn you*

http://www.sake-world.com/html/aging.html

“Looking at the first reason in more depth, consider the nature of today’s premium ginjo sake: light, aromatic, fruity, and lively are a few words that describe fine sake as we know it today. Aged sake – in its most drastically altered forms – can be dark brown in color, heavy, cloying, musty, and rich. It is completely different from what we know and love as fresh sake. It is, in short, a totally different beverage. Granted, aged sake can be just as complex and deep as fresh ginjo, but otherwise unrecognizable as sake. Sure, it can be enjoyable, but it’s not sake as we have come to know it.”

(and this is getting closer to the mark)- Low Temperature.

methods of aging sake, and the results those methods leads to, are all over the map. There is no one way sake is aged, and there is no one way aged sake should end up. Some brewers will age sake in large tanks at room temperature. Others will use tanks at refrigerated temperatures, others in bottles at various temperatures including freezing temperatures. And, yet others will use hybrid methods, aging in tanks for a few years, draining off to leave sediments behind, transferring to bottles, and aging longer at colder temperatures. There is no “one way.”

“Each one of these methods will lead to vastly different results. In general, higher aging temperatures and larger vessels (i.e. tanks vs. bottles) yield more drastic changes in color and heaviness of flavor. Colder temperatures and smaller vessels produce less noticeable, more subtle variations. But it is all referred to as aged sake.”

but none of this mentions the elusive “snow-aged” method..I’ll keep looking.

rem.

of course I could always trot out this old well-worn connection between alcohol and flowers and a reflection on Life

“They are not long, the weeping and the laughter,
Love and desire and hate;
I think they have no portion in us after
We pass the gate.
They are not long, the days of Wine and Roses:
Out of a misty dream
Our path emerges for a while, then closes
Within a dream.”

*the remora pitted against time’s Arrow, the struggle is neverending*

I must confess that the Iris is one of my all-time favourite flowers as well.
This article had me totally engrossed just before I turned-in last night.

http://www.flowersociety.org/Japanese-Iris.htm

It is an informative and well designed page.

rem.

..and as well as using using the Iris root as flavoring its petals have also been used for coloring..

“Created by spirits guru Michel Roux, Magellan Gin is made in small batches in Cognac, France from triple-distilled neutral spirits, spring water and 11 freeze-dried botanicals, a mix that includes cloves. During the fourth and final distillation, the gin is infused with deep-blue Iris petals. The result is a sensationally flavorful, 88 proof spirit with a captivating, light blue tint.”

*Sloe-ly..remora..Sloe-ly – no need to rush..*

rem.

I never thought much about it when I first read it, but if The Iris is the Flower of the Month for June, why is it associated with Boys Day (Tango-no-Sekku) which is in early May?

rem.

and I suppose this is where the Iris and Sake come together…(in Shobu-yu and Shobu-sake)

“On May 5, the Japanese steep the leaves in hot water and enjoy the fragrant Shobu-yu (iris hot-bath) because of the traditional belief that the iris bath is a miraculous prophylactic against all kinds of sickness. Many public bath houses, particularly in the districts where the people are less affected by western influence and are accustomed to taking hot baths in the morning, open their doors early in the morning on May 4 and 5.

Also for the festival, finely chopped iris leaves are mixed with Sake to produce a drink (Shobu-sake) especially enjoyed bv the Samurai of old.

In ancient times, iris leaves were also believed to have the mysterious power of extinguishing fire and for this reason, in rural areas today, people still observe the custom of putting iris leaves on the eaves of their houses on May 5 as a talisman against the possible outbreak of a fire or presence of evil spirits.”

Well, that takes care of June, although I still haven’t quite got to the bottom of “snow-aged” Sake..but evrything in time.

Next time, I’ll write it all out myself, and try and condense it into one or two comments, rather than dragging it out with a lot of quotes from other sources + associated links

thanks for being patient

rem.