Episode 139 Show Notes
Episode 139. If you enjoy the sound of ice cubes clinking in a glass, this may be the episode for you! This week, John and Timothy crack open the topic of sake on the rocks! Pouring sake over ice may not be the norm, but it can be a treat with the right kind of sake… and the right kind of ice. We’ll experiment with tasting our higher alcohol genshu-style sake both on the rocks and straight up to see what works better along with the pros and cons of sake over ice. But all that is just the tip of the iceberg, so sit back, listen in and chill with us as we sip our sake on the rocks. #SakeRevolution
Skip to: 00:19 Hosts Welcome and Introduction
Welcome to the show from John and Timothy
Skip to: 01:29 Sake on the Rocks
What to consider when serving sake on the rocks?
Think about the “G” word – not Ginjo but rather GENSHU. These sakes are generally higher in alcohol and take well to a little dilution in the glass. also, ice can hold a sake and a nice cool temperature to ensure a crisp flavor.
However, be sure not to over-chill or over-dilute your sake. Bigger size ice cubes can help with this.
Skip to: 06:40 Clear Ice Snobbery
For a quick primer on making clear ice at home, this video does a good job in explaining the basic technique quickly and clearly.
Skip to: 16:00 Sake Tasting: Narutotai Ginjo Shiboritate Nama Genshu
Narutotai Ginjo Shiboritate Nama Genshu
Brewery: Honke Matsuura Shuzo
Alcohol: 18.5%
Classification: Genshu, Ginjo, Nama, Shiboritate
Prefecture: Tokushima
SMV: +5.0
Acidity: 1.7
Brand: Narutotai (鳴門鯛)
Seimaibuai: 58%
Sake Name English: Red Snapper
Yeast: Kyokai 9
NOTE: Use Discount Code “REVOLUTION” for 10% off your first order with Tippsy Sake.
Skip to: 29:00 Show Closing
This is it! Join us next time for another episode of Sake Revolution!
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Episode 139 Transcript
John Puma: 0:22
Hello everybody and welcome to Sake Revolution. This is America’s First Sake podcast, and I’m your host, John Puma. From the Sake Notes, also the administrator over at the internet sake Discord, any lead mod over at reddit’s famous r slash sake community.
Timothy Sullivan: 0:40
And I’m your host, Timothy Sullivan. I’m a Sake Samurai. I’m a sake educator, as well as the founder of the Urban Sake website. And every week John and I will be here tasting and chatting about all things sake. And doing our best to make it fun and easy to understand.
John Puma: 0:57
Hello, Tim. How have you been?
Timothy Sullivan: 0:59
I’m doing good. How are you, John?
John Puma: 1:00
I, I am doing really, really, really good myself. it’s, uh, it’s unseasonably warm still this winter here in New York. I think like two days ago it was like 60 degrees, which, you know, it’s February. That’s, that’s not supposed to be the way it goes traditionally. I don’t, I don’t, you know, I don’t wanna push my weather on anybody, but I’m pretty sure that’s not the way it was supposed to be.
Timothy Sullivan: 1:24
Well, you know what I think about when it gets too warm, I think about a nice cold drink.
John Puma: 1:29
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Nice little, a nice little uh, sake. Sometimes, sometimes I like to have, when it gets particularly warm, like in February, uh, I like to have my drinks, on the rocks. yeah. Yeah, I’ve always heard that sake doesn’t necessarily get along with, uh, with, with the rocks so much. It kind of, you know, sake is more of something you have like a wine where you just have it pouring it directly in to sipping straight ahead. Um, but I have a feeling, I have a feeling that like many things with sake, there are exceptions to this.
Timothy Sullivan: 2:03
Well, if anyone says sake cannot be put on the rocks, I say hogwash.
John Puma: 2:10
Hogwash. Oh my goodness.
Timothy Sullivan: 2:13
Yeah. So. Sake on the rocks sake over ice.
John Puma: 2:19
sake over ice.
Timothy Sullivan: 2:19
yes, that’s what we’re gonna talk about today.
John Puma: 2:22
Excellent.
Timothy Sullivan: 2:23
Yeah.
John Puma: 2:24
Yeah.
Timothy Sullivan: 2:25
do you, at home, in your private time behind closed doors, do you pour your sake over ice?
John Puma: 2:31
Very rarely. It is, uh, it’s, it’s something that I, we’ve done occasionally when we’ve had a sake in the house that really lent itself to that idea. Um, But I think that, our listeners at home are gonna be wondering like, what is a sake that lends itself to that idea?
Timothy Sullivan: 2:49
Yeah, you know, you know what this discussion makes me think of whether it’s okay to put sake on the rocks or not. It makes me think of the whole warm sake discussion. Some people think warm sake is bad. Some people think warm sake is good. Some people think, both are okay and it it’s the same type of discussion. I think people are looking for rules and guidelines when it comes to this type of question, and my point of view is that sake on the rocks sake over ice is fantastic with exactly what you just said with the right kind of sake. You have to use the right kind of sake to really show it off to its best ability.
John Puma: 3:34
Hmm.
Timothy Sullivan: 3:35
You know what we’re talking about, right?
John Puma: 3:36
I think I have an idea. I think we’re gonna be talking about the G word and, and not ginjo. Not ginjo, the other. The other sake word, “Genshu”
Timothy Sullivan: 3:47
Genshu Yes. So, John, remind the good folks at home what genshu is.
John Puma: 3:53
So genshu means, in spirits world, we would call it cask strength, I think, where you’re not adding any water to dilute it. Now in the sake world, genshu doesn’t necessarily mean it’s high alcohol. It, it doesn’t always mean that because you can always brew your sake to a point where you’re just getting it at, you know, 15, 16% the way it is, straight out of press. but it can also be significantly higher. And I think that we’re looking at the ones that are they’re, a bit higher. I think that the, the higher alcohol is what’s gonna lend itself to the ice, and it’s gonna have that same effect of having like your good scotch or your, your good rum with a little bit of ice in it.
Timothy Sullivan: 4:34
Right. Well, I’m not a scotch or rum drinker, so I’m gonna have to take your word on that last part, but
John Puma: 4:40
lovely
Timothy Sullivan: 4:43
but you are absolutely right. So genshu you is our style of sake that generally has no additional water added to it at the time of bottling full strength as you said. And I would say if you took a survey of all the genshus on the market, you’d probably end up around 18% as an average or so, and that’s pretty high to drink straight in the glass. So it really does lend itself if you are interested in it to putting sake on the rocks are over ice.
John Puma: 5:18
Mm-hmm.
Timothy Sullivan: 5:19
What are the advantages of doing that? So one of those advantages is that you keep the sake nice and cold over ice, and that is going to maintain that temperature. And the other advantage is obviously as that ice slowly melts, you’re gonna dilute your sake just a little bit and bring that alcohol level down. Yeah. and those two things together, in my opinion, can create a very pleasing effect with the right kind of sake.
John Puma: 5:50
Hmm. Yeah, I think, going back to the, the whiskey connection, that same effect is, is kind of what occurs there, where, you know, you’re number one, it is, you’re bringing that temperature down, and number two, you are diluting it a little bit. whether they say, they say, it opens up when you add a little water or a little bit ice. I think that, um, you know, it proves out in, in those other types of alcohol and, you know, my limited, uh, experiments doing this with sake have definitely seen it have a similar effect.
Timothy Sullivan: 6:20
Mm-hmm. Well, you know, I’m gonna have a big butt here, right? Can we talk about my big Butt?
John Puma: 6:26
And you cannot lie.
Timothy Sullivan: 6:30
My big butt is that I think the type of ice you use is really important.
John Puma: 6:38
Interesting type of ice.
Timothy Sullivan: 6:40
I have a confession to make.
John Puma: 6:42
I’m, uh,
Timothy Sullivan: 6:43
I don’t know if you know this about me, but I am a certified card carrying ice snob,
John Puma: 6:49
You are. I I, I I can attest that you are an ice snob. You are probably the only ice snob that I am aware that I know. However, maybe, maybe after people hear this, they’ll start coming outta the woodwork and they’ll be like, ah, you know what? I am also an ice snob.
Timothy Sullivan: 7:08
I mean, given my personality, it would be impossible to imagine that I would have strong feelings about ice. Right.
John Puma: 7:16
Yeah, exactly.
Timothy Sullivan: 7:17
Yeah. Right. Okay. So what, what is an ice snob
John Puma: 7:22
Yeah. It’s him. What is an ice snob?
Timothy Sullivan: 7:24
Well, I actually make my own ice at home, but everyone does that. But I make clear ice at home, like cocktail quality, clear ice at home.
John Puma: 7:38
Hmm.
Timothy Sullivan: 7:38
Scott calls it my Ice Factory.
John Puma: 7:42
Your Ice Factory.
Timothy Sullivan: 7:43
the Ice Factory. So I’ve commandeered a section of our freezer that I use for making clear ice at home. And I think, I think it makes a huge difference. And when I put expensive sake on the rocks, I use this clear ice.
John Puma: 8:00
Interesting, interesting. So you use this clear ice. So, you know, for the rest of us, uh, plebes at home, what exactly do you do to make clear ice? What’s the process look like?
Timothy Sullivan: 8:12
Well, for all the future ice snobs out there who are listening today, yourself included, John, I’d be happy to talk about how to make clear ice. First of all, if you want to cut to the chase, go to SakeRevolution.com. And in the show notes, I’ve put a link to a YouTube video that shows this process very precisely, but I’ll give it a quick explainer here. To make clear ice at home, you need to use what’s known as directional freezing, which means you want the ice to freeze in one direction from the top down. So to do that, you get a container that is insulated on all sides, except it’s open at the top. And what I use in my freezer, well, no. What I use in my freezer is, uh, a small six pack igloo cooler. You know those little totes with, uh, they’re insulated and you bring them to the beach and you know it has a lid that flips up. Well, you wanna take the lid off and then you. Something that’s insulated on all sides except the top. You fill it with filtered water, you place it in your freezer, and then it starts to freeze. But the only place that it starts to freeze from is the top, and then it starts to freeze from the top down. And as it does that, it pushes all the gas and impurities in the water towards the bottom while it’s still liquid. And then, If you take it out before it freezes solid, you get a block of clear ice at the top, and the impurities and gas are trapped in the, the liquid that is at the bottom. If it freezes solid, you’re gonna get. Block of ice that’s clear on the top and cloudy on the bottom, and you can just chop that off or melt that off. And then you have a block of clear ice to work with. And then you take a serrated bread knife and you start to saw at it and tap it and it, it, you can cut it into cubes any size you want. So that’s the, the ice factory that Scott was talking about, so on a Sunday afternoon, I’m like, sawing my ice block with a
John Puma: 10:28
So what, what you’re telling me is that being an ice snob involves sawing ice
Timothy Sullivan: 10:33
It involves sawing ice, and I set a timer for myself so I know that in exactly 24 hours, I want to go to the freezer and take out my cooler, and you have to grab it before it freezes a solid and there’s no going back once
John Puma: 10:49
There’s some serious timing going on here,
Timothy Sullivan: 10:54
Yeah. once you commit to crystal clear ice, and even for my ice coffee every morning, it’s these, uh, homemade ice cubes that I use, and there’s just no going back.
John Puma: 11:05
And, and I believe we have talked on the show about your ice coffee thing as well, that, that regardless of what time is, it is February. And regardless of my jokes about how warm it’s been, I understand that you have been having ice coffee steadily throughout this entire month.
Timothy Sullivan: 11:20
It’s true. I drink ice coffee every day. Yes. And that also feeds my, my ice snobbery for sure.
John Puma: 11:29
Oh, oh, alright. Uh,
Timothy Sullivan: 11:32
check out the show notes, John you, too
John Puma: 11:35
Mm-hmm. can I as a, as a, as a non ice snob, will I still have a positive experience by putting ice cubes in my sake?
Timothy Sullivan: 11:47
That’s, is that the man on the street point of view? Yeah. No, absolutely. You don’t need designer clear ice cubes to enjoy sake on the rocks. I think the bigger the ice cube the better because it melts a little more slowly.
John Puma: 12:05
Right. That makes sense.
Timothy Sullivan: 12:07
But if you have a little bit of cloudiness in there, it’s not the end of the world. I just, it’s, for me, it’s a hobby and it’s a lot of fun to make this ice. And, uh, it’s something that just, I don’t know, I got in the habit of doing. It keeps me entertained and I really like it so
John Puma: 12:24
you got the bug.
Timothy Sullivan: 12:25
clearly, clearly womp womp.
John Puma: 12:29
I’ve only, I have only heard, uh, everybody listening at home. I’ve only heard Tim speak, this, passionately about two things sake and ice cubes. And one of them, he made a career out of
Timothy Sullivan: 12:41
I’ve been waiting three years for this episode. my two passions come together.
John Puma: 12:48
this whole show has been a ruse. It’s been a long con so you can try to sell us all on ice cubes.
Timothy Sullivan: 12:53
Yes. It’s been a slow burn these last two and a half years.
John Puma: 12:57
you’re a very patient man, Tim.
Timothy Sullivan: 13:00
No, I am, I am passionate about ice cubes, but that is definitely, uh, a minor hobby. Uh, but it does shine the spotlight on the importance of good quality ice for this episode. For sure. Yeah. I mean, John, you’ve been to a cocktail bar and had the designer clear ice before. I’m sure.
John Puma: 13:20
I, I, yeah, and, and honestly, in New York it’s a little bit rarer, but in Japan, Everybody’s got that. It’s like, everywhere you go, they’re just like this, like giant block of clear ice and they’re just chiseling off pieces of it to put into your, like, into your water. Like your water has that. It’s great. It’s a lot, a lot harder to get here. Uh, and I imagine if, If I wanted to get like a block of that, it would probably be a little expensive,
Timothy Sullivan: 13:45
yeah. But you can DIY it at home.
John Puma: 13:47
clearly.
Timothy Sullivan: 13:49
in Japan, I’ve seen them actually take the ice cubes and carve them by hand into a diamond shape and put that in your whiskey glass.
John Puma: 14:00
That sounds like fun
Timothy Sullivan: 14:01
It, it’s over the top.
John Puma: 14:03
Yeah, I don’t think there’s a problem with that
Timothy Sullivan: 14:05
No, it’s amazing. I just don’t think I, even with my love of clear ice, I don’t think I’m going to be carving diamond shapes out of my cubes.
John Puma: 14:13
so we talked about, having, genshu sake with your craft ice or, or, or regular ice, if, you know, if you’re not so inclined to get the craft ice, um, today though, what sake are we gonna be using for this event?
Timothy Sullivan: 14:30
Can I, can I throw in one other thing?
John Puma: 14:31
Oh yeah. Go ahead.
Timothy Sullivan: 14:33
Yeah. John. So we talked about the pros of putting ice on the rocks, you know, keeping it cold, bringing the alcohol down. A little touch for the ginjo. We talked about making, you know, super clear ice. if you want to be really extra like I am. And but what, what are the dangers of putting sake on ice? Like what are the cons?
John Puma: 14:59
Well, You could water it down a little too much. Maybe. That’s my thought. My initial thought was like, maybe too much ice. You can, you’re gonna lose something, uh, on that sake. and also you don’t want to get too cold.
Timothy Sullivan: 15:11
exactly. Yeah.
John Puma: 15:13
Haha.
Timothy Sullivan: 15:14
Yeah. Have you ever had like a sip of coke at the end? At the bottom and it’s like the, the Coke flavor is all watered out. Too much ice has melted. And you take a sip and it’s like, ooh, it tastes like half soda. And that is not pleasant with sake either. So you’re right. Diluting it too much, letting the ice melt too much. And if you’re having the wrong kind of sake over ice, like something that’s aromatic or you know, really rice-y in flavor, keeping it ice cold is gonna stunt that full-bodied aroma or full-bodied flavor. So you really wanna make sure you pick the right kind of sake if you’re gonna go with on the rocks.
John Puma: 16:00
All right, well, you ha you have explained that it’s very important. That we picked the right sake for this. And we mentioned earlier the right sake is often a high alcohol genshu So what did you select for today’s little, experiment?
Timothy Sullivan: 16:15
I thought we could, dip back into the Sake Revolution archives.
John Puma: 16:21
Oh.
Timothy Sullivan: 16:22
and I was reviewing some of the sakes we featured in the past and in episode 22, which was our first Married to Sake episode, we had, you’re Better Half Myshell on the show. And she brought one of her favorite sakes and I thought it would be great to bring that back. I mean, what better recommendation can we have than Myshell liking it? So, I picked up the Narutotai Ginjo Shiboritate Nama Genshu
John Puma: 16:57
Mm. Yes. That is a, a favorite, in this household for sure. and the nice thing about having something like that is it’s, uh, you know, not that hard to get in our home.
Timothy Sullivan: 17:08
and I I pulled a quote from the episode from Myshell
John Puma: 17:11
Oh, you,
Timothy Sullivan: 17:12
sake. She said, quote, I like everything about it unquote,
John Puma: 17:18
Well, as somebody who’s, uh, seen her enjoy the sake many times, I think that’s accurate. she does like everything about it., she’s a big, big fan.
Timothy Sullivan: 17:28
okay. Well, for, for the people out there who have not listened to episode 22 yet, John, do you wanna give us the rundown on the stats for this Narutotai?
John Puma: 17:37
I would love to. So, uh, the Narutotai Ginjo Shiboritate Nama Genshu say that three times fast, is from, Honke Matsuura Shuzo, and the brand, of course Narutotai, the alcohol percentage. Here we go, 18.5, that’s gonna be.
Timothy Sullivan: 17:55
That’s up there,
John Puma: 17:56
Right in that ice range. It’s beautiful for ice. classification, of course, is a genshu, it is a ginjo, which means it is aruten. So alcohol added, it is a nama, so it’s unpasteurized now this is from, uh, Tokushima Prefecture, and, uh, the sake meter value. That measure of dryness to sweetness is plus five, which is very interesting when you consider what the sake tastes like. And the acidity is 1.7. The rice is milled down to 58% of its original size, and the yeast is kyokai number nine, says association yeast number nine. And this is a fun sake.
Timothy Sullivan: 18:38
Alright, well let’s get our glasses and our ice and our sake.
John Puma: 18:43
All right. I’ll let you get your special ice. I’ll get my normal ice. All right. So, people at home when I just saw Tim come and lean over and grab his ice and come back and his ice is impeccably clear. actually, I’ve never felt self-conscious about my ice before, but my ice is like completely opaque. It is. It is like white, and I, I’ve never, I’ve never felt shamed for my inferior ice before, but, but here we are.
Timothy Sullivan: 19:13
John, there’s another way,
John Puma: 19:15
there is apparently another way. It just takes a lot of effort and time. and Bread knives,
Timothy Sullivan: 19:22
…and interest
John Puma: 19:23
and interest, I guess. so we’ve got our glasses, uh, we’ve got our ice, we’ve got our narutotai ginjo shiboritate nama genshu. Uh, now this sake is, um, one that you, if you see on the shelf, you’ll definitely recognize cuz it is one of the only sakes that comes in an aluminum can.
Timothy Sullivan: 19:44
Yes. check out the show notes to see the picture. But it is a striking can. And of course, this is an unpasteurized sake, so we want to protect it from light. And to do that, they’ve bottled this in a, an aluminum can and it is very striking. Uh, Narutotai refers to the red snapper that is on the logo part of their brand name and this area. where the ocean meets the Japanese waters closer to the island causes whirlpools, and fish that swim in those whirlpools are really strong, and that’s where the brand name comes from. So, uh, yeah, the bottle, the packaging is really fantastic and, uh, well worth checking out.
John Puma: 20:35
Excellent. Strong, like the sake.
Timothy Sullivan: 20:37
Strong like the sake I love it. Yes. Alright, so we’re gonna pour two glasses for ourselves. One with ice on the rocks.
John Puma: 20:49
Yes. And one into our traditional Sake Revolution, official wine glass.
Timothy Sullivan: 20:55
Alright, let’s do it. Here we go.
John Puma: 21:06
Now. Now, now Tim, this is 18 and a half percent, so we gotta be a little careful on the pours.
Timothy Sullivan: 21:11
I’m gonna let the ice do all the work.
John Puma: 21:15
Okay,
Timothy Sullivan: 21:17
So let me, first of all, let me give our listeners a little listen to the ice in the glass because for me that is part of the experience. So do you hear that? That is crystal clear Ice
John Puma: 21:34
your, your ice also sounds better than mine.
Timothy Sullivan: 21:40
All right. Well, I think that we sh maybe we should taste the on the rocks first, and I’m giving it a swirl, giving my cube, large whiskey sized cube, a swirl in the glass. maybe we should start by giving it a smell so I have it on the rocks. Hmm.
John Puma: 22:02
Hmm. Now I’m having mine out of a rock’s class. I felt that would be appropriate for having sake on the rocks. Uh, and I feel like it is definitely not harnessing that aroma. Uh, but it’s there. But I feel like I’m missing those. I feel like I’m, I’m not getting as much as I want to be. Hmm. to be.
Timothy Sullivan: 22:18
Yeah, I’m using a double old fashioned class as well, like, um, and I’m able to get some aroma.
John Puma: 22:26
It’s definitely a little bit. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. right.
Timothy Sullivan: 22:45
I’d say that still holds true.
John Puma: 22:48
I’m getting, it’s, I’m gonna say that as I mentioned earlier, the aroma is a bit faint for me. I think that the ice is kind of making it even fainter, but I do feel a there is a bit of a sweetness there. There’s a bit. Almost, uh, a little sweetness, a little bit of rice-iness. Tiny bit. Not getting any, the alcohol smell though. Yeah,
Timothy Sullivan: 23:10
Yeah, I smell, I, I still get that jammy smell, like a little bit of apricot jam or something like that. Concentrated bit of sweetness. so should we try it on the rocks?
John Puma: 23:21
Let’s try it on the rocks
Timothy Sullivan: 23:22
Okay.
John Puma: 23:24
Hmm.
Timothy Sullivan: 23:24
Hmm.
John Puma: 23:26
Oh man.
Timothy Sullivan: 23:27
That’s good.
John Puma: 23:28
Yeah. I don’t know if I’ve ever had this sake on the rocks before and I’ve had this sake many, many times.
Timothy Sullivan: 23:35
Straight up
John Puma: 23:36
Straight. Straight up. Yes. Uh, and this is like, lovely. It is. So it’s, this is refreshing.
Timothy Sullivan: 23:44
yes. So it’s gonna keep it nice and chilly. Willy, nice and cold. And again, bring that alcohol level down just a smidge. I mean, it still tastes rich and full-bodied and brassy as ever. Right. But it just, it just softens the edge a little bit to that sharper alcohol that can come through when you have this much booze in, in a sake.
John Puma: 24:09
Yeah.
Timothy Sullivan: 24:10
So we have the non-iced version. I have it in my wine glass.
John Puma: 24:17
Mm-hmm.
Timothy Sullivan: 24:17
Should we give that a smell and see if we have any big difference? I’m gonna give a swirl.
John Puma: 24:22
See here with the swirl and the smell. So much more aroma. It is pow
Timothy Sullivan: 24:30
Yeah. The aroma is heightened. You’re absolutely right.
John Puma: 24:34
And that, boozy smell is there as well.
Timothy Sullivan: 24:36
Hmm. Okay.
John Puma: 24:39
Hmm. Wow. It is so much more concentrated and.
Timothy Sullivan: 24:46
Boom.
John Puma: 24:46
Heavy and, and just big. like I mentioned earlier, the, with the, on the rocks, it was very refreshing, almost light. I mean, the body was still there and the, the flavors are still there, but they’re all just very relaxed, subdued, and coming outta the wine glass. It is just, Hello. How you doing? It is. It is kicking the door down. It is, uh, very, this is an intense and, and big flavored sake. And you get that a hundred percent, uh, out of the wine glass. And, when we switch over to the rocks. It is just so much, so much more of a sippable, just relaxing, sippable sake it goes from being a, you know, have some of this with your dinner sake to something that John can sit on the couch and sip.
Timothy Sullivan: 25:34
Coming out of the wine glass, it’s brassy, it’s strong. It’s a little, a little smack in the face, you know? It’s like, boom. And the ice, it’s a combination of the temperature and the dilution just softens it. And I have to say that when I sip it out of the wine glass, I have this aftertaste of, there’s a little heat there. There’s from the higher alcohol, there’s a, I don’t wanna say burn or anything unpleasant, but there’s, there’s a noticeable aftertaste of that, that indicates the strength of the sake. The full 18 and a half, 19% alcohol.
John Puma: 26:14
Absolutely.
Timothy Sullivan: 26:15
And it really, it is prominent from the wine glass with no ice. And the on the rocks version, as you said, was softer, more gentle sipping, and it’s just a combo of that dilution and that chill that makes it really pleasant.
John Puma: 26:34
You know, it’s funny, I said like, oh, I’d never had this, uh, on the rocks before.
Timothy Sullivan: 26:37
So good.
John Puma: 26:38
I’m going to be having this on the rocks a lot more often. like this is, uh, very, very eye-opening for me. I think the only sakes I’ve had on the rocks before were probably from Tamagawa,
Timothy Sullivan: 26:50
Mm. Yeah.
John Puma: 26:52
but this is, it is great experience having Narutotai on the rocks. It’s really nice. I don’t know how, I’ve never done this before, I’ve been in a, I’ve been in a room with a lot of Narutotai in my life. um, this reminds me, you know, Tim, we, we’ve had situations on the show before where we’ve tried different sakes out of different vessels primarily, and had this really great alternative experiences, um, with the sakes. And this reminds me so much of that. Uh, it’s just, just having this really, really nice, twist on a, on a favorite that I already have.
Timothy Sullivan: 27:32
Yeah, I think that it’s been really eye-opening for me. I’ve had sake on the rocks. I’ve had this sake on the rocks before.
John Puma: 27:40
Mm-hmm.
Timothy Sullivan: 27:41
but never side by side the same sake on the rocks and not. So this is a absolute first for me. Yeah. Uh, you mentioned Tamagawa as another sake that you could put on the rocks. I also wanted to mention Kikusui Funaguchi.
John Puma: 27:57
Hmm. Yes. That is an excellent idea.
Timothy Sullivan: 28:01
Yeah. That’s another sake in a can
John Puma: 28:04
Yes.
Timothy Sullivan: 28:05
and,
John Puma: 28:06
canned sakes go really well with ice and I and I, I think that’s just a function of the, they’re putting these like heavier flavored, these genshus in these cans and boom.
Timothy Sullivan: 28:17
Yeah, so there’s a few, few brands you can experiment with if you want to try sake on the rocks for yourself. And you can of course check our show notes if you want to be extra and make the clear ice like I did
John Puma: 28:33
Uh, the Clear Ice Maker coming from UrbanSake.com,
Timothy Sullivan: 28:37
There’s,
John Puma: 28:38
as Tim plays his long game, there’s no going back
Timothy Sullivan: 28:42
All right, well, this was fascinating. I really enjoyed trying this Narutotai Genshu on the rocks. So interesting. I would’ve never thunk it, but here we are.
John Puma: 28:55
Yeah, and a successful little experiment, I think.
Timothy Sullivan: 29:00
Awesome. Well, John, so great to taste with you. Thanks so much.
John Puma: 29:03
Oh, you’re very welcome, Tim.
Timothy Sullivan: 29:04
Yep. So I want to thank, all of our listeners, but especially, uh, hello and thank you to our patrons. if you’re a regular listener and you would like to support our show, the best way to do that is to join our community on Patreon. For a small monthly donation, you can support us and help us bring you a wonderful sake episode each and every week.
John Puma: 29:27
And, did you know that if you go to SakeRevolution.com, you could also find swag? You can find a link to our store. We’ve got t-shirts, we’ve got stickers, you’ve got other little things here and there that you can either get for yourself or for the Sake Revolution fan in your Life.
Timothy Sullivan: 29:46
And be sure to check out our show notes as we mentioned a few times in this episode. Visit SakeRevolution.com to see the show notes, get all the links to the sakes mentioned in this episode, and we also have a written transcript for you to read, so please check us out online.
John Puma: 30:00
Yes, and you can also learn how to make clear ice. The Tim Sullivan way.
Timothy Sullivan: 30:04
The only way
John Puma: 30:05
It’s the only way So, without any further ado, please grab a glass. Remember to keep drinking sake on the rocks and Kanapi
Timothy Sullivan: 30:15
Kanpai.