Episode 93 Show Notes
Episode 93. It is a truth universally acknowledged that, when visiting a foreign country, learning a few words of the local language can go a long way to enhancing your experience. We certainly agree and this is doubly true when visiting a sake bar in Japan. This week, Tim and John will introduce you to their “Survival Japanese” for navigating the all important conversations around ordering sake in Japanese. Move beyond a simple Kanpai and learn to describe some sake flavors and temperatures in Japanese – all while being exceedingly polite! Disclaimer for all the linguists out there: This is our rough and tumble survival Japanese, so we’re putting exacting grammar and full sentences on the back burner for this episode. To follow along, download our free “Survival Japanese for Sake” cheat sheet PDF at SakeRevolution.com, Onegaishimasu! #SakeRevolution
Skip to: 00:19 Hosts Welcome and Introduction
Welcome to the show from John and Timothy
Skip to: 01:38 Survival Japanese for Sake
.
Click here to download our free “Survival Japanese for Sake” cheat sheet PDF
Follow along withe the episode with this cheat sheet to all the magical sake vocabulary! Download this info for free and take it with you on your next trip to a Japanese sake bar. We hope you enjoy!
|
Word |
Pronunciation |
Japanese |
Meaning |
|
Onegaishimasu |
Oh-neigh-guy-she-mahs |
お願いします |
Please, |
|
Osusume |
Oh-sue-sue-may |
お奨め |
Recommendation |
|
Sake |
Sah-kay |
酒 |
In Japan, |
|
Nihonshu |
Knee-hon-shoe |
日本酒 |
“Japanese (what we |
|
Karakuchi |
Car-ah-kuu-chi |
辛口 |
Dry flavor |
|
Amakuchi |
ah-ma-kuu-chi |
甘口 |
Sweet |
|
Umami |
U-mah-me |
旨味 |
Savory |
|
Maroyaka |
Ma-roh–ya-ka |
円やか |
Round, |
|
Fruity |
Fruuh-tee |
フルーティー |
Fruity |
|
Tsuki |
Ski |
好き |
To like |
|
Doko no Ken? |
Dough-ko |
どこの県 |
Which |
|
Ichi go |
Itchy go |
一合 |
One “go” |
|
Ni go |
Knee go |
二合 |
Two “go” |
|
Okan de |
Oh-kahn-day |
お燗 で |
Asking for |
|
Reishu de |
Ray-shoe-day |
冷酒で |
Asking for |
|
Sumimasen |
Sue-me-mah–sen |
すみません |
Excuse me! |
|
Gochisosamadeshita |
Goh-chee-so-sama–deh-sheeta |
ご地租様でした |
Thank you (Said when |
|
Kanpai |
Kahn-pie |
乾杯 |
Cheers! |
Skip to: 24:21 Sake Introduction and Tasting: Kikumasamune Kojo Junmai
Kikumasamune Kojo Junmai
Classification: Junmai
Acidity: 1.6
Brewery: Kikumasamune Shuzo
Alcohol: 15.0%
Prefecture: Hyogo
SMV: -2.0
Seimaibuai: 70%
Brand: Kikumasamune
Yeast: HA14
Skip to: 30:29 Show Closing
This is it! Join us next time for another episode of Sake Revolution!
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Episode 93 Transcript
John Puma: 0:21
Hello everybody. And welcome to Sake Revolution. If you heard that this was America’s first sake podcast, you heard, right. Also, if you heard that I am one of your hosts, John Puma, from the sake notes, you would also be correct. Uh, I am the administrator over at the internet sake discord and no Sake Revolution podcast would be complete without my amazing cohost.
Timothy Sullivan: 0:49
And I am your cohost timothy Sullivan. I am a Sake Samurai, 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: 1:08
Tim, I, I I’m, I’m a little excited about today’s episode.
Timothy Sullivan: 1:13
me too.
John Puma: 1:15
I mean, we, we say we want to make it fun and easy to understand, and today is all about understanding.
Timothy Sullivan: 1:22
Yes, literally understanding,
John Puma: 1:25
Yeah, and I think it’s going to be about being fun. I think it’s going to be very fun explaining all of this. Uh, I want, I do want to get right to it. So let’s, let’s tell the good people what they’re going to learn today.
Timothy Sullivan: 1:38
well, I want to preface this just by saying you and I have both made several trips to Japan and over the times we’ve gone. We’ve learned a little bit of Japanese language here and there and you and I have both experienced that when you speak a little bit of Japanese or know certain words, it makes your experience go that much smoother. So we thought it would be a great idea to share with our listeners, some of the Japanese words and phrases that we’ve used to unlock the key to enjoying sake in Japan. So survival Japanese language for sake. What do you think?
John Puma: 2:21
I like it. I like it. And I know it’s honestly, it’s something I kinda wish I had when I was going through all of that, through all of that.
Timothy Sullivan: 2:30
Yeah, this would have helped me a lot. So with that in mind, we’re actually going to write up all of our suggestions and put them on a survival japanese for sake cheat sheet PDF, which you can download at SakeRevolution.com. So be sure to check that out.
John Puma: 2:47
Yeah, it’s going to be a lot of fun, I think. And eventually when we’re all allowed to go to Japan useful, in the meantime, you guys just study up, study up on it. It’s going to come in handy one day.
Timothy Sullivan: 2:59
Absolutely.
John Puma: 3:00
so cutting directly to the chase though, what is our first magic word?
Timothy Sullivan: 3:04
I think if you go to Japan, you have to know this word sake or no sake, and this word is ONEGAISHIMASU, is a mouthful for the first word. We’re not starting with the easiest word.
John Puma: 3:19
no, not at all. And not from a Western pronunciation standpoint for sure. Um, it’s a word you’re going to hear a lot.
Timothy Sullivan: 3:27
Yeah.
John Puma: 3:28
And so. Saying that you’re going to hear it a lot. So it kind of takes some of that in learn the pronunciation practice a little bit onegaishimasu. Onegaishimasu. yes. And antenna. So what exactly are we expressing when we say that?
Timothy Sullivan: 3:43
Well, it kind of means please, like if you ask for something you want to tack onegaishimasu on the end of it. If you ask for something pretty much in any, um, business situation or customer situation, you want to keep things polite and adding this word, please on the end is pretty much a must. If you don’t have onegaishimasu, it sounds like you’re kind of demanding.
John Puma: 4:12
Yeah. And you
Timothy Sullivan: 4:13
as a bad look.
John Puma: 4:14
yeah, it’s a bad look. And then think like in the past, we’ve talked about how, like, when you’re going to another country, uh, you’re a guest you want to represent yourself. Uh, the best way you can. And so putting that extra bit of courtesy, even when you’re not sure
Timothy Sullivan: 4:32
Yeah. Yeah. It’s a really important word. Onegaishimasu and John, I think we also have to say that we should acknowledge you and I are not language experts.
John Puma: 4:41
Oh, no, uh, I’ve tried. I’m very bad.
Timothy Sullivan: 4:44
I’ve tried to. Yes.
John Puma: 4:47
it’s I have no, I have no language acumen, unfortunately. Um, I rely on Myshell for the language stuff. But, even for people who have no language acumen like Tim and I th these, these, these work, um, he’s got, gotta say what a little Gusto and you’ll be, you’ll be all set. I’m
Timothy Sullivan: 5:08
it, but, for our listeners out there who are Japanese speakers or live in Japan and are super fluent, please. Pardon our any, Uh, slight mispronunciations we’re doing our best and our hearts in the right place. Right.
John Puma: 5:22
Uh, hearts are definitely in the right place. And I think they’re asking for that going for that apology in advance. The right move. Onegaishimasu. Uh, anyway, so, uh, but yeah, so that, that, word’s very broad usage. You want to use that kind of an in most situations, uh, it’s just really polite and you’ll be taken more seriously.
Timothy Sullivan: 5:41
Yeah. So John what’s what’s our second must know magic word.
John Puma: 5:46
this is the magic word for me. This was the game changer. This was, you know, we were going to Japan a bunch. And once we did this. It changed the experience of going to, an izakaya or a sake bar, and that is OSUSUME.
Timothy Sullivan: 6:03
Um,
John Puma: 6:05
And that also assuming that his recommendation. So, you know, Osusume. onegaishimasu recommendation, please. Uh, and usually,
Timothy Sullivan: 6:21
Okay. I’m learning already.
John Puma: 6:24
look at this. you know, usually if you’re in a place and you’re saying like, you know, uh, if it’s understood that you’re asking for recommendations about sake, generally speaking staff at a lot of these establishments, really like to help people out with that. They want to give their opinions. They want to help you explore sake. I think that has that been your experience as well?
Timothy Sullivan: 6:48
Yeah, I’ve relied on also some may a lot. You can use it for food and sake, which is great.
John Puma: 6:56
Yeah. Yeah.
Timothy Sullivan: 6:58
Yeah. So it, it saying, Osusume Onegaishimasu really. If you can’t read, if you sit down at a sake bar, you can’t read the menu, you don’t know which bottles are behind the bar. That is a great way to get the conversation started. And they’ll show you a couple options and you can just pick one and get the ball rolling. And it’s a great way to start out.
John Puma: 7:20
Hm. now, while we’re here at the beginning, it’s a very real, possibility that when you’re asking for sake, you could get the literal sake. It’s very broad sake and Japanese just means alcohol does not necessarily mean. the multiple parallel fermentation rice-based beverage that we are trying to get that is nihonshu.
Timothy Sullivan: 7:48
right.
John Puma: 7:50
Uh, Tim, have you ever had any situations where not specifying nihonshu has led to, uh, confusion and or tragedy?
Timothy Sullivan: 8:00
No, I
John Puma: 8:01
Good.
Timothy Sullivan: 8:04
it’s really important for people visiting Japan to know that what we call sake in Japan. If you say that word, it means alcohol in general, as you just said, and the word you want to use, if you want the rice base fermented beverages. Nihonshu right. I would say it’s a pitfall, but they’re probably going to assume you mean nihonshu nihonshu ONEGAISHIMASU is A+. That’s the key phrase you want to memorize.
John Puma: 8:37
The phrase that pays
Timothy Sullivan: 8:39
Nihonshu Onegaishimasu
John Puma: 8:44
uh, so what else would we have, Tim? what other survival words that we need?
Timothy Sullivan: 8:48
Um, well, I would say that survival Japanese 1.0, if you want to, if you want to move to 2.0, you can describe a little bit of the flavors that you like. So maybe we should talk about some of the, uh, flavor and aroma profile words that you can use. Just the handful of them to give. The person selecting your Sake, a general idea of what you might like. So what do you think John is the most common descriptor for sake?
John Puma: 9:20
Ah, that’s interesting. Their most common, the one that permeated my. brain first was actually, um, karakuchi. It was like the first thing that I remembered, I guess, or, or was able to really kind of like, oh, okay. And that is a dry sake describing dry.
Timothy Sullivan: 9:39
Karakuchi, that is probably, if you like dry sake you have to know that word.
John Puma: 9:46
I’m pretty sure that we’ve talked about it on their show before when we brought on sake that had like karakuchi in the, in the name of it. And we briefly explained that not only, yes, this means dry, but also if the Sake says karakuchi on the label, it is going to be very karakuchi. It’s going to be quite dry.
Timothy Sullivan: 10:09
Yeah, and I want to introduce one variation on karakuchi. There’s a type karakuchi from Niigata prefecture. And this is a phrase I heard all the time in Niigata, which is Tanrei karakuchi Tanrei kind of means clean or beautiful and karakuchi means dry. So the way I often translate. tanrei karakuchi is kind of crisp, clean and dry. It’s the way that Niigata brewers, described their regional style of sake, light, clean and crisp,
John Puma: 10:44
Um, so that might be an exception to the intensely dry, uh, general rule that we might encounter with.
Timothy Sullivan: 10:52
yeah. Yeah. And you know, if. Like lightly dry sake and not super dry sake saying tanrei Karakuchi is a great option to get a sake that’s lightly on the dry side and, you know, going to be a little crisp and clean. And it’s served me very well when I’ve been ordering sake and sake bars. So There’s another kuchi,
John Puma: 11:18
another
Timothy Sullivan: 11:19
There’s another. Kuchi, kuchi.
John Puma: 11:21
kuchi
Timothy Sullivan: 11:23
There’s another kuchi, uh, there’s Amakuchi.
John Puma: 11:27
Amakuchi.
Timothy Sullivan: 11:28
That sweet.
John Puma: 11:32
Yeah. I think that when I was first, uh, getting my eyes and ears on some survival words for the, uh,. We had it explained as like amai and kurai as dry and sweet concepts, but not, we didn’t, I didn’t understand the kuchi part right away. Uh, so I was kuchi -less. Uh
Timothy Sullivan: 11:54
So kuchi means mouth. We’re referring very specifically to kind of flavor.
John Puma: 11:59
Hmm.
Timothy Sullivan: 12:00
So amakuchi, means a sweeter sweeter flavor, and karakuchi is a drier flavor. So if you are a lover of sweet sake, you can say amakuchi.
John Puma: 12:13
All right. So we’ve got, we’ve got our, kuchis
Timothy Sullivan: 12:16
Yup.
John Puma: 12:17
all out of the way our mouth taste, just now I realized Like I do know the word for mouth and that it is kuchi and I never put two and two together that had anything to do with mouth. And even after you told me, I’d be like, wait a minute. It, the law, it just clicked. Moments ago. I was like, oh, that makes sense.
Timothy Sullivan: 12:37
Your Japanese teacher is going to be thrilled.
John Puma: 12:39
Oh my own currently, without a Japanese teacher, I’m taking a haitus.
Timothy Sullivan: 12:46
Well, there’s another flavor word that most people probably know already. We mentioned this word all the time on the podcast and it begins with a, “U” can you guess what I’m thinking?
John Puma: 12:58
Uh, umami.
Timothy Sullivan: 12:59
Umami. That’s right. Yes. So umami is. Savory meaty flavor. Think Shataki mushrooms, soy sauce, miso, Parmesan, cheese, that kind of savory-ness in food and drink. And Sake has more umami than you’ll ever find in wine or beer. So this, if you like savory, rich, more earthy sakes then you’re going to want to know this word umami.
John Puma: 13:28
All right.
Timothy Sullivan: 13:29
then John, you had one more as well.
John Puma: 13:32
Yeah. This one was a big deal for me. I was once at a bar and as I was kind of going through, you know, different sips of different sakes and expressing how I was feeling about them at one point, the bartender who, who spoke very good English, was like, Hey, you know, if you want to ask for this style in, in Japanese, you want to say Maroyaka. And I was like, oh, okay. And apparently Maroyaka means like round or, in, in, I guess a little bit more in a Western concept. Smooth. So, and that is, I love really smooth sake. I like really smooth scotches too. So this, this, this pans out, and I have, you know, occasionally we’ll use that, uh, over in Japan as well. It really gets the point across that you want something that’s very, very smooth, clean drinking sake, which is right up my alley. I want that’s Maroyaka that’s my couch sake
Timothy Sullivan: 14:31
Maroyaka. Okay. I’ve sometimes when I heard that word, I would also think mellow.
John Puma: 14:37
Mm I’m all right. With that. I like it’s great. Sure.
Timothy Sullivan: 14:43
Okay. So we’ve got karakuchi, amakuchi, umami, and maroyaka.
John Puma: 14:49
Yeah.
Timothy Sullivan: 14:50
right. Now, another thing that when I learned to say this was a big game changer for me was the word tsuki. And it sounds like you’re saying like downhill ski, like, it sounds like ski, but it’s spelled. T S U K I “tsuki”. And this means to like, and you can take these flavor words we just talked about and add ski to it. And then you can basically be saying, I like dry. I like sweet. I like umami. I like mellow round. So this word ski. And it’s easy to remember. Cause I always think of people loving the ski slopes. And it’s a way that I remember this word tsuki. So you can say karakuchi tsuki. amakuchi tsuki. umami tsuki.
John Puma: 15:49
that’s going to get the point across. They’re going to understand what you’re saying. no, no, but it works. That’s that’s my, that’s my, uh, John Puma school of Japanese. Yes, not perfect, but it works. Uh,
Timothy Sullivan: 16:01
Yeah. The, the bar that we’re reaching here is will the bartender understand me? Yes.
John Puma: 16:07
Exactly. And, and as you’re drinking, it becomes difficult to remember the particles. You just got to get it out there
Timothy Sullivan: 16:12
the particles can. take a backseat for this lesson.
John Puma: 16:16
Yes. That’s a, that’s how we are a 1 0 2 episode next time.
Timothy Sullivan: 16:18
Yes.
John Puma: 16:19
now, uh, I have found that when I have a sake that I enjoy, I often want to know where it’s from. And so. I learned Doko no Ken, which like where, which prefecture where’s this prefecture. And it’s understood that, you know, you want to know where the, where the Sakes full prefecture of the Sake is from, and you’re gonna find out. And that is a really good way for you to learn about your prefectural, uh, leanings sometimes, uh, when you’re overseas. Um, you can always just pick up the bottle and look at the back like you can do in the United States.
Timothy Sullivan: 16:55
right. So you can ask, would that, that phrase, which prefecture is this from? And it’s a way to connect with the, with the bartender. Even though your language skills might be limited. Being able to ask a question and understand if they say Yamaguchi or Hokkaido, you know, that’s just a great little way to connect
John Puma: 17:17
Um,
Timothy Sullivan: 17:18
and you can also use the prefecture name nihonshu and ski together. So you can say Hokkaido nihonshu ski. It’s not grammatically a hundred percent correct. But if you want to say this pre. Nihonshu which means sake and then ski our magic skiing word. I like you can get across that you like sake from this XYZ prefecture. And I found that has been a great conversation starter with a bartender as well. Like I love Fukuoka sake, and they’ll see what they have from that prefecture. And it, it gives you a wonderful way to start the Interaction.
John Puma: 18:07
Ah, look at this. We’re making full sentences
Timothy Sullivan: 18:08
Yeah, we got building blocks here. I love it.
John Puma: 18:11
Yeah. all right, what do I have next?
Timothy Sullivan: 18:14
Well, I happened to know that my cohost is, a big fan of fruity sakes. That is a profile we cover very often. That is a well-worn path on our podcast, fruity sake. So I thought it might be important to teach people how to say fruity. And the Japanese word that is most often used it’s a borrowed word from English. They basically take the word fruity and they pronounce it with Japanese rules and they get fruity fruity, if you pronounce It a little bit in this way, can you can get the point across that you like fruity, fruity tsuki. Yeah.
John Puma: 18:57
Yeah. It definitely works.
Timothy Sullivan: 18:59
Yeah. So a couple other phrases that when you’re ordering sake are really important beyond just the flavor or the prefecture. They’re very often going to ask you how much, what volume of sake do you want? You know, if you ask for a glass of wine here, you don’t need to tell them that much about what size you want, but in Japan they have a volume measurement of the go. I think we’ve talked about this in the past
John Puma: 19:23
we definitely have.
Timothy Sullivan: 19:24
Yup. So one go is 180 milliliters and the word for one in Japan is ichi. Just like, oh, I’m scratching. I’m ichi. So ichi, go ichi, go. And that’s just G O ichi go means one, 180 milliliter serving. So if you have. a few people around the table, sometimes they might say, nihonshu own a guy Seamus NIGO, and that means two serving. So they’ll bring you a larger craft. So you can say one, go to go three, go. And it’s a way that many izakaya and restaurants would bring the sake to you in a carafe with a glass on the side. So it’s important to know this word go and either 1, 2, 3, or four go. Yeah.
John Puma: 20:21
and, and, and hopefully you’ll enjoy all your go.
Timothy Sullivan: 20:24
Yeah,
John Puma: 20:24
Yeah.
Timothy Sullivan: 20:25
hopefully the night will go well.
John Puma: 20:27
Ah, okay.
Timothy Sullivan: 20:33
well, John, what about temperature? Cause I know that’s a big thing that people worry about. Uh, how do I ask for cold sake or hot sake if I want that?
John Puma: 20:42
well I think that most of the time in, in Japan, uh, you’re going to be getting a cold sake. Leaving it out there.
Timothy Sullivan: 20:52
If you don’t say, If you don’t say, you’re probably going to
John Puma: 20:54
you’re probably going to get sake, if you, um, specifically are requesting a warm sake, Uh, OKAN DE.
Timothy Sullivan: 21:04
okan de. So you want to say, okan de onegaishimasu. That means served warm, please.
John Puma: 21:13
Um,
Timothy Sullivan: 21:15
So you can tell them, uh, Karakuchi tsuki okan de onegaishimasu. So all these little building blocks you can put together in these sake specific sentences. This is excellent.
John Puma: 21:27
yes.
Timothy Sullivan: 21:28
And then there’s also cold. If you want to ask for cold specifically, you can say reishu de
John Puma: 21:36
Hm.
Timothy Sullivan: 21:37
Ray like the rays of the sun and shoe, like the shoe on your foot and day. So reishu de, that means served chilled. So reishu de onegaishimasu. I’d like chilled Sake. So those two are really important and can help you get the sake you want. okan de or Reishu de.
John Puma: 22:01
Yeah.
Timothy Sullivan: 22:02
Yeah. And there’s, there’s two other words We talked about that are really important for being in a restaurant or an or a sake bar. In Japan, usually the waiters don’t come over to, to you until you scream something.
John Puma: 22:17
Yes,
Timothy Sullivan: 22:18
What’s that word?
John Puma: 22:20
sumimasen! And I, and I, I say that very loudly because I want you to feel confident in saying it loudly
Timothy Sullivan: 22:32
Yes. It’s for Americans. It’s shocking.
John Puma: 22:36
Yeah,
Timothy Sullivan: 22:36
When people raise their hands. They screamed Sumimasen, and it’s a way to harken the server to come over to you. And it’s very common in Japanese restaurants when they’re ready, when you’re ready to order.
John Puma: 22:52
Yeah,
Timothy Sullivan: 22:52
And if you need something, you can also scream that out. Like if you want more water or you ready to order your second round or something like that. So sumimasen is really important word.
John Puma: 23:03
Right. So you’re not going to scream out the order. You’re going to not see me, my son, and they’re going to come over and then you’re going to politely give the order.
Timothy Sullivan: 23:11
Yeah. And when we’ve enjoyed our sake and we’re on our way out of the restaurant, there’s just like onegaishimasu is a must know, polite word. When you leave a restaurant or anyone who’s served you food and you’re, you’re parting ways you have to say goshisosamadeshita. it’s a big, long word. Let’s break it down.
John Puma: 23:34
That makes the owner got, she must sound positively simple.
Timothy Sullivan: 23:39
Go-chi-so-sama-deshita Go-chi-so-sama-deshita, it’s
John Puma: 23:45
Gochisosamadeshita.
Timothy Sullivan: 23:48
Gochisosamadeshita and it means thank you for the feast. And it’s something you say when you’re leaving a restaurant and it is very polite and you will. The bar owners heart or the is a Kaia server’s heart. If you say that on the way out as a foreigner in Japan, they will think that’s fantastic that you took the time to learn that word, that is so polite in Japan and just such a lovely way to end your interaction with at a sake bar.
John Puma: 24:19
All right.
Timothy Sullivan: 24:21
Yeah, well, all this talking about sake has gotten me very thirsty. Mr. Puma.
John Puma: 24:25
am parched.
Timothy Sullivan: 24:28
Well, we can’t have a Sake Revolution episode without a little tasting. So what are we going to taste today?
John Puma: 24:34
So today, Tim, we have the Kikumasamune Kojo Junmai. And so this is a again, I Junmai, my, the, rice is polished down to 70% of its original size. The sake meter value is a minus two. So just on the, on the, on a little bit on the sweeter side, but.
Timothy Sullivan: 24:58
Well, Yeah, we’re going to look out for that when we taste.
John Puma: 25:00
Yeah, uh, acidity is 1.6 and the alcohol by volume is 15%. If you can is in, Hyogo prefecture.
Timothy Sullivan: 25:13
Yes. And this brewery is super famous in Japan. kikumasamune is kind of the definition of old school and they were founded in 1659. Another old brewery and we’re not, we’re not tasting it today, but kikumasamune is really famous for Taru sake. Remember we had the Cedar age sake. Um, so this brewery is really well known for that, but we’re going to taste their Junmai. So let’s go ahead and get this in the glass.
John Puma: 25:41
Yeah. When you, when you mentioned, uh, he could, must’ve been a for this episode, Tim, I had a double-take because the first thing in my mind was, wait a minute. Aren’t they, the taru guys.
Timothy Sullivan: 25:53
Okay. So this is a Junmai from Hugo.
John Puma: 25:56
Okay.
Timothy Sullivan: 25:59
Okay. I’m going back to a classic aroma profile for us. Circus peanuts,
John Puma: 26:08
Yeah, a little bit, a little bit. I got a little, um, A little rice as well. Right? I know what you mean,
Timothy Sullivan: 26:15
Yeah.
John Puma: 26:17
rice and some sweetness. This is crystal clear from a transparency standpoint.
Timothy Sullivan: 26:26
Yep. No, no. Hint of color.
John Puma: 26:30
Yeah,
Timothy Sullivan: 26:32
All right. So a little bit rice-y on the aroma, but there’s, there’s that hint of sweetness. there. All right, let’s give it a taste. Hm, wow. That has a lot more umami than I was expecting.
John Puma: 26:49
Yeah,
Timothy Sullivan: 26:50
it’s like earthy.
John Puma: 26:52
it’s very, but it’s earthy, but there is that sweetness there from the nose it’s still hanging around. And it, and the rice is also present. It’s it’s, there’s a lot going on here. It is not, this is not a simple, uh, Maroyaka sake.
Timothy Sullivan: 27:10
oh, yeah. Let’s use our words.
John Puma: 27:12
Yes. You use your words to
Timothy Sullivan: 27:15
use your words. Uh, so this is and I would say this has some umami. And it is not fruity. The,
John Puma: 27:30
No, we’re just not I know that the sake meter value indicates it might be I’m ama kuchi, but really not. So.
Timothy Sullivan: 27:42
yeah, that’s something that’s really important to think about when we mentioned. the sake meter value the Nihonshu-do every week when it’s a minus or when it’s a plus, that’s just a general guideline and there’s other things that can really affect our perception of dryness and sweetness. So. we can’t go exclusively by that number. I always recommend to just, you know, keep it in the back of your mind. But the closer you are to zero, the less useful this sake meter value is going to be for you. And this is such an interesting case of that, where, it says minus something you think of there might be sweetness, but it’s just a hint and it’s really more rice and umami driven on the palate.
John Puma: 28:27
Yeah. It’s really it’s. Yeah. Like, just like you said, it is, it’s not that useful, unless it’s an extreme.
Timothy Sullivan: 28:34
Yep. So would you ask for this, uh, kikumasamune, sake, would you ask for it okan de or reishu de?
John Puma: 28:42
you know, I’m currently having it “reishu de”, but I think I’m white. Want to try this okan de and see what happens to it with this much umami and this much rice, it seems like it would be a good candidate for such a experiment.
Timothy Sullivan: 28:57
Good call good call Puma.
John Puma: 29:00
Mm.
Timothy Sullivan: 29:00
Yeah. I also want to say that this sake is very smooth and, a really interesting depth of flavor,
John Puma: 29:09
it’s a lot going on. And as it’s, it’s a pleasant journey to, uh, towards experiencing it all. It’s it’s, it’s got a lot of depth. It’s got a lot of, a lot going for it a lot going on.
Timothy Sullivan: 29:19
Yeah. And I think for me now that it’s the winter season, a type of sake, like this is going to pair really well with foods you might eat in the winter, like nabe hot pot or stews or casseroles things that are richer.
John Puma: 29:34
I see that so Tim, we went through some, some various. Uh, light, but really, really useful vocabulary. I mean, these are things that you and I have used in the field. We have, we have tested these, these, these phrases out and have had really great experiences with them. A lot of good success.
Timothy Sullivan: 29:58
we’ve learned the hard way.
John Puma: 30:00
Yes. Yeah.
Timothy Sullivan: 30:02
So these words, I think, are going to be really helpful to our listeners. And I want to remind everyone if you want a cheat sheet of Sake Revolution’s most important sake vocabulary in Japanese. You have to visit our website, SakeRevolution.com and you can download it there for free and take that with you on your next trip to Japan.
John Puma: 30:25
Yeah, that’ll be your hit. That’ll be a good time.
Timothy Sullivan: 30:29
All right. Well, this was fun, John. I had, I had a lot of fun. Reminiscing with you about our sake adventures in Japan. Thinking back to all our times, learning Japanese at sake bars and picking up vocabulary piece by piece. And, uh, it’s just such good memory. So thank you for that. And I really want to thank our listeners as well for tuning in. We really do hope that you’re enjoying our show. Now, if you would like to show your support for Sake Revolution, the best way to support us would be to. Join our community on Patreon We are a listener supported show and all of the support we received from Patreon goes to hosting, editing and producing our show every week.
John Puma: 31:16
That’s right. And if you’d like to become a patron in the place you’re going to do that is over at Patreon.com/SakeRevolution. There’s also a link SakeRevolution.com. other ways that you can help support the show. You’re doing it right now, listening to the show really does help us out. But more than that, please go out and tell your friends, let them get a listen and then maybe subscribe and maybe they’ll tell some friends, know those friends will subscribe to the whole thing. You’ll see.
Timothy Sullivan: 31:45
spread the word. All right. And as always, if you would like to learn more about any of the topics or sakes we talked about in today’s episode, be sure to visit our website, SakeRevolution.com And there you can check out our show notes.
John Puma: 32:00
And if you have related questions that you need answered. If you think that we miss some critical language for survival Japanese in the Sake bar, please reach out to us. The email address is [email protected]. So until next time, please raise your glass. And altogether let’s use the first bit of, survival sake, Japanese we ever learned on this show Kanpai.