After a line-up featuring the likes of Aramasa, Yamamoto, Tatenokawa, and Ohmine, the Dassai 23 Centrifuge came off a little boring. As JT puts it, “It’s what I’d expect saké to taste like.” Then chef Alex added the darnest comment, “Doesn’t it remind you of soju.” Hahahaha.
Rich, round and heavy, with an almost sterile quality to the finish, it definitely wasn’t up my alley but I got to commend how lovely the silky textures were. Solid though - Dassai is Dassai, like how Dom is Dom. Reliability at scale. — 2 years ago
Tatenokawa is fast becoming one of my favourite saké producers. Another finessed number. Lively, light, delicate acidity, very fine finish. Fruitier than the Tatenokawa x Pheonix bottling. Langsat-like flavours evolved into melon, pear, and peaches. Whoa, what a wine. In good ol' KP terms, a rice wine Kabinett! — 6 years ago
Special Tatenokawa, Barrel. #quemlin #nonsmokingrestaurant — 7 years ago
Another celebrity endorsement done right! The wine world's got a thing or two to learn from saké. Tatenokawa with Pheonix and Foo Fighters, and Ohmine with Pharrel and NIGO here - both churning our incredible brews for amazing artists!
Even though more acidity would have been nice, this was superb. Kabi-like, or perhaps even spatlese-like. Floral, fruity, sweet, and light-footed, it was super refreshing and drinkable. White flowers, melon, muscat, pears, almonds, and a touch of cream. Yum yum. — 2 years ago
Truly excellent sake. — 4 years ago
It isn't everyday that celebrity endorsement yields something this good. My first Tatenokawa and gosh... this has really gotten me interested in the brewery. Supposedly a "playful" junmai daiginjo for them, but it's really pulling off some intense complexity here. I can only imagine what their more serious bottlings entail. Damn!
Melon, fresh herbs, citrus, white flowers, yeasty notes, pebbly minerality, textured, somewhat sappy, delicate sweetness, refreshing acidity, long finish. Really elegant nihonshu here. Cool booze. Also glad that one of my favourite band's got great taste ❤️ — 6 years ago
The citrus zing is strong in this one! In chef Alex’s words, “Smells like someone’s cutting up some lemon in the kitchen.” Fresh, light, and crispy with a mild sweetness, this was lovely with oysters. Enjoyable energy here, even though the warmth of the alcohol does show through in the backend. Once more, Tatenokawa nailed the celebrity endorsement game - first with Pheonix and now with Foo Fighters. Talk about great taste in collaborations! — 2 years ago
Extremely smooth, as one would expect from an “18”. A bit sweet with melon and ginger candy flavors. — 4 years ago
#sakestudy has been quite a frequent undertaking ever since moving back to Malaysia. You see... We've got the crazy idea of refining our local rice beverage to the level of the Japanese. Gotta start somewhere so why not taste the best... Imo necessary if we wanna make the best. And it's odd here in Malaysia - the wine scene isn't one that I'd consider to be thriving, yet sake seems to be. While it's still small and niche, there's a growing number of fanatics... Think specialist sake bars that are packed out each weekend... Sake importers and stores who stock on iconoclastic breweries like Tatenokawa... Insane!
Here's another killer bottle from one of my favourite sake breweries. Compelling to say the least. Not dissimilar to their Seiryu in terms of profile - fruit driven and very fine. But the 33 definitely takes it up a notch with it's richness and complexity! Sweeter and powerful, threading-on-exotic aromas. But with finesse. The finish is crisp and so fine. Deceivingly long, with floral honeyed tones that just lingers. And the texture... Oh so silky... like 1.5k thread count for the tongue 🤤 There's a distinct umami core too, that I feel would develop if given more air. Sadly... Or not so sadly... another bottle that disappeared in no time at all. — 6 years ago
David C
Clean and crisp, moderately sweet, great with yakitori and fried food. — 9 months ago