ContemplativeFox
Hakutsuru Superior Junmai Ginjō Sake
Other Spirits — Japan
Reviewed
May 8, 2022 (edited May 11, 2022)
Rating: 15/23
I liked the Hakutsuru Junmai Daiginjo pretty well, so I figured I'd try this since it's a third cheaper and I read someone saying it was good with sushi.
N: Melon with some nice complexity. The faintest banana. It's fruity, but restrained with some clean water and complexity.
P: Sweet yet dry, with that nice melon coming through and then giving way to sweet rice. There's lots of clean water and at times a little spice. It's very smooth with no off-notes or excess alcohol flavor. I concur that this pairs very well with sushi.
F: Forgot to take notes on this apparently. I remember it being pretty light and smooth, with a little lingering melon and perhaps other flavors.
- Conclusion -
This is a really solid sake. It's super drinkable, though not all that exciting, I suppose, though there is moderate complexity along the standard lines for a junmai sake.
I'm looking at a 14 or 15 for this and leaning toward a 15. The difference in quality between this and the Daiginjo is really not that large.
After more contemplation, I'm quite comfortable giving this a 15. I wish I had the Daiginjo to compare side by side, but I don't recall the Daiginjo being particularly better. In fact, this being less polished might have left it with more character, making it even better. I can contemplate a 16 for this, though I'm sticking with the 15.
14.0
USD
per
Bottle
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@PBMichiganWolverine Looking forward to hearing your thoughts :) Junmai is a guarantee that it's pure rice wine. Non-junmai sake can include some other sort of neutral alcohol.
@ContemplativeFox i so don’t need another spirit to have, but I went ahead and got this and a Hakkasain 3 yr Snow Junmai ( not the slightest clue what that is, but it sounded interesting)
@PBMichiganWolverine This is probably the one I'd start with (well, and the sho chiku bai nigori). It's nothing amazing, but it tastes good and doesn't have any of the faults that sake in this price range usually has. Gekkeikan Black & Gold is another good place to start. Tozai's Living Jewel and Snow Maiden are also good and affordable. This though, at $14 and being a Junmai Ginjō, is hard to beat.
@ContemplativeFox good. I don’t feel as bad now ( although, not sure I felt that bad anyway…so, it’s all good). If you were to recommend one sake, which would it be?
@ContemplativeFox good. I don’t feel as bad now ( although, not sure I felt that bad anyway…so, it’s all good). If you were to recommend one sake, which would it be?
@PBMichiganWolverine It turns out there were already other sake reviews. I feel like it has a similar enough vibe that it makes sense to include here
@ContemplativeFox @Bourbon_Obsessed_Lexington unfortunately, I think I started that with my blatant disregard on posting a sake review ( or just naive enough not to know that a sake is fermented and not distilled )
@Bourbon_Obsessed_Lexington Hahaha! I actually have a backlog of sake reviews to post, but there aren't Distiller entries for them yet
Seems like we’re about 3 weeks out from a comment that you (might be falsely attributing this one) swore you wouldn’t be drawn into tackling sake