Event Venue | Glengarry Victoria Park, 118 Wellesley St West, Auckland |
Event Date | 7:00pm Thursday 14 June |
Last night the Glengarry Wines Malt Club took a page out of The Vapours song book and turned Japanese for the night. Lead by Sam Baker, Brand Manager for Hancocks Wines and Spirits, and Kenny Ariens, Spirit Brand Ambassador also from Hancocks, we worked our way through our recently expanded range of Sake, Japanese Whiskies and Shochu.
First cab off the rank was Sam with Sake! After a quick rundown on the styles of Sake and how it is made (fermented like wine and not distilled like a spirit, which it is sometimes confused with!) it was straight into tasting. Most Sake have a recommendation of serving either cold or warm but there are no hard and fast rules so we tried all four Sake both cold and warm. The difference was startling, right of the bat the Gekkeikan Traditional, made by the oldest and largest Sake brewery in Japan, was lively and a touch rough while cold but when warm the citrus flavours opened and the mouth-feel was fuller and rounder. Our journey through the quality levels made its way to the Houraisen (producer) bi Junmai Daiginjo (style) which was pure and had a complex nose with sweet fruit, much like a wine! When trying this warm the delicate nose was lost and the Sake seemed simple, over powered by the temperature. Houraisen embody the quality focus that can be found in these Sake. From growing their own rice from a specially selected strains of rice suit to the area and high polishing (stripping away the hard-outside husk of the rice grain). A true masterclass in such an interesting category.
Read the full post on our blog, About Wine