Episode 160 Show Notes
Episode 160. It’s time to get wild again! Wild about sake rice, that is. Wild Rice is our series where we look closer at different strains of sake rice and what makes them unique. This time around, we look to a rice native to Hiroshima Prefecture – Hattannishiki. Known to not grow as tall as other sake rice, but still have a well developed shinpaku (starchy core) Hattannishiki is a fairly modern rice, as it was developed in the 1970’s. Let’s dive in and see what flavors Hattannishiki has in store for us! #sakerevolution
Skip to: 00:19 Hosts Welcome and Introduction
Welcome to the show from John and Timothy.
Skip to: 03:00 Wild Rice: Hattannishiki
About Hattannishiki:
This sake rice is synonymous with Hiroshima prefecture! It has a well developed Shinpaku and is known to grow to a shorter height than most other premium sake rice.
Skip to: 11:41 Sake Tasting and Introduction: Joto Daiginjo “The One with the Clocks”
Joto Daiginjo “The One with the Clocks”
Classification: Daiginjo
Prefecture: Hiroshima
Rice Type: Hattannishiki
Seimaibuai: 50%
Brewery: Nakao Jozo
Acidity: 1.3
SMV: +5.0
Sake Name English: The One with the Clocks
Yeast: Apple Blossom
Brand: Joto
Skip to: 28:58 Show Closing
This is it! Join us next time for another episode of Sake Revolution!
Announcing Patreon
Now there is a new way to support Sake Revolution. Join us on Patreon! Patreon is an online platform that allows you to support your favorite creators by subscribing to a monthly membership. At Sake Revolution, we’re offering two tiers, each with its own perk. If you enjoy our sake podcast, if you are able, please consider supporting this labor of sake love! See below to learn about our Patreon support levels.
-
Sake Enthusiast
Have you ever wanted to sip along with us as we taste our sakes on the podcast? Now you can! As a Sake Enthusiast patron, you’ll get the inside track and know in advance which sakes we’ll be featuring on the show. This allows you to get them on hand and sip along with us while you listen.
-
Sake Otaku
As a Sake Otaku supporter of the pod, you’ll get access to all the Sake Enthusiast intel along with access to a monthly live zoom Sake Happy Hour taking place the first Weds of every month at 9pm ET (6pm PT). Visit with us live on zoom! Come with all your questions and suggestions and enjoy a relaxed and fun Happy Hour with with us as we all sip sake together!
Episode 160 Transcript
John Puma: 0:21
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 at the internet Sake Discord. Do come and join us sometime. And also, I run Reddit’s r slash sake community. Join us there, too.
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, doing our best to make it fun and easy to understand. So, John, how have you been doing? Have you had any good sake adventures or any tastings you’ve done recently that have been fun or exciting?
John Puma: 1:03
Uh, taste sake that I like all the time, Tim. It’s one of the, one of the wonders of, uh, of, of honestly, it’s one of the nice things about living in New York is that you do have access to a lot of options, a lot of variety. and I’m also, you know, starting to plan. We’re going to Japan in a couple of months, so yeah, working on, uh, working on our itinerary, where we’re going to go, what we’re going to do, who we’re going to see,
Timothy Sullivan: 1:27
It takes, it takes more planning than you would think to successfully pull off a sake trip to Japan, I think.
John Puma: 1:34
It’s, it’s a little bit, yeah. If you, if you think you can just wing it when you get there, you might, um, yeah. I mean, for going to Japan, you can wing it when you get there, but for to focus on sake stuff, it’s a little bit trickier, because people, believe it or not, the people who run these establishments and breweries, they have lives, and they are very busy. And you’ve got to be respectful of their time as well. So, it does take a little bit of doing.
Timothy Sullivan: 2:03
Yes, planning really does help if you’re going to Japan and you want to experience some sake things. I wholeheartedly agree with that.
John Puma: 2:09
Yeah.
Timothy Sullivan: 2:10
So what are we going to be talking about today?
John Puma: 2:13
Well, today we’re going to, have a little bit of a combination of old and new today. We’re going to revisit our wild rice series. And the sake we’re going to drink It’s actually a returning brand, but we’ll get to that in a little bit.
Timothy Sullivan: 2:27
all right. So we’re going to talk about wild rice. Things might get a little wild in here. So who knows what will happen.
John Puma: 2:34
It’s Not a crazy rice.
Timothy Sullivan: 2:36
Not crazy rice. We’ll see. We’ll see. All right. Yeah. So we’re going to touch on a, a strain of sake rice that we haven’t focused on for a whole episode yet. And we’ve done some other rice strains in the past. We’ve done Omachi. I know that we’ve done Yamada Nishiki. And today we’re going to be talking about another famous Nishiki. Uh, this is Hattan Nishiki.
John Puma: 3:00
Hattan Nishiki. Yes, yes, yes. I, if memory serves, this is a, when I think of Hattan Nishiki, I think of Hiroshima.
Timothy Sullivan: 3:08
Yes, Hattanishiki is born in Hiroshima, and it’s a, I guess, a relatively recent rice concoction. Uh, Hattanishiki was created, crossbred, in the 1970s, and the parents of Hattanishiki are Hattan 35 Go and Akitsuho. So those are two rice varieties that were cross bred to make Hattan nishiki. And this happened in Hiroshima.
John Puma: 3:41
That’s interesting. Typically when, you know, when we hear about these rice varieties, it’s often like, oh, we took Omachi and we took like yamada, or Yeah, we did something with that and, and played off of it. I’m not familiar with either of these two rices that this one was crossbred to, to create. So that’s very interesting.
Timothy Sullivan: 3:59
Yeah. So, you know, they did a lot of this cross breeding to try to get new and exciting and interesting rice varieties that had certain characteristics to it. And when they created Hattan nishiki, they discovered a few things that were actually advantages that other rice varieties didn’t specialize in. And the first one is the height of the stalk. So Hattan nishiki is actually a short king.
John Puma: 4:29
wasn’t ready for that one. Sorry.
Timothy Sullivan: 4:36
so, Most sake rice is known for growing taller than standard eating rice, but Hattan nishiki is actually a little short by the standards of what you would say for regular sake rice, so we can say under three feet. And the advantage to this is that it keeps the rice from lodging. And that’s a word we learned from Whitney at Isbell Farms. Lodging is when the rice falls over and kind of lands on the ground and might get stuck in the mud or the paddy. And to prevent that from happening, the, the actually shorter stalks are a little less prone to that because they’re not up in the air as much. And if there’s a typhoon or strong winds come through, they have a little bit more resistance to falling over. And they have a really nice amount of shimpaku in their structure.. So the starchy core is really prominent, and that’s exactly what you want to see when you’re cultivating new sake rice. And I think the amount of production of Hattanishiki is about, I think it ranks, sixth in overall production. So five other rice varieties are produced in more volume. I think Hattanishiki is, is ranked about sixth. It changes from year to year, but I think last stats I looked up, it was around the sixth most produced sake rice. Yeah,
John Puma: 6:05
cool. It seems to me like a lot of the factors with this, with this rice are, are practical, the shortness, uh, to, to make us easier to harvest, the, you know, the. Shinpaku, you know, it seems like it’s just seems like a really solid rice to use, whenever you can. And it’s, I I’m not surprised that it’s so well known that’s being used so much because it does seem like, it seems like a really easy rice to work with, relatively speaking.
Timothy Sullivan: 6:31
but this, this rice strain, Hattanishiki, is really very, very closely tied with Hiroshima. the place of its origin. And, you know, Omachi is really famous from Okayama, and Yamada Nishiki is really famous from Hyogo, and I think Hattan Nishiki is just tied intrinsically with Hiroshima. And you, you and I did an episode, episode 23, dedicated to our stories in Hiroshima, and, we tasted Hattan Nishiki at that time, and now we’re going to focus in and revisit and see what makes it. So delicious and so compelling, right?
John Puma: 7:09
Yeah. Yeah. So yes, Tim, as you mentioned, this sake was previously featured in episode 23. And it is the, uh, Joto, quote, the one with the clocks, uh, Daiginjo. Someone at Joto clearly, has an affinity for Friends, the, the old TV show. so number one, Joto Daiginjo, is, is a white labeled sake. It is one that is, relabeled, you know, when it’s brought over to the United States, but it’s sold under a different name in Japan. Now, now, Tim, how often does this kind of thing happen and, and what’s the story behind that?
Timothy Sullivan: 7:44
Well, we did an episode on white labeling or rebranding of sake, and it’s becoming, I think, more common than it used to be. You know, if a restaurant wants to produce their own, shall we say, vanity label, or their own brand of sake, the easiest way to do that is simply to buy sake from a brewery, put it in a bottle, and put your own label on it and say, this is our sake.
John Puma: 8:08
Mm. Uh
Timothy Sullivan: 8:10
with this white labeling thing that I think Joto does really well here is that they are completely transparent about where the sake comes from, who makes it. They’re, they’re proud to say that this is from this producer. And that is, in my book, the only way to fly. Because if you’re hiding who the producer is in your sake, like, why are you Even doing that, that does not make a lick of sense to me. So, what I think Joto is doing really well here is that they wanted to create a brand, their own brand. I think, I would imagine, to make sake accessible in their view. You know, to give it a western label and easy to understand and easy to introduce. Um, so I think they picked a Junmai and a Junmai Daiginjo and a Junmai Ginjo. And, um,
John Puma: 8:59
I think I nigori as
Timothy Sullivan: 9:00
as well, yeah. And, uh, do you think that’s true that they’re trying to make their own line to make it accessible to people and easy to approach?
John Puma: 9:10
I do. I think that they, I think that they position them as sort of a, I don’t want to use the word entry level cause this is a Daiginjo that we’re going to be talking about. I do think that the idea is to kind of, you know, Give somebody, uh, who may be a little intimidated by Japanese sake labels, and this is something that we’ve talked about in the show many times, uh, giving them something that’s a little bit more friendly, a little bit more, specific, a little bit more English friendly, I think a little more Western friendly label so that it looks more approachable, something that you’re not intimidated by, and there’s no Japanese on it. It’s like, Oh, this is interesting and it looks cool and blah, blah, blah. So I think that that’s probably a lot of the thought process behind it. you know, also, even though this line of Joto branded sake, each one, I think just about every one of them is from a different one of their breweries that they, that they feature. So it’s kind of like they’re showcasing a different one on each. I think that’s also really interesting because if you go through all of the different Joto Labeled sake’s you’ll get a feel for their whole lineup of different brands that they represent And that’s I think that’s probably not an accident also, you know So I think that’s a it’s a good way to introduce new people to what to their brand family I guess to be a good way of put it
Timothy Sullivan: 10:26
all right. So, as we established, this sake is released from Joto, but it is really produced by the Nakao Brewery in Hiroshima. And this sake is sold under a different name. label in Japan. It’s the Maboroshi label, right?
John Puma: 10:43
right, right Maboroshi meaning like mystery and it’s a it’s a But one of the things that, that separates the Mahi brand from the other ones that Nakao produces is that they actually use, uh, apple yeast. It’s a, it’s a Hana kobo. And we’ve talked a little bit on, on past episodes about a lot of past episodes are culminating on this chat we’re having today. Tim so yes, this is the yeast from the, the Apple Blossom that they’ve been able to cultivate and, and use to, um, to make this sake and to make the other sakes in the Maboroshi line. Nakao also has another line called Seikyo, which you may have almost certainly had before. Really really great stuff top to bottom from this brewery. And this sake that we’re going to talk about today, the one with the clocks, also because it is, as you mentioned, a Maboroshi sake, is also using apple yeast as well.
Timothy Sullivan: 11:41
Awesome. So why don’t you give us the stats for the one with the clocks, Daiginjo? That name just rolls off the tongue. The one with the clocks, Daiginjo.
John Puma: 11:51
I think we buried the lead a little bit here. So this is of course, uh, our Hattan Nishiki episode. So obviously the rice in use here is Hattan nishiki. Who knew? the Seimaibuai, the milling percentage is 50%. As we mentioned, the brewery is Nakao. Apple yeast in use here. the acidity is 1. 3. which is very reasonable. And the sake meter value is a plus five. And Tim, you know, what’s really interesting. We don’t get a lot of these. This is not a Junmai Daiginjo. This is a Daiginjo. This is aruten, as this is a alcohol added. Now, you know, we’ve talked about this many times on the show before alcohol added does not mean it’s like they’re fortifying it with, to make it boozy. It means that they have added some neutral spirits during the earlier part of the brewing process in order to bring out some of the aromas. Is that, is that a good way of putting it, Tim?
Timothy Sullivan: 12:43
Yes, they add a distillate of usually sugarcane, a neutral spirit, on the last day of fermentation of the moromi or the main mash. And then that dissolves additional rice particles and allows, untapped aromas and flavors to come out. So it’s just a, a alternate. Slightly alternate production method that is allowed in Japan and this is a rare Daiginjo. You’re absolutely right. We don’t see as many Daiginjos as Junmai Daiginjos.
John Puma: 13:13
I think there’s a, a big. Junmai sakes are very popular right now. I think it’s a nice way of putting it There’s a big like a thrust towards the pure rice sake And so I think that Aruten is a little bit less a little bit less popular these days But hopefully you can come make a comeback. I think that would be nice because some of those aromas are really really fun
Timothy Sullivan: 13:32
Absolutely. So this has a lot, reading through these stats here, this has a lot of things that are appealing to me for sure. 50 percent rice polish, apple yeast, mild acidity, uh, Daiginjo grade. This is lining up to be a real stunner, I think.
John Puma: 13:52
yes it is.
Timothy Sullivan: 13:53
Well, there’s only one way to find out. Should we dive in and get this in the glass? Okay, so I’m picking up the bottle, getting ready to pour, and I noticed, John, this has a very distinct label. What do you see here?
John Puma: 14:04
Uh, there’s a lot of clocks.
Timothy Sullivan: 14:05
Yes!
John Puma: 14:08
So, um, all right, so, uh, this label is actually primarily white with gold and silver foil inlays. Um, for the most part, the gold and silver foil for the vast majority of this label are using, are used to make little clock dial, little clocks on them to show you, uh, I think every, Just about every time of day possible, perhaps,
Timothy Sullivan: 14:31
I don’t know what time it is looking at this.
John Puma: 14:33
no, no, I do not know what time of day it is, but you know, this is definitely the one with the clocks. There’s a lot of clocks on it. and on the, on the side, and it actually, it says, uh, it takes 72 hours to mill or polish a batch of rice for this sake. Only the best 50 percent is used. And that’s in English, because again, this is a white labeled sake for the Western market. Very, very modern label, I want to say. says, uh, This Daiginjo is delicate, soft, and clean, showing hints of green apple. It should be served Chilled and paired with salads, grilled chicken, sushi, and sashimi. And again, this is all on the front label. This is stuff that usually get kind of like buried in the back, but I think when you’re able to do the whole label for your brand, you can put this information up front and you can put this information front and center. So the potential buyer can look at that and go like, Oh, well, wait a minute. That’s interesting.
Timothy Sullivan: 15:31
Yes. And it also says on the front label, there’s more. It says, Since 2005, Joto Sake has meticulously selected every brewery and every sake we import. This Daiginjo is no exception. So they have a lot of messaging on this front
John Puma: 15:47
Yes, it’s a lot of language and a lot of clocks.
Timothy Sullivan: 15:51
but I want to call your attention to the back label just briefly. There is something really unique and interesting that you don’t see every day and mine has a date stamp on it.
John Puma: 16:03
So does mine.
Timothy Sullivan: 16:05
Yes, what does your date stamp say?
John Puma: 16:07
Uh, my date stamp says 04. 06. Hmm.
Timothy Sullivan: 16:14
OK, mine say 04.09.
John Puma: 16:18
So, uh, this is interesting.
Timothy Sullivan: 16:20
Is it 2004?
John Puma: 16:23
I was, I was recently visiting my family down in Florida and there’s a Total Wines, Total Wines is a very big
Timothy Sullivan: 16:32
Yeah, big corporate wine store
John Puma: 16:33
Yes, Yes, Uh, and they carry a lot of Joto products in their sake section. They actually have a sake section, at least the one near my parents place in Florida. And so I grabbed a bottle of Maboroshi. They had a bottle of Maboroshi there. And it also had a date that was very similar. And I was immediately concerned that perhaps it meant 2004 or perhaps 2006. And then I remembered,
Timothy Sullivan: 17:03
Hmm.
John Puma: 17:04
yes,
Timothy Sullivan: 17:06
What did you remember?
John Puma: 17:07
I remembered that they reset the brewing year when the new emperor took over.
Timothy Sullivan: 17:14
Yes.
John Puma: 17:15
Yes.
Timothy Sullivan: 17:16
A
John Puma: 17:17
all of my concerns melted away.
Timothy Sullivan: 17:20
My sake student, John Puma, gets an A plus for this, this lesson. Yes. So a lot of breweries use the Western calendar year to label their sake, and they’re going to stamp a year. So it might be 23. 09. That would be September 2023, and that’s what you would expect to see, but this says 0409. So, 04 is actually the Emperor’s year, and the current Emperor ascended to the throne in 2019. So, they refer to the Emperor’s year as, that was Reiwa. One. And, uh, we’re in Reiwa four now. So, this was a fresh bottle of sake. You don’t have to worry. And, uh, super fresh, actually. So Reiwa four is the Emperor’s year. And the reason I called that out is because it is pretty rare to see this on the label. So I think that, uh, Nakao Brewery in Hiroshima is pretty traditionalist. Like this is old school labeling, even on their label, their white label bottle.
John Puma: 18:28
Yeah. Yeah. It’s very cool. I think that, you know, again, I was a little concerned. And then I realized that, oh, this must be the emperor’s year. And then I tasted it. And I was like, oh, this is, this is so fresh. It was, I think this is absolutely not from 2004. Because it was still like, oh, what if I’m wrong? But no, I definitely was not wrong. Uh, so
Timothy Sullivan: 18:50
2004, you’d have a real vintage bottle on your hands, collector’s item. All right, let’s get this open and in the glass. All right, let’s give it a smell.
John Puma: 19:07
I, I, I couldn’t help but give it a smell when I was pouring it into the glass.
Timothy Sullivan: 19:10
Hmm, very fragrant.
John Puma: 19:13
Oh my goodness.
Timothy Sullivan: 19:14
It’s intense. The fruitiness is intense.
John Puma: 19:18
it makes me think of, uh, Which is, it’s so juicy in the aroma. It promises a juicy experience to me. A juicy, fruity experience. Nice and ripe and big.
Timothy Sullivan: 19:32
And this is what I would classify as a bit of a fruit salad aroma. You know when you have a super fresh fruit salad and you smell it and there’s melon and grape and pineapple and everything together? It’s kind of like the classic ginjo aroma. This has it in spades.
John Puma: 19:49
Absolutely.
Timothy Sullivan: 19:51
They boiled it down to green apple on the front label. They said this smells like green apple.
John Puma: 19:56
So when I think of Green Apple, I’m thinking like Granny Smith, but that’s so much more, like, acidic. Uh, and I don’t get a lot of that on the nose of this at all. I get all the other fruits. I get subtle apple. But when I think of green apple, I just think of Granny Smith. Maybe they’re referring to a different kind of green apple because Lord knows while we were recording this episode, they’ve probably produced two new strains of apple. I don’t even need to, I don’t even need to drink this. I can just take the aroma at all night. It’s so nice.
Timothy Sullivan: 20:22
Puma. I was thinking the exact same thing. I haven’t taken a sip yet, and I’m just like, I can just keep on smelling this.
John Puma: 20:30
It’s, it’s so pleasant. It’s just, oh, it just makes me happy.
Timothy Sullivan: 20:35
This is right up your, right up your alley.
John Puma: 20:37
Oh, absolutely. Totally.
Timothy Sullivan: 20:40
It’s fruity. It’s concentrated. There’s a lot going on in a dense space in this aroma. Very perfumed, very, expressive. But if they were going for ginjo, mission accomplished, right?
John Puma: 20:56
Yeah. And it’s, you know, I wonder how much of this comes from the fact that it’s Aruten, how much of this is coming from that yeast, how much is it coming from the rice getting out of the way and that, and that, and that 50 percent milling. It’s such a fun question for me. It’s like, all right, where is this coming from exactly? But so, so this aroma is so beautiful though.
Timothy Sullivan: 21:17
Yeah. I think that it’s a combination of everything like Daiginjo, The Aruten style, the alcohol added style, is known to be more aromatic, especially in the Daiginjo category. And I think that that really comes through here. The apple yeast, I mean, come on, that’s known as being super, um, fruit forward as well.
John Puma: 21:40
Yeah, and I think that in the past we’ve talked about when we were discussing Aruten that breweries will often use Daiginjo as their competition sake because it lets them harness those aromas and just go to town and they are, they’re having some fun with this one. It is intense.
Timothy Sullivan: 21:58
Yes. We looked on the Joto website, and they said that this, as we mentioned before, this Daiginjo is sold under the Maboroshi Brand in Japan, and this is one of three Daiginjos they make under that brand. And this is the entry level one, the entry level Daiginjo. There’s two more above this. Can you imagine the aromas on those?
John Puma: 22:21
I mean, I’m willing to learn if somebody wants to show me. Wow. Maboroshi,
Timothy Sullivan: 22:27
if you’re listening,
John Puma: 22:29
Yes. Alright, I think we’ve put it off long enough. I think it’s time to
Timothy Sullivan: 22:33
Okay. Yes.
John Puma: 22:35
Yes.
Timothy Sullivan: 22:35
talking. Start tasting. Here we go. Mmm. Okay. Okay. Okay. I have to say, I get green apple on the palate. It tastes more like green apple than it smells.
John Puma: 22:49
I think so, too. I agree.
Timothy Sullivan: 22:51
It
John Puma: 22:51
And it’s lovely.
Timothy Sullivan: 22:53
it’s very lovely. Yeah. The green apple comes across, for me, on the palate much more than in the aroma. But really lovely, super pleasing on the palate. Not shy. It has some body to it.
John Puma: 23:08
hmm. it is surprisingly full bodied. I kind of thought it was going to be a little, um, dainty. But definitely not.
Timothy Sullivan: 23:17
So the alcohol percentage here is 16%. So just a smidge above average.
John Puma: 23:24
Just a touch. And there is, for me at least, there’s that, there is that tiny little burn at the end there. Tiny little bit of the alcohol burn, but it’s so, so, such a pleasure to sip on. And this is, as you pointed out there, entry level, huh?
Timothy Sullivan: 23:40
This is their entry level Daiginjo. Yeah, yeah. So, uh, Hattanishiki, you know, honestly, I don’t know what role the rice itself plays in this particular flavor. It feels like for me, the yeast is really the star of the show when it comes to producing this uber, uber ginjo aroma. But I do think that Hattanishiki is known for creating elegant styles of sake and, a little bit richer in, in palate. So I think that both of those line up with the sake very, very well. This isn’t a rice that I think is going to produce like super duper clean light sake.
John Puma: 24:24
Hmm. I think that we’ve definitely had other sakes on the show before that featured Hattan Nishiki. The Fukucho moon on the water, that we’ve had on, that, uh, was a blend. It was Hattan Nishiki and Yamada Nishiki. Back when we were talking about sake breweries in Tokyo a long, long time ago, uh, we had the, Joemon from Kinkon, and that uses Hattan nishiki all the way over in Tokyo.
Timothy Sullivan: 24:50
Hmm.
John Puma: 24:51
And that, I think, was like a, uh, it was like a muroka Genshu Junmai, so it was a bigger, a bigger flavor. So this is, it’s an interesting, I want to say this is almost like an interesting rice selection for what they’re doing with this sake, because I think you’re right. It is, um, maybe the yeast is the star of the show here. And that the rice is a little bit richer or bringing something a little bit richer.
Timothy Sullivan: 25:11
Yeah, I think it gives body to this sake. If you have this much perfumed aroma, you don’t want a sake that’s going to be watery and too light. So I think that this, grain from the Hattani Nishiki brings a lot of shinpaku to it, a good amount of weight, and is going to give some heft to the body. So it’s not just all aroma heavy. That’s what I kind of think here.
John Puma: 25:37
so Tim, this is, this is going to be a tricky one. I don’t want to stump you too much, but I think this is gonna be a little bit tricky. What about food?
Timothy Sullivan: 25:47
I was just going to ask you if
John Puma: 25:49
I
Timothy Sullivan: 25:50
had
John Puma: 25:50
beat you to it.
Timothy Sullivan: 25:51
touche. I was just going to ask you if you had any. Memories from your, uh, several trips to Hiroshima, if you think any food you had there would be a good pairing for this sake, because, you know, we like to think about loc locality.
John Puma: 26:10
well, it’s weird because like the local food there is like okonomiyaki and that Is not going to be what I’m going to choose to pair this with. It’s way too, um, way too big. Uh, having said that, I have had, there’s a couple of really nice, uh, tempura shops. in Hiroshima and it’s, I know on its face you think tempura, you may be thinking, uh, it’s greasy, it’s oily, it’s, it’s really good tempura when you get it from a place that’s really, that’s very good at making tempura. Uh, it’s not like that at all. It’s, it’s light and crisp and, and, uh, you know, the outside is very, is, is nice and crunchy. The inside is very soft. It’s really, really, it does a great job of, Accentuating the, the qualities of the ingredient that’s being used of the, you know, so if you’re having like a shrimp or if you’re having like a, I’ve had, I had a pumpkin slice that was, that was tempura. Is that the right,
Timothy Sullivan: 27:10
Well, yeah, that is the verb.
John Puma: 27:13
I had a pumpkin slice that was, Tempura ed, uh, and I was very, I was very skeptical. I was like, this is, I don’t know about this. And it was absolutely fabulous. It was really, really nice.
Timothy Sullivan: 27:24
And that would be great with this, because you’re right, it’s not heavy, it’s not doughy, it’s not greasy. It’s light, crispy, crunchy. And the thing about high end tempura that’s amazing is that the flavor of whatever is inside really comes through.
John Puma: 27:37
Yes, when they’re doing it right, that’s 100%. Um, and, and, you know, and also guys, if you happen to be in Japan and you’re, and you want to experience something like this, it’s also, this can be done very inexpensively. It’s not something like, uh, it’s not going to be like a hundred dollar night. You can have really great tempura for like, honestly, I had one of the most amazing tempura lunches, that I’ve ever had in my life for, under 10 US. That’s absolutely wonderful. Yeah.
Timothy Sullivan: 28:07
amazing. And that’s a really good advice. You don’t have to spend a ton of money to eat like a king in Japan because it is so many good places are really affordable and lunch is, that’s the secret word, like you can go to some of these high end restaurants for their lunch service and for a fraction of the cost, you can get an amazing, amazing meal.
John Puma: 28:27
Yes. And you’re going to leave full. It’s not, uh, don’t think they’re skimping on it because it’s lunch. It’s absolutely wonderful stuff. Um, all
Timothy Sullivan: 28:34
think you’ve cra I think you’ve cracked the code. So, uh,
John Puma: 28:38
I’m going to have to, I’m going to have to test this
Timothy Sullivan: 28:40
Daiginjo
John Puma: 28:40
out. I don’t know. That’s how science works. Right.
Timothy Sullivan: 28:44
Yes, that’s awesome. Well, I, I love that. And, uh, I think next chance I get, I’m going to have a delicious fruity Daiginjo with tempura and test out your theory, but I’m on board. Sold.
John Puma: 28:57
Excellent. Excellent.
Timothy Sullivan: 28:58
All right. Well, John, it was so great to taste with you today. I hope you had fun exploring a little bit about Hattan nishiki. It’s a very interesting rice, and the thing I love about it is that it’s so specific to Hiroshima. And opens the door to studying about that great region. So, uh, whenever you see Hiroshima, check the sake rice and see if you’re sipping on some delicious Hattan nishiki. A special thank you to all of our listeners. Thanks for tuning in today. We hope that you’re enjoying Sake Revolution. And if you are, and you’d like to join us as a supporter, please visit Patreon.com/SakeRevolution. And there you can learn more about joining our Patreon.
John Puma: 29:41
Other ways that you can support Sake Revolution include going to our website and checking out our store. So we have a nice little link to our shop on the website and we sell t shirts, we sell stickers.
Timothy Sullivan: 29:53
And the holidays are coming up.
John Puma: 29:55
And the holidays are coming up so maybe, you know, you want to get a t shirt for the sake fan in your life. Hopefully they know about the show too. That’d be a little weird if you got them a t shirt from a podcast that they’ve never heard of, but hey, you know, or if it gets them to listen to the show, it’s even better. So anyway, please raise a glass of your favorite Hattan nishiki sake. Remember to keep drinking sake and kanpai,