In this issue:

• The "un-filtered" misnomer
• Typhoon Season
• Sake as the perfect gift
• New store arrivals
• Special Events
• "Ask Beau"
• The SECRET WORD

I went to Japan last week for a massive tasting held by the Japan Prestige Sake Association. On one of the nights I had dinner with my friend John Gauntner, sake aficionado and author, and we started talking about America's fascination with nigori or "unfiltered" sake. In brewing lexicon sake is both pressed and filtered. Pressing removes the remaining solids of unfermented rice, and filtering is a process where they run the pressed sake through a charcoal filter very similar to your PUR filtration system at home to remove any bad characters and to historically strip away any colors in the sake. There is a different term all together for sake that is not "filtered," and there is a movement within the industry to cut back on this practice. If a brewery has good brewing water they really do not need to "filter" their sake. Without confusing we want to make consumers aware that "unfiltered sake" in its truest sense is called "moroka" which means sake that is not passed through a charcoal filtration machine.

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Whilst also in Japan I spent several hours with some rice farmers in Tokushima, and needless to say they were bummed out. Why? Like our State of Florida, which has been bombarded by numerous hurricanes this year, Japan has seen a record year for Typhoons. I actually experienced #21, and was saddened to hear that 60 people had perished in its wake. Not to belittle the devastation to life and property, but the brewing rice crop this season has been smacked around a fair bit.

As you may or may not know - I will cover this in a future newsletter - sake brewing rice stands much taller than table rice and some Yamada Nishiki can reach four feet in height. That is huge considering all of the weight of the stalk is up at the top, where the rice grains are nestled in rows. Well if you add 75mph winds at least 10-15 times in a growing season the results are damaging to say the least. Yamada brewing rice in particular has a thin stalk - as was pointed out by my friend Hiroshi Ujita who owns Tamano Hikari brewery in Kyoto - a brewery that specializes in Omachi brewing rice, which as Hiroshi said "has much thicker stalks" and was not as affected as much as the Yamada.

These farmers showed me fields of rice lying down. It looked like those hoax (or not?) crop circles in England supposedly from UFO's. It was quite sad. Once the rice goes down it gets infested rather quickly with mold etc. And last week was one of the prime weeks to harvest rice - late October. But fear not on two counts. Firstly, I learned a very peculiar but damn interesting technique that these particular farmers used to protect themselves. They actually hand-tied five stalks of Yamada Nishiki together in one living bundle that was still attached to the ground. Thus the stalks played off of each other in the wind and moved in bunches rather than collapsing. Very Cool! Secondly, and more importantly the brewers are used to typhoon seasons like this. They are used to good rice years and bad. This they all say will be a bad rice year, but that means their toji's (head brewers) will have to work all the more hard to turn below average rice into great sake. So let's call this the "season of the toji" and see what good comes from it.

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I would argue that 5 out of every 10 new customers that come into True Sake are there to buy a gift. Smart customers! Seriously, one of the reasons that I opened the store was based on the fact that whenever I went to friend's house or a party I would bring a bottle of sake. And every time I did so, it was the first bottle opened, the first bottle consumed and the bottle that everyone talked about. In a sense sake is exotic, but actually it's a function of the fact that people are bored of wine.

Sake is also the best gift to give for the holidays. The packaging in and of itself is gift worthy, then add in the delicious sake and it is a present that will be remembered. Don't forget about sake sets and individual glassware as well. And of course the books about sake are great, and when mine is done in January you will be able to buy it for next year's holiday season. Think sake when you think gifting this year.

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The Fall Nama Sakes Are Here! Typically "nama" or unpasteurized sake was released in the spring, but many breweries are making nama yearly, and some have taken to specialize in different seasons. Thus we have the Fall or Autumn releases from three amazing breweries - Narutotai - Urakasumi - Wakatake. Of course they are extremely limited and at $26 per bottle a virtual steal for the freshest "living" sake available outside of Japan. This is our second season offering these delicious brews and for those of you who have been waiting a year, your ship has come in!

You can review sakes on our web site: www.truesake.com

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Saturday Nov. 6 - Blind Sake Tasting Event for the CAJLT (CA. Association of Japanese Language Teachers) True Sake is a sponsor of this event - our 3rd year in a row - and I will be speaking briefly about how to taste "Blind." I love this event. Great sake in a great format - 20 unmarked bottles and the guests get to select the winners. Amazing food and a great location in Nakuru Tansu Gallery in S. San Francisco. (15% off of any Nakura purchases). The cost is $20 - tax-deductible donation! More info please email Ms. Akiko Soda, cajltmail-saketasting@yahoo.com. For directions see www.nakura.com 6:00-7:30PM with Registration starting at 5:30PM. Tickets may be purchased at the door.

Wedesday, Nov. 17th - TRUE SAKE presents "Honjozo Night" - a very informal evening tasting a series of complex Honjozos. The format will vary slightly from "Nigori 101" as there will be even less prepared foods and my discussion will be very relaxed, as in just a drinking buddy blabbering on! We will disseminate 6 or 7 Honjozos (one not available in the US) with a range of attitudes. 6:00-7:00'ish. A quick hit tasting that should be followed by reservations at your favorite restaurant. Conveniently enough, this tasting will be at Absinthe - 398 Hayes Street two blocks from True Sake - in the Garden Room. Ticket Price is $40/head and advance sales only by phoning the store 415.355.9555

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Steve Y. asked Beau "What is the driest sake available?"

Steve, thank you for the question. Like everything in life, it's all relative! The Nihonshudo or "Sake Meter Value" is an instrument that looks like a thermometer and measures the residual or ambient sugars in a particular sake. Dry and sweet sakes come about by the way the brewers brew their sake. If they want a sweeter sake they shorten the brewing process or play with the temperature of the fermentation process so that the glucose or sugars do not all ferment, thus leaving a sweeter brew. The SMV basically stipulates that sakes with a lower number represent a sweeter sake and the higher the dryer! Back in the day the basis used to be zero. Anything below zero -1, -2. -3 etc was sweeter and anything above +1,+2, +3 became more dry. But as tastes have changed, basis is now about +2, so anything below +2 is sweeter and again higher is dryer. Generally there is a movement towards sweeter sake.

Typically a dry sake would be around a +6 up to +10. I will speak for the American market when I answer your question specifically Steve. The current King of Dry Sake is a honjozo from a Niigata brewery, and it is called Yuki no Matsushima with a +20 SMV, which they prominently place on the front of their bottles. We carry this and other bone-dry sakes at True Sake.

Please send your sake specific questions to askbeau2 @ truesake.com. (This address is not for general questions and I only review the questions once per month. All correspondence should use info @ truesake.com.)

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Sshhhhhhhh! This month's secret word is TYPHOON, and once again instead of a free bottle of cheap sake we will cut in half the price of two sakes that allow you to explore new realms. The first is a junmai from Hoyo "Farmer's Daughter" $12 per bottle and the second is a junmai ginjo from Meibo "Midnight Moon" $10 per bottle. Now we had some issues last month. This is to reward YOU the reader of this newsletter because you are on a quest to learn more about sake. It is not to reward your friend who can go and buy cheap booze. That said one of each bottle of sake for each person saying the SECRET WORD. (No exceptions) Also, for the out-of-state readers who are in an available state you must purchase 2 additional bottles of sake for a delivery. (It's just the economics of the deal!) And lastly, I promise to inform my team of the sakes in question this month. Whooops!

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Sincerely,

True Sake