In this issue:

• True Sake To Aid Tsunami Victims
• Beau's Book Is Due
• Hire-zake - There's a damn fish fin in my sake!
• Winter Brewing - Brrrrrr for a reason
• New Store Arrivals
• Special Events
• "Ask Beau"
• The SECRET WORD!

Without getting too deep into the story that we all know, we at True Sake were looking for a way to offer a little to help to the millions of suffering victims in Asia. So it is with great feeling that True Sake will be donating 20% of our entire January sales figure to those in need. We call it a "Toast To Life" and encourage as many of you as possible to buy a bottle for a great cause. And for those of you who are curious, Yes! we will be donating the proceeds to a very reputable American charitable organization.

Please tell a friend, and by all means forget those damn X-mas Visa bills and splurge on that really expensive bottle of sake that you always wanted to try. And remember sake tastes fabulous on its own, so imagine what it will taste like when you know that others will be benefiting from your buzz!

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As most of you know for the past year I have been penning a book for Chronicle Books. On what? Well, wine of course! Just kidding. My book is on a libation called Sake and I look at this amazing beverage from the American perspective. It has been an incredibly fun process, and I would like to thank many of you for your trials and tribulations of purchasing sake at True Sake, which has provided some powerful ammunition.

The book, which is due January 14th, is a mixture of history, technique, anecdote, reviews, recipes, and a few other twists. I have been told that a sales date is scheduled for Winter 2005, but this is subject to change. At this point we don't even have a name. Any ideas?

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I am a sake purist at heart - always have been! That said, and please don't tell my sake gurus, I am a sucker for fugu! Fu-who? Fugu. Commonly referred to as blowfish. Yes, the same fish that if prepared incorrectly will kill you. (There are 5-10 "death by fugu" each year in Japan. A result of the liver being pierced and added to the mix, which should not happen)

Hire-Sake quite simply is heated sake with a blowfish fin added to it. First visualize a blowfish! Fat with those two side wings/fins that look completely ineffective as a stabilizer for such a portly fish. They take these fins, grill it, and then add them to atsu-kan (piping hot sake) that is served in a cup with a lid. Heating is the key, because the fin itself needs to really steep in the sake. Thus the lid, which you should leave on for two or three minutes after you have been served. The result is a super savory flavor that is extremely addictive. Sort of like a cross between sake and soup! But it is still very clean, and I have had much more success with dryer sakes that have a higher amino acid count.

What you mean SafeWay doesn't sell fugu fin? In Japan, despite sake connoisseurs frowning on hire-sake, there is demand enough that they sell airtight packs of dried fugu fin in most major markets. Also the big food courts of the major retailers will sell fresh fugu fin, which I find is not vastly better than the dried ones. If you have a friend going to Japan add this to your wish list.

Finally, I am reminded of a time when I was in Osaka and went to a sushi bar under the tracks! At one end of the bar there was a pillar/pole that went to the ceiling. This pole had a thick rope wrapped all the way around the length of it. In the creases of the rope there were little skewers sticking out with dried fish on each skewer. Small little fish that looked like grilled trout (about three inches long) were poking out this way and that. I asked the chef if he had Hire-Sake, and he said that he had something better! He proceeded to pick one of the little dried grilled fish on a stick and made Hire-Sake out of it. He served it the same way that I was used to with fugu fin, piping hot with a lid to steep the flavor. Honestly, the taste was amazing, light and savory! So I leave it to your imagination and that of your local sushi chef to try and make Hire-Sake out of a dried grilled fish of choice if you don't have a pocket full of dried fugu fin like I do!

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It is a plain fact; historically sake brewing took place in the winter only. Of course today they brew year-round with all sorts of new fangled refrigeration and cooler systems, but back in the day Old Man Winter made sake his way and his way only. Why? Several reasons really, and they all came from trial and error. Sake is a fermented beverage, and the act of fermentation requires great energy to convert a starch into a sugar and a sugar into alcohol. This energy is released in the form of heat. And as sake uses yeast to do a lot of this work yeasts are susceptible to death by overheating. Kill the yeasts and the fermentation never gets completed. Thus, how does one keep these yeast cool? You guessed it!

Temperature control is one of the most time consuming and potentially costly mistakes that brewers can make. The temperature must be monitored 24x7 to ensure proper brewing. Each part of the brewing process from steaming the rice to spreading the koji mold onto the rice to the actual fermentation in the tanks is solely dependant on temperature. Therefore brewers could do battle with the increases in heat the natural way by opening the windows to let in the cool winter air. Vents work wonders when the thermometer begins to rise in a fermenting tank of sake.

There is a secondary reason for brewing in winter as well. When the air is cold this lessens the amount of natural airborne yeasts that play havoc with a sake brew in process. One of the most important aspects of a brewery is to keep unwanted yeasts out of the procedure. Thus a cleaner and of course a colder environment helps to aid this process. And lastly, it just looks so much cooler when there is a feint glow of a tank room fermenting along from a snowy far away outside view. Snow and sake go hand in hand like ummmm chicken and sake!

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Tamanohikari Yamahai Junmai Ginjo - This is a full-bodied arrival from the Kyoto/Fushimi area and is a great value ginjo at $20/bottle. As part of your learning process it is important to try a Yamahai or Kimoto old-method sake at least once. This particular robust ginjo is a full-figured Yamahai that would be embraced by any fan of big flavors.

Kikusui Nama Genshu Honjozo - Talk about the perfect subway sake! The brewers who produce our number one selling ginjo in the store make this little 180ml can of honjozo (added alcohol) sake. A product of Niigata, this little monster talks the talk and walks the walk. Typically dispensed by coin machines in Japan this genshu is the ultimate "decompression" sake that most drinkers slug down before their long train rides home. It is both unpasteurized and undiluted, which makes it a 19% rounded slightly sweet can of attitude. $5/can.

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

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I have not been told of many happenings in the Bay Area as per tastings in January. We will update our calendar on our website if we hear of anything.
www.truesake.com

February 9th - True Sake Tasting: "Hello Sweetie!" In honor of V-day and the sweets that go along with it, we will be hosting a tasting for those with an inkling for the sweet stuff. This is not to say that the selection will be unappealing to those who think dryer is better, rather it is a great opportunity to taste some of the realms of sake on one side of the spectrum. Per usual the tastings are $40/head for 5-6 sakes and light food accompaniments. (Should not be considered dinner!) Limited seating. Tickets will NOT be sold at the Door (No exceptions!) Please stop by the store or phone with credit card 415.355.9555

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Glen in Riverside, California asks: "What's up with flavored sakes and where can I get some?" In hell Glen, that's where you can get them! Just joshing. Flavored sakes are just that sakes that have been infused with different fruit flavors. I cannot speak for the Japanese market, but I will assume that they are few and far between. That said a brewery in California that just closed its doors used to make a line of these infused sakes. They are still available in major grocery stores, but for a limited time I suspect.

I say Glen that if you are infusing something then you are hiding something. The sake itself may not be that good to begin with, as such it makes sense to dress it up. Or in this case dumb it down. People, as I have said, I am all about sake and bringing folks to the sake table, but infused sakes are not really sake and should not be considered so. Sure a bar tender can take a nice sake and whip up a cool cocktail - fine - but to get people to drink sake by adding cherry juice in the brewery? I am not for that!

Glen, there are a myriad of fruit tones in filtered sake. Flavors from honeydew melon to ripe bananas, and from strawberries to cotton candy can be found naturally in sake. Don't go the route of a wine cooler. Try your sake clean and natural. (Lastly, there are a few breweries in Japan who are playing with fruit-based yeasts such as peach that also bring out dramatic flavors naturally.)

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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Man oh man has the Secret Word become popular. We had 94 takers last month for "Chopsticks." This massive increase led to shortages, and for that we are sorry. We did however always have one of the two in stock. As always one bottle of each sake for each reader. This month we will be offering two sakes at half price. 1) Kariho Namahage "Devil's Mask" - a $24 Junmai reduced to $12 for the dry sake lovers and 2) Koshi no Tousetsuka "Snow Flower" - a $26 Junmai Ginjo reduced to $13 for the sake drinkers who like a Niigata style fruitiness that drinks dry. We've noticed that a few of you only stop in for the Secret Word sakes and we understand that times are tough, but let's not forget to give a little to get a little, especially when 20% of sales are going to help those who really need it! And the Secret Word for January is "FUGU."

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True Sake is looking for a temporary Flash web master who would like to talk trade! We need somebody who can update the calendar, add new images of sakes, start an archive for these bogus newsletters etc. Please email us at info@truesake.com if you are interested and would love to learn more about sake in the process.

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Sincerely,

True Sake