Welcome to the March Issue of America's sake-centric newsletter. The groundhog saw his shadow and all we have to look forward to is green sake on the 17th. NOT! Do not despair the Ides of March for in this issue you may enlighten yourself to a dark sake man. Also take note of a special sake tasting on the 1st day of Spring, and behold a new restaurant that engaged the "dark sake man" to produce one hell of sake menu. Spring has sprung folks!

As the distribution for this email Newsletter keeps growing by leaps and bounds I have been reminded by my email guy (Jim Kelly from dialogworks.com - an excellent source for perfect emailing systems) that you should use the modify link at the bottom of each message to update your email address (should it change, or you want to send these messages to a different address). Also the bigwigs such as AOL, Earthlink, and Hotmail, MSN, Outlook 2003, and Yahoo have a capability for bypassing their spam filters if news@truesake.com is in your address book. If you add this rag to your address book then I can use words such as "free" and "sexy Dai Ginjos" and they won't get filtered with all those European, um, "enhancement" emails! Thank you!

In this issue:

• An Interview with The Sake Savant
• True Sake In The News - 415 Asian Restaurant & The Wall Street Journal
• Sake Spotlight - Otokoyama Momenya
• New Store Arrivals - Ichinokura DG, Dassai Nigori
• Special Events - Sake 101 "The Basics"
• Summary of the "Funky" Sake Tasting
• "Ask Beau" - Can I freeze sake?
• The SECRET WORD

The co-creator of Sake - A Modern Guide (Chronicle Books) Sara Deseran once referred to me as a "sake savant." At first I was a little bummed out by this description thinking of Jeffery Rush in "Shine" or Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man quoting airlines that have the safest track records. I'm not crazy damn it!! (debatable) But then I "got" what she was alluding to - that I am not your typical fan of something.

Sake has an incredible meaning for me and this brings out equal parts crazed scientist and fascinated lover. I often refer to myself as a sake freak, and that should not be construed as some guy chugging down bottles of sake in a dank dark basement, but rather it should conjure up an image of a guy who cannot put head to pillow unless he has learned at least 5 new things about the subject of sake each and every day. And when I cannot learn something from others, I teach myself!

What follows is an interview that I conducted with Beau Timken very late one evening in his dank dark basement:

Interviewer: Good evening! Beau: I am NOT an animal............ Interviewer: Ummmmm Okay! Beau we know the whole story about the first time that premium sake touched your lips, but what is it about sake that made you "freak out?" Beau: The obvious answer was and remains quite simple - how can rice and water taste like melons, cherries, clover honey or fresh cut bamboo? The not so obvious answer is that sake got under my skin. It became an itch that I couldn't scratch. I just had to know more and more about the process, the history, the why's and the how's? I was never the best student, and as such never really valued education. But when sake spoke I finally realized the power of educating one's self. To learn something for grades is one thing, but to learn something for passion is entirely different. Interviewer: Who do you like to "freak out" most by your new found knowledge of an ancient beverage? Beau: The professionals. I love teaching owners of breweries, major importers, and educators on the subject of sake weird and different perspectives that I have amassed in my short time with sake. Interviewer: For example? Beau: Bottle Nose! No not the dolphin, but the first whiff of air that sake breathes in when you open a bottle that has been sealed for several months or years. Of course everybody knows to smell as one pours, or to dig your shnoz in the glass for the primary and secondary aromas, but I went to the source. When I first starting doing it I was amazed at the extremely bizarre "smells" that emitted from the closed bottle. When you remove the cap immediately get your nose as close as possible to the top of the bottle. (This is easier to do when you are alone as it looks as if you are about to snort the whole bottle.) And really inhale! I mean try to bring the fluid up the neck! And behold an entirely new array of "aromas" that more often then not do NOT present themselves later in the glass. I have pulled some really amazing scents from "Zebra-Stripe Chewing Gum" to Cinnamon and from Halloween wax teeth to "wood furniture in the sun." Now, most every pro that I drink with does the "bottle nose," and that is pretty funny! Interviewer: What else? Beau: Size Surprise! No not the embarrassing moment at the beginning of an orgy! Size does mater in the "performance" of premium sakes. It is obvious by now to most that sake performs in many of the same capacities as wine, thus aroma, acidity distribution, and taste are affected by the size and shape of the vessel that one chooses to employ. Back in the day when I reviewed a sake I always used my favorite glass or for a while a professional sake cup. But this was always one shape and that was okay for consistency but did not allow for "performance." In this regard I realized that many drinkers who read my reviews would be drinking the same sake out of vastly different glasses or cups. So, I thought why not review a sake in three or four differing vessels to see which one worked best as per acidity distribution, flavor movement, and aroma characteristics. And voila it is now standard business practices for me and my peers. (This is why I irk some distributors, because they want to come to the store and throw down some sauce and try to get me to carry it. But they don't have the patience for me to do the 3 vessels, and more often than not say "Here freak, take the bottle!") My pal John Gauntner positively commented on this when he saw a professional review that I did for a brewery in Kyoto. Interviewer: Is there more? Beau: Yes lots but I forgot to mention the size issue taken to the extreme. On some tastings I do go crazy - I am NOT CRAZY - and use a series of glass vases to taste the sakes. Now these are not small vases! They are your huge glass cylinder vases that you see at high- end florists that hold really tall flowers etc. I have them in four sizes and when I really want to see how "surface area" can affect the acidity distribution I pull these babies out. Have you ever tried drinking out of a garbage can? That is the image one can pull away from this. For me it is really amazing to feel a sake go flat in a vast vessel. It is also incredibly entertaining to watch a 55 year-old Japanese guy holding a massive glass vase to his lips when you can see his face in the bottom. Interviewer: I am almost afraid to ask, but are there any more sake inventions that you can lay claim to? Beau: Of course there is the TasteMatch system that I invented to help take the guesswork out of selecting a sake. Where if you can speak to your wine and beer profiles we at True Sake can get you in the right ballpark of a sake that would best represent these styles. This is under the premise that somebody who likes a huge Zin and Guiness Stout will not like the same sake as somebody who likes oaky California Chardonnays and Light Beer. Interviewer: Yes we are well aware of this ground breaking amazing breakthrough that should be a candidate for a Nobel Prize, but is there anything else that is really out there? Beau: Damaging Sake! I love beating sake up. I love aging sakes that should be consumed quickly, I love keeping delicate sakes in the sun, I love shaking sakes to replicate the movement of sake being transported, and I love keeping bottles of sake opened for months on end. Call me an abuser. Go call the cops. I don't care. I love trying to destroy sake, but more often than not I cannot! For many of my tastings I will take a bottle of sake and keep it in the window display of the store, and save a "well conditioned" bottle from that batch for comparison. Then after some serious sun - sometimes for months - I will compare the two bottles for my guests at a tasting. Funny enough 7 out of 10 times people prefer the damaged bottle. And this just goes to prove my point that sake is so resilient. And that people shouldn't get too caught up in the "you must have freshly bottled sake" drive that is in vogue at the moment. We also have shaken a bottle everyday for 3 months, as well as put one in and taken one out of a refrigerator every day for a month. Interviewer: Dare I ask? Beau: I am glad that you did! My latest gig is speed sucking sake. I know it sounds very weird, but I like sucking in a sip of sake super fast through my mouth. A speed sip if you will, that passes more above the tongue than on it. In fact the sake should hit the back of your palate before anywhere else. And I do this why? I find that the acidity of the sake gets exposed a little more. You can taste a layer of flavor that doesn't require being moved by the acidity, and of course it gets you drunk faster. Wrong! That last thing was BS. It for me is a way of just tasting a sake in a different capacity. Interviewer: How do we learn more? Beau: Buy the book .................. or wait for the movie. Interviewer: How do we buy the book? Beau: We are selling them in the store right now. But if you would like to order on-line you must - at this point - preorder at Amazon or Barnes & Noble. You may even order from the Chronicle Books website, but for now I will link you to the Amazon page for the book. And by all means if you see fit please review the book on these sites. I greatly appreciate your interest and support! (Chronicle will send an email postcard when the book is available)

Check it out:
Sake - The Modern Guide

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February saw the opening of the new Asian inspired restaurant called 415 (415 Presidio Ave.) Owners John Hurley and Justin Hafen came to me to create a sake menu with a buzz, and we did just that. Weeding through roughly 25 sakes that they greatly enjoyed I crafted a menu that is really impressive on several levels. On first glance they have sakes from 9 different prefectures, and on second glance you will find "Old World Sakes" standing side-by-side with some of the "New World Sakes." For example they have Taru sake and Sparkling sake. They are starting with 13 amazing brews that I best described to them as:

"Pound for pound you have orchestrated a varsity sake menu that would speak to the intramural sports fan in all of us. It is vastly professional, but way too easy to grasp quickly. Those who know sake will nod their heads in approval and those new to sake will bow their heads to you for showing them the light."

There is a unique angle to their sake menu as well, as I directed them to serve "Premium Hot Sake." By this I mean that they do not sell hot California-made sake from a machine. Rather they use premium sakes such as Otokoyama and Nishinoseki as their sakes to warm. Probably the best "hot" sake menu in the Bay Area and the word so far is that 9 out of 10 customers are drinking cold sake.

I also happened to introduce the owners of 415 to my very dear friend Akira Yoshizuma, who is now their Head Sushi Chef. So rest assured the food is as amazing as the sake. And if you happen to visit 415 mention to your server that you are a True Sake Newsletter reader as they did one of my staff training sessions, and they rocked. (Of all the staffs that I have trained at restaurants these guys had the best training session in terms of questions and feel.) So please go drink some great sake at 415!

Also in February, The Wall Street Journal did a Saturday Journal piece on Nigori sake, and they mentioned True Sake as a good source to get the milky stuff. The prices in the article (Feb 4th) are all from True Sake, and I must say that we received a tremendous response from this blurb. To be frank, of all the press that we have received - TIME, NEWSWEEK, NY Times, NY Time Sunday Mag, Saveur, Bon Apetit, etc this little mention drove more people by phone, computer and foot to the store. I was amazed!

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The SAKE SPOTLIGHT segment is a chance to learn more about certain sakes from professionals or people of note in the sake world. The SPOTLIGHT will choose a sake that is available at True Sake, and the pro will break it down and build it up from their perspective for your review. And hopefully the result will be a better understanding of how the selected sake is made, what elements to look for and what impresses those who know. But, again I must state that at the end of the day you the drinker are the champion of your own palate, which is vastly different from every other palate out there. I will lead you to the water, but it is you who must drink.

This month's professional is none other than Miwa Wang, who is a Sake Sommelier (Kikisake-shi) and Manager of True Sake. Miwa is a professional chef who has taken to sake like a fish to water. She has a great sense of smell and goes deep on her descriptions of flavors.

Miwa selected a sake made in the cold of Hokkaido by a brewery that many know - Otokoyama - but still most have never heard of this Tokubetsu Junmai called Momenya.

Take it away Miwa:

Otokoyama Momenya, Tokubetsu Junmai SMV: +5 Acidity: 1.5 From: Hokkaido Momenya opens with the gentle aroma of fruits and mineral and rustles lightly into a glass. Once poured, aromas of cream, grass, pungent apple and faint acidity from freshly roasted coffee arise From the surface. With a first sip, elegant acidity expands with dry yet smooth feel. Soon, warmness appears in the back of your throat then, a gentle flavor of grain and a fragrance of fall fruit follow. While the brightness is in the center stage, the sweetness is subtle like a soft shadow and is in the feeling rather than in the taste. And this sake ends with light powdery texture with ghost of bittersweet-ness. Momenya is a light Junmai that leaves warmness and brightness in you, and when served warm its sweetness and softness flourish. If you are up for taking a break from your regular full-bodied Junmai or from super fruity Ginjo sake, this sake will teach you a notion of "san-mi"--the acidity--in sake. WINE: sauvignon blanc/Viognier BEER: hoppy pilsner/IPA FOOD: grilled fish with sea salt, spinach ohitashi, braised vegetables. Otokoyama Momenya is available for $37/720ml and $53/1.8L

Thank you Miwa.

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First a reminder that we have about two weeks left of the first flight of "Spring Namas." These unpasteurized sakes were a huge hit last season and once again they do not fail to disappoint. They have been flying off of the shelf! Unlike last year, we will be privy to a second set of Spring Namas in about 3 weeks, including the Gokyo Arabashiri amongst others. So by all means get them while you can. The first shipment of Special Spring Released Namas is made up of:

Koshinohomare "Shiboritate" Junmai Nama Genshu. From: Niigata Prefecture. SMV: +5 and Acidity: 1.75 This is fat, full-bodied and clean. It is a Genshu, which means that it has not been diluted and carries a higher alcohol content. It is a great sake for sushi. Kamikokoro "Tokagen" Tokubetsu Junmai Nama Genshu. From: Okayama Prefecture. SMV: -11.5 and Acidity: 1.4 This sake is huge in flavor with tones that are soft and sweet. And guess what? It is made with peach yeast! How cool is that? This sake speaks to foodies and those who love to unravel flavor. Harushika "Nama" Junmai Ginjo Nama. From: Nara Prefecture. SMV: +5 and Acidity of 1.4 This Nama is one of the most popular unpasteurized sakes in Japan. Balanced and so well structured with hints of kiwi, green grasses and apple. It is light, clean and very elegant for a raw beast.

I am a bonehead! There I up and said it. I have been able to taste a certain sake for the past two years and never once did I try. And now I have wasted two years of drinking a really amazing Junmai Dai Ginjo from Ichinokura - the famous "Ace Brewery" makers of Himezen and the Taru that are both found at the store. I wish somebody would slap me, because it was obvious that these excellent craftsmen would make a fantastic DG. And of course they did! Ugghhhhhhh!

Ichinokura Shozanten "Heavenly Pine Tree" From: Miyagi Prefecture. Junmai Dai Ginjo SMV: +2 Acidity: 1.4 If you are looking for that "watery" experience with sake, as in it is so smooth and void of booziness that it drinks like water, this is it! With a nose of minerals, green grapes, spice and cinnamon this Dai Ginjo is super clean. A gentle softness carries flavors such as caramelized sugar, minerals, and pear through the mouth in a watery flow. It drinks so simply but it remains oh so complex and clever. Blink and you miss it! WORD: Like Water WINE: Soft reds/ non fruity whites BEER: Silky soft pale ales FOODS: Fresh oysters, grilled white fish, mellow appetizers. $85/720ml

One of my favorite breweries Dassai from Yamaguchi has finally released their Nigori efforts in the US. We carry this sake for two reasons A) we like the brewers and B) they carbonate their Nigori. Say what? Yes they feel that their brew does better with a little added gas to give it life and pop. In this light, I enjoy this unfiltered sake with foods as it pairs very well with a broad spectrum of dishes. It is not your typical "easy to use" "smack ya in the face with sweet simplicity" Nigori. It is different and it is good!

Dassai Nigori "Foggy Day" From: Yamaguchi Prefecture. Junmai Ginjo Nigori. SMV: +/- 0 Acidity: 1.5 With a nose of cream and spice the brewers of Dassai decided to add a touch of carbonated gas to make this Nigori sparkle! The result is semi-dry sake that is incredibly smooth for a "foggy" brew. As it is a Ginjo there is less silly sweetness and more balance and elegance. An extremely smooth unfiltered sake that speaks to those who want a hint of fruit, but an overall dry experience. Clean, yummy and thick what else could you want in a "foggy" sake? WORD: Smooth WINE: Dry whites BEER: Semi-dry ales FOODS: Pairs well with spicy cuisine and also works with cheese and desserts. $12/300ml and $24/720

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

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This is a "beginners" tasting (suited for all levels) for those who would like to explore the basics of sake with the aim of answering all of those "I don't know anything" about sake questions. It so happens to be on the first day of Spring, which adds a taste of "new beginnings for all."

When: March 21st Time: 6:00-8:00pm (We will begin at 6:15 sharp!) Where: Sebo (restaurant) The new amazing "premium cut" sushi restaurant in Hayes Valley across the street from True Sake. (I did their sake menu, and I will write more about this restaurant in the April Newsletter) 517 Hayes Street What: 8 amazing sakes and fabulous "apps." How Many: 40 Seats only! (All events sell out quickly) How Much: $45/person Who Should Attend: Those looking for the Sake 101 experience!

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Herewith is a brief description of the sakes that we served at the second annual "Funky" Sake Tasting, which explores the far realms of sake from the driest to the sweetest and from Gold Flake to Sparkling. The point of the evening is to taste outside the lines of the "ordinary" sake world, and to really tear apart how sake is so versatile. And of course it is a reminder that there is a sake for everybody!

• SAKE #1 - Sho Chiku Bai "Kinpaku."
  This is a gold flake celebration sake.
  
  
• SAKE #2 - Yuki no Matsushima "Honjozo."
  This sake is an SMV: +20 Need I say more about one of the driest sakes in the biz?
  
  
• SAKE #3 - Koshi no Tousetsuka.
  We tasted two versions of this Junmai Ginjo. The first was a fresh release, and the second had been aged "damaged" for three years.
  
  
• SAKE #4 - Ichinokura "Taru."
  This is a cedar sake that explored old-school flavors.
  
  
• SAKE #5 - Kamikokoro Nama Genshu.
  This is a unpasteurized sake made with a peach yeast!
  
  
• SAKE #6 - Kikusakari "Red Rice."
  This is a Junmai Ginjo made with red rice.
  
  
• SAKE #7 - Hanahato "Kijoshu."
  This is an 8 year-old dessert sake.
  
  
• SAKE #8 - Harushika Tokimeki.
  This is a sparkling sake, which we served out of a sparkling wine flute.
  
  

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Sifting through my "Ask Beau" email account this month's question jumped out for two reasons. Firstly it is really cold right now in San Francisco, and secondly I just broke a bottle of beer in my freezer last week. Huh? Let me explain. David R. from Tucson, AZ writes:

"Can you freeze sake, and if so how do you drink it?"

Well David, seeing that sake is 80% water at some point that baby will freeze. It takes longer for a higher alcohol percentage sake to freeze, but eventually they all do. The question he was alluding to was if fact we wanted to freeze sake. Is there any flavor benefit or is this a style?

Sake slushes are quite popular on hot summer days, and as a result several breweries make sakes in Tetra-pak boxes to allow them to expand. True Sake sells one from Tamanohikari called Reishu and it is a Junmai Ginjo with an SMV of +3. The trick to this concoction is to also freeze a decanter to pour the cold sake into after freezing for 10 hours. If you pour the semi-frozen sake into a glass that is room temperature it will not "slush up." I saw the President of this brewery pour one of these for me in Kyoto several years back. The way he poured it was like a magic act. He had thought that I had never seen this done before and he made these grand showman Vegas-style movements like Voila! Your very own sake slushy! It was pretty funny. Basically the end result is like a frozen sake margarita. It has the same consistency. But they do taste great on a hot day!

On a side note, I recommend that if you do not have time to chill your sake using the refrigerator by all means toss the bottle into the freezer for 10 minutes, and then take it out and gently swirl it in the bottle and give it another 5 minutes. Then pop it into the fridge. But DO NOT forget the bottle, as it will burst!

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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Ah, at last we have reached the end of this Newsletter and that of course means that we have come to the now-famous SECRET WORD. For those that are new the SECRET WORD is a chance for you to try a sake of note for half of that sake's original price. Just for reading this Newsletter. It is our way of saying thank you for trying to understand the wonders of sake. And in this regard we typically select a sake with a story, and this month's story is "First Flower Nap." Hatsuhana is more than packaging (the bottle is really cool and has a cork rather than a twist-off). It is a great example of sake with a low SMV (Nihonshu-do), which usually means that it drinks fairly sweet, that actually drinks dryer than the number would suggest. Clean and clever, it is a good representation of a Niigata Junmai sake.

Please remember the rules: only one bottle per reader, and don't tell your buddy at the moment if he/she isn't a Newsletter subscriber, always use a hushed or secret agent voice when saying the SECRET WORD, and lastly for those who have their sakes shipped I can only include the SECRET WORD sake in a four-pack purchase - meaning you must buy three other sakes. Hatsuhana Utatane usually sells for $25/500ml but for you glorious sake-jockeys your cost is $13. And the SECRET WORD is Niigata.

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Thank you for reading!

True Sake

TRUE SAKE: America's First Sake Store.