Summer, Sunshine and Sake - Seven Sake to Sip this Summer

Do you like your sake hot or cold? Sake continues to grow in popularity worldwide and no matter how you enjoy it, there’s no denying the staying power of the beverage, which is neither beer, wine, nor spirit, but a category in and of itself. While Sake has its roots in China, it has been refined in Japan since it found its way there over 2500 years ago. That’s a lot of history, and with it comes a rich and varied category that can be enjoyed by anyone, anywhere. 

In simple terms, sake is crafted (like beer) via fermentation and filtration, and utilises rice, water, koji and yeast. It can be fragrant or savoury and produce flavours from all across the spectrum. Expect umami, citrus, flowers and so, so much more. Expect the driest, aged, most complex drinks down to the sweetest, sparkling and syrupy end of the drinks spectrum. 

Sake can be enjoyed any time of the year, but sake and sake-based beverages have a special place in the summer months, enjoyed over ice, in cocktails or served beautifully chilled and sparkling like the finest wines. So, if you’re looking for something a little different to sip this summer, look no further than these six sake perfect to sip this summer…

Gekkeikan Horin Junmai Daiginjo Sake

Junmai literally means that the Sake is totally without additives and of a certain percentage of “polished” rice, typically around 70%. In essence, making it a ‘purer’ Sake. Gekkeikan Horin is delightfully fresh, fruity and easy-drinking. The perfect choice for sipping over ice on the hottest summer days. Expect plenty of summer fruits, and a long, lingering pear finish. 

Size: 300ml
ABV: 15.5%
Where to Find: Japan Centre - £15.98

Hananomai Sparkling Blueberry Sake

Hananomai takes its name from the phrase “flower dance”, an apt title for an effervescent, sparkling floral sensation in a bottle. Sake can be many things, and in this case, it’s fun. Coming in at a low ABV, this can easily be enjoyed in a similar way one might enjoy a quality beer or cider. That is, in a beer garden under the sweltering heat? Yes please! The blueberries are infused in this super-fresh bottle or sourced locally to the brewery, making for a product free from artificial flavours while still being fun, fruity and easy to drink.

Size: 300ml
ABV: 6%
Where to Find: Japan Centre - £9.89

Gekkeikan Nigori Sake

Now for something a little different. Nigori means “cloudy”, which is visually what you can expect from this unfiltered sake. Once you get past the appearance, you can expect a much lighter, sweeter and creamier Sake experience. Super bright, refreshing and packed full of flavour. If you’ve struggled with other styles of Sake in the past, this may be the one for you! A must-try and totally unique sipping experience.  

Size: 300ml
ABV: Varied (Unfiltered and hard to pin down)
Where to Find: Japan Centre - £10.59

Tosa Shuzo Keigetsu Yuzu Sake

Yuzu is a particularly captivating flavour that shines in spirits, beers, cocktails and just about anything else you can throw it in, and this Yuzu Sake is a shining example of both the versatility of Yuzu and of Sake. This exquisitely sweet and sour Sake will transport you to the wonders of Japan! The very definition of “perfect for summer sipping” - enjoy over ice as an aperitif or with a splash of soda to mellow out those rich tart notes.

Size: 300ml
ABV: 8%
Where to Find: Japan Centre - £11.59

Samurai Sake, Junmai Daiginjo Genshu

Sometimes on a particularly hot day, you just want to sit and enjoy something a little dryer than the regular sugar-bombs of Summer sipping. After all, why else would white wine be so popular in the season? Samurai Sake is rich with umami, boasting notes of fresh nuts and sourdough. A fantastic option to sip super cold at a BBQ alongside your favourite summer foods, or even just a crisp salad. If you didn’t know, Sake pairs beautifully with most food - a brilliant all-rounder.

Size: 720ml
ABV: 16%
Where to Find: Master of Malt - £34.94

So Good Sake

Did you know Sake can actually be made anywhere in the world? Well, this one comes from California, and is the first of its kind! Their homegrown, Californian rice combined with traditional Japanese methodology makes for a unique bottling, rich in melon, honey and apple notes which make it a perfect summer tipple. A truly new and modern Sake offering. 

Size: 750ml
ABV: 15.5%
Where to Find: Master of Malt - £33.02

Chilled Kamoshibito Kuheiji Eau de Desir Junmai Daiginjo Sake

Believe it or not, in this bottle you may find a Sake with all the complexity and rich flavour profile of a high end French white wine. The brewery hand-grows their rice to ensure only the highest quality grains make it into the final production process. You can find this Sake in Michelin star restaurants all over Paris, and when you take a sip it’s easy to see why. Expect a deeply aromatic liquid, full bodied and velvety with plenty of super fresh citrus notes. Best enjoyed chilled in a wine glass - after all, you’d subject a fine wine to no less than the perfect temperature and glass, right? For a show-stopping Summer party where you’re looking to impress! 

Size: 720ml
ABV: 16%
Where to Find: Japan Centre - £49

Looking for more unique summer tipples? Have you jumped on the Orange Wine wagon yet? Because you should! Read more here!

Umeshu: Your ABC Guide to Japan’s ‘other’ drinks jewel

When we think of alcoholic, Japanese drinks, sake often takes centre stage but there's another, less obvious drinky gem that deserves the spotlight: Umeshu. This sweet elixir, made from plump ume fruit, sugar and alcohol, has been a beloved part of Japanese culture for centuries. Here’s a simple, beginner’s guide to this traditional, Eastern tipple with some styles you should try from the iconic Japanese Umeshu producer, Choya.

What is ume fruit?

Ume is often translated as a Japanese plum or Japanese apricot. It's actually neither but it is very closely related to both. Ume fruit is typically small, round and green when unripe, turning yellow or reddish as it ripens. It has a unique flavour that combines tartness, sweetness and a slight floral aroma, making it a distinctive and much-loved ingredient in Japanese cuisine.

Umeshu, also known as plum wine, is the name of the alcoholic drink made with ume; a tradition that dates back to the Nara period (710-794 AD), when ume trees were first introduced to the country.

How is Umeshu made?

The basic process of making Umeshu is relatively simple, but it does require patience: Ume fruit is steeped in alcohol and sugar before being aged. Over time, the flavours meld and mature, creating a sweet, fruity and slightly tart alcoholic drink.

The Ume fruit is pricked, then layered with sugar in a large glass jar or bottle before alcohol is poured in, covering the ume fruit completely. The alcohol (often shochu but sake and brandy can be used) extracts flavours from the fruit but also acts as a preservative. The container is then sealed tightly to ensure no exposure to air, before being left to age for several months to a year or more, depending on the desired flavour profile and complexity. When the Umeshu has reached the desired flavour and colour, it is strained to remove the fruit solids. The liquid is then bottled and stored for further ageing or immediate consumption.

About Choya

Nestled in the heart of Japan's Osaka Prefecture and established in 1914, Choya has emerged as a revered and global leader in the world of Umeshu plum liqueurs. Their extensive range caters to a spectrum of palates, from the classic to the innovative and their dedication to sustainability, along with their emphasis on craftsmanship and attention to detail, have earned them a well-deserved reputation as one of Japan's finest Umeshu producers.

Styles of Choya Umeshu to try

Umeshu is far from a one-size-fits-all drink. There are various styles and flavours to explore, each with a unique character, Sip these straight, over ice or in simple cocktails. It’s a whole new drinks world to explore!

Classic Umeshu

Try: Choya Single Year Umeshu, £19.99 from Drinksupermarket.com

A traditional style of Umeshu made from a blend of three batches and aged for up to two years. Sweet, very tart but beautifully balanced with natural plum essence. Great alone or to add zing to cocktails.

Honey Umeshu

Try: The Choya Royal Honey Umeshu, £34.99 from Master of Malt

For those who prefer a touch of sweetness, honey Umeshu is a delightful choice. It combines the natural sweetness of honey with the fruity notes of ume, resulting in a balanced and luscious flavour.

Shiso Umeshu

Try: The Choya Extra Shiso, £27.99 from Amazon

Shiso leaves, also known as perilla leaves, add an earthy, herby and slightly spicy kick to Umeshu, which complements the sweet and tangy ume fruit beautifully.

Extra Years Umeshu

The Choya Extra Years Umeshu, £26.99 from  Drinksupermarket.com

Complex and sweet, this Umeshu is matured for longer than usual, giving it complex aromas and flavours of plum, dried apricot and gentle spice.

Simple Umeshu Cocktails

Umeshu makes a fantastic base for highballs and more complex cocktails. Try an Umehsu spritz with a splash of soda water or replace the whisky with the Choya honey Umeshu for a delicious hot toddy with cinnamon and lemon juice. It could even make a great old fashioned or Martini. Here’s a tried and tested recipe:

The Choya Martini

Ingredients

15ml Choya Extra Years Umeshu
45ml London Dry Gin
30ml Lillet Rose or Blanc
1 dash bitters
1 dash absinthe

Method

Chill a martini glass or coup. Combine all the wet ingredients into a mixing glass over ice and stir for thirty seconds. Strain and pour into the Martini glass then serve. Garnish with a cherry.

Kanpai!

Bring A Bottle Podcast: Episode 91

Good morning or good afternoon wherever you are! In this week’s Bring a Bottle Podcast, we cover stylish sodas from a Victorian brand, TikTok chili trends, the subtlety of sake, and Helena is put on the spot to match drinks with some of the most popular dishes around. Listen in now for all of that and much more.

Our Guest Drinker

This week, Helena welcomes Eddy Temple-Morris back to the podcast! Eddy is a musician by trade having been in a band since the 1980s, but also a regular voice over the airwaves for the last 30 years. You can currently find him live on Virgin Radio every day from 10-1. If you want to find out more about Eddy and his passions make sure you listen to the podcast today! @EddytempleMorris @eddyTM

What’s in Our Glass?

In this episode, we’re focusing on mixers, and more specifically a company producing premium drinks since 1886 – Franklin & Sons. 

First up in Episode 91, Helena uses the Pink Grapefruit Soda in her own cocktail concoction, the ‘Palovignon’ which goes down very well indeed.

Size: 200ml
Find here: £17.50 24x200ml

Next up is the Rhubarb and Hibiscus Tonic Water. Light, slightly tart and sweet on the nose, Helena and Eddy decide that pink gin or vodka would make the perfect dance partner for it. 

Size: 200ml
Find here: £16.99 24x200ml

Drinks News

Drinkers over on TikTok have been experimenting by adding chillies to their glasses of Rosé this summer and so naturally we had to give it a go! Helena opted for red chillies, but has she judged the amount correctly?! And is the chilli flavour a welcome addition or a waste of good Rosé? Listen to find out!

Instant Sommelier Quick Fire

Eddy fires 3 popular dishes at Helena to see what drinks she would pair with them (not literally, although we are always looking for new features). 

Which wine can complement the fire of a Chicken Madras? 

And which tomato loving wine is perfect for Lasagna?

This and more all answered in the podcast!

MAILBAG

Finally, another mailbag question and Podcast 91’s is, ‘What is the deal with cold sake?’

Listen in to hear what Helena has to say about why your sake might be served hot or cold.

Thursday Club with talk RADIO: Japanese Sake and Umeshu

This week on The Thursday Club with Mike Graham on Talk Radio, it’s a Japanese special to celebrate our Olympic wins! We’ll be getting to know two of Japan’s favourite tipples a little better and perhaps discovering some new delicious treats along the way.

What is Sake?

Sake is wine made by fermenting rice instead of grapes. The quality can vary a lot according to how much each grain of rice has been polished (the more the better). Traditionally, only lower grade sake is drunk warm and it really should be treated just like normal grape wine wine, out of a wine glass. The quality levels go up from junmai’, which is table sake, where no minimum rice polishing is required. Then, we move up in quality to a higher polish with ‘junmai ginjo’ at 60% and then at the top, there’s ‘junmai daiginjo’, where only 50% of the rice grain is used. Usually, the junmai ginjo and junmai daiginjo are more aromatic and elegant because of the polishing. Here’s much more info and your beginner’s guide to Sake on TheThreeDrinkers.com.

Shirayuki Japanese Saké 

Shirayuki is a brand of sake that has been going for centuries and hails originally from a place called Nada, near Kobe in Hyogo Prefecture; the historical birthplace of Japanese sake  since 1550. (Think about what Cognac is to Brandy - that’s what Nada is to Sake). This is a relatively small batch made just for Aldi, so get it while you can as when it’s gone, it’s gone! This is your entry level sake, which can be tasted child or warmed up if preferred. 

Find it for £4.99 at Aldi here

Junmai Daiginjo Sake

This Junmai Daiginjo from Kamoizumi brewery in Hiroshima, where there is particularly soft water, which is ideal for elegant sake. It’s a great example of finer styles of sake: bold and leafy, with umami notes of mushrooms and a slight sweetness on the finish. Try this with rich seafood dishes or even duck pancakes..

Find it for £25.75 from The Whisky Exchange here.

Sparkling Sake

Awashizuku Sparkling Sake

from the Kuichi Brewery, the makers of Hitachino Nest Beer. This is a junmaishusake, which is made using only rice, water and the sour kojhi mould that kicks of fermentation. It can be made with a secondary fermentation like champagne ot the addition of CO2. It’s sweet, earthy and refreshing - a great alternative to Prosecco and fabulous with salty snack like parma ham. 

Find it for £6.95 at The Whisky Exchange here.

Umeshu

Akashi-Tai Shiraume Ginjo Umeshu

What is Umeshu? Umeshu is an alcoholic Japanese drink made by steeping plums in sake. It’s usually fairly sweet with a moreish sweet and sour note. It’s often called plum wine, even though it is not wine made with plums; it’s actually fine sake that has had plums steeped in it with sugar added, so it; smore like a liqueur. ‘Ume’ means plum and shu means alcohol and there’s a sweet and sour note to it as the plums alone are quite sour - not to eat alone. Umeshu is best served chilled on its own in summer, or with a little hot water in winter.

Find it for £19.25 at The Whisky Exchange here.

See more about Sake on our beginner’s guide here! Want more suggestions for Japanese drinky treats? Check out this article! And for the best Japanese whisky? Look here.

A Beginner’s Guide to Sake

Written by Helena Nicklin

If you haven’t tried and fallen in love with sake yet, the ethereal rice wine hailing from Japan, I fully suggest you do. It’s not about overheated, suspect quality booze served in Japanese restaurants; high quality, fine sake is now widely available across the UK and US, offering us a much more interesting choice when we’re dining out or drinking at home. But let’s start at the beginning: what is sake and why do you need to know about it?

What is sake?

In a nutshell, sake is an alcoholic wine made with rice and water. It looks very similar to wine made from grapes and typically has an alcohol content of between 13 and 17 % abv. It hails from Japan but recently, there have been sake breweries popping up elsewhere in the world, such as Kanpai in London and Dojima in Cambridge.

What does sake taste like?

There are several styles of sake but they generally share a similar quality of subtle earthiness and a touch of green melon. It’s umami in a subtle way. The closest wine equivalent I can think of to a classic style of sake is a Muscadet sur lie (without the co2 prickle). It also has a fabulous, weighty texture that’s incredibly moreish, though could be an acquired taste.

Rice polishing and its effect on sake

Received wisdom states that the more a rice grain is polished, the better quality the sake will be. We start with ‘junmai’, which is table sake, where no minimum rice polishing is required. Then, we move up in quality to a higher polish with ‘junmai ginjo’ at 60% and then at the top, there’s ‘junmai daiginjo’, where only 50% of the rice grain is used. Usually, the junmai ginjo and junmai daiginjo are more aromatic and elegant because of the polishing. Do not drink these warm as you’ll lose those delicate flavours.

Can sake be drunk alone or with food other than sushi?

Yes, yes and thrice, yes. The beauty of sake is its versatility, both with food and without. In comparison to wine, it’s less acidic and less bitter and with a pronounced texture, so it sits with many foods very well and is not too much when tasted alone. Sake is never just sake either, so the choice is huge. There’s dry sparkling, sweet sparkling and a wealth of still styles from the light, dry and floral to richer, darker, wood-aged wines. Below are some killer matches that I tasted recently that went well with non-sushi dishes as well as some other suggestions:

What to eat with sake?

Sparkling sake

Ditch the Prosecco and try a sparkling, slightly sweet sake. If you pair this with a salty starter, like seriously good prosciutto or salty cheese, it absolutely sings as the saltiness complements the sweetness, balancing everything up nicely. We also tried this with calamari and a trio of dips. It was an excellent match with sweet chilli sauce and provided a really interesting match with the tzatziki-style yogurt dip, enhancing the flavours in the wine and the food. It would also be cracking with fish and chips!

Try: Akashi- Tai Junmai Sparkling Sake. £12.50 from Master of Malt.

Light, elegant and aromatic sake 

If you prefer something a little drier, crisper and more aromatic, more akin to a dry white grape wine such as Muscadet, an elegant Junmai would be wonderful. You can have this alone or with some slightly salted nuts or crisps for a starter or even with a main dish, such as delicately flavoured cod. We tried this with a touch of melon, apple and sun-dried tomato, which let the sake shine. The flavours didn’t fight each other. 

Try: Nanbu Bijin Tokubetsu Junmai Sake. £26.99 for 75cl from Londonsake.com

More fruity and floral, vinous sake

If you’re thinking you’d rather have something that would take the place of an unoaked, cool climate Chardonnay or even Viognier however, then this Junmai Daiginjo sake is the bomb. With a little more weight, with stronger peachy, melon notes and an almost oily texture, these sakes can take a little more flavour. Cod works, battered or otherwise. Chicken casseroles or roasted chicken or turkey make great matches too!

Try: Nabeshima Daiginjo Sake. £79.99 from Hedonism.co.uk

Bolder, more savory and weighty sake

Here’s where sake feels a little different! ‘Taru’ sake is aged briefly in cedar barrels, which gives it a hint of yellow colour, makes it more textural and gives it more savoury, umami notes. This is a hefty sake that can stand up to meat or dishes like partridge with pomegranate, raisins and capers in curry sauce, as we found out. It was remarkable how the sake carried all those flavours seamlessly.

Try: Choryo YoshinoSugi no Taru, £42.64 from Amazon

If you enjoyed reading this, make sure you check out Seilan’s colour changing blue sake here.

Have You Tried Blue Sake?

Utter magic is the only way to describe the enchanting new release from Nagahama-based Sato Sake Brewery. Just look for the vivid, indigo blue liquid going by the name Seilan. While the initial color might be hypnotizing enough, watch as it morphs its hue to a luscious purple upon the addition of an acidic ingredient like lemon juice.

What’s the secret ingredient?

The base of Seilan is Yamada Nishiki rice, polished to 60% to create a Ginjo sake (the highest grade). After this, things get funky, as it’s infused with neutral flavored butterfly pea flowers to create the blue hue. The plant, which formally goes by Clitoria ternatea, hails from to Southeast Asia and is often found in various types of cuisine and herbal tea for its blue colouring but neutral flavor.

More than just a sake

Sato Sake Brewery’s creation goes further than just the sake. It’s a visual art piece that allows spirit experts and amateurs to play around with taste and sight. Everyone loves a fun, interactive cocktail. Seilan lets simple chemistry become a magic trick. 

Want to know more about Sake in general? See this beginner’s guide piece here.