Bek Se Ju (100-Year Old) Sake

Brewed by Kook Soon Dang Brewery
Style: Saké - Futsu-shu
, South Korea

Serve in Guinomi, Masu, Ochoko

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Bottle… Clear straw-colored sake with no legs. I don’t know what herbs were used in the brewing of this sake, but they all meld together to create an aromatic component that smells smack-dab like southern-style boiled peanuts. There is mild ethanol here. Medium to full-bodied with a buttery mouthfeel. The flavor is sweet and tart; fruity and peanuty. Finishes tangy and peanuty with warming alcohol. Odd, but fairly nice and certainly unique. Kudos to SHIG for selflessly shipping this to Florida from South Korea!

Bottle: Poured a hazy yellow with pink edges, head was white bubble. Aroma was herbal, floral, and some spices. Taste was dry earth, some floral, and hints of ginseng.

bottle thanks to SHIG, first points of RBSH2! Pours a light rose and golden hue with thin bubbles hugging the edges of the glass. Aroma is big dry white wine, herbal notes of flower petals and ginseng. Flavor is very mellow and smooth throughout with cinnamon and vanilla flavors mixing with mildly sweet floral honey and ending with only a hint of booze. Not bad at all

14% ABV. Initially served cold but much better just below room temperature... Strong and pungent ginseng and herbs in the nose along with some alcohol vapours. It’s sort of sharp and a bit muddled to me - like walking into a spice shop; the overwhelming melange of spice. Clear blond-golden body sticks to the sides of the glass but leaves no legs on the glass. Sweetness up front is quickly joined by the ginseng and herbal character that briefly overshadows leaving the sweetness and an emerging peppery aftertaste that becomes more pronounced as it warms. Strong nutty and fruity notes emerge also as the flavour develops. Medium-thick texture like a thick mead. It’s velvety smooth and has strong alcohol warming without ever seeming hot. Initial sips of this were completely shocking to me. I didn’t go into it with any notion of what to expect and cold, I found the spices to be so overpowering as to be off-putting, but after allowing my glass to sit during the meal and returning to it as it warmed, I found the flavours to be quite interesting and engaging and certainly quite unlike anything I had tried before. I’m not sure I necessarily liked it, but I did not dislike it either and will be likely to try it again at some point. Wine glass. Initially at fridge temperature but allowed to approach room temperature. Bottle (BCLS at Kingsgate, Sep-07).

Is this medicinal or what??? I was not expecting the ginseng flavor. I tried this in a Japanese restaurant and thought I was ordering a "dry" saki. My mistake. Brought it home and gave and extra try but still too much ginseng flavor...

Served cold
Yellow color. Delicate herbal aroma of ginseng, dusty. Mellow texture in the beginning, dryer and more alcoholic later; delicate ginseng and fruity flavor.

Clear light beige color, no legs. The nose at first is very odd, I don’t know how to put my finger on it. Sourdough, pomegranite rind, anise, faint alcohol, earthy and yeasty like amish friendship bread, corn, wheat & buckwheat flour. EXTREMELY nutty. The flavor is a bit sweet and sour at first but across the whole palate the alcohol takes on the largest role. I didn’t find it medicinal at all. The finish is malty and has a lot of vigor and earthy pronounced rice. If all other sakes are gentil fragrant feminine milled white rices, this is the burley brown rice with a mustacio sipping whiskey. There’s some tart koji that only shows itself on every 10th sip or so and makes you cringe. The other 9 sips make me furrow my brow to try to understand. While I don’t see a need to demolish the rating on this based on the obscurity of flavors; I actually found this a good change of pace from traditional japanese sakes, but am happy than only this or maybe a few others follow this tradition. Another weird thing I noticed about this sake is how similar it is to gongbao jiding. Marinate some chicken in soy sauce, rice wine and cornstarch. Fry tons of peanuts and add the chicken mixture, some veggies. There you have it. The whole flavor profile of this sake. Minus the sichuan pepper and chiles of course. Here’s to the highest rating for the worst rated sake on ratebeer (to date)!

No head (still). Body is clear medium yellow. Aroma is notes of pumpkin seeds, alcohol, and grain. Flavor is moderately sweet, lightly acidic. Finish is lightly sweet, lightly acidic, slightly husky. Light to medium body, watery texture, flat carbonation, lightly alcoholic. That distinctive pumpkin seed smell is just not very attractive, and there isn't much else going on. Weird urine color. Somewhat grainy aftertaste.

Burly. The multi herbal character of this drink is the first to hit you. The flavors are also very resinous with little to no resemblance to Japanaese sake. I tried to drink the entire bottle at one sitting (Jen was out with the first sip) but I could not. Plenty alcoholic even served very cold. I noticed my throat constricting so I stopped.

UPDATED: APR 20, 2004 (375ml bottle) First off - I have to say this is some %$&@ed up stuff! Included in the ingredients are: Ginseng, Licorice, Arrowroot, Cinnamon and Koji (for which a websearch finds pics of Japanimation?). It pours a pale apple juice colour and has the aroma of turnip and a cashew nut tin's liner. I'd had this for the first time a couple of nights ago so I know what it tastes like... so right now I can only stare at it. Its now been 2 minutes of staring, and I have the courage. Okay, I balked. Staring some more. God, this aroma sets off my gag reflexes. It says "Served Chilled" but I already know that it doesn't taste good that way - so I'm going to heat it up! Yah, like sake. Then it'll taste good. No, no it really doesn't. I am a fool. At 32 Celcius, this tastes like heated wax paper. After two sittings, only 300ml left to drink – back into the fridge this goes…