Kikusakari Zenkouji

Wow, another great sake from these guys. Pours as dark as almost any sake I’ve previously encountered. The color is almost an apple juice shade of yellowish-gold. The still body looks moderately syrupy, leaving some nice legging on the cup. The aroma is sweet, as this style should be, with strong notes of koji, lemon chiffon, rice pudding, and a touch of cinnamon. There is a mild alcoholic heat to the nose, but not anything that is offensive. The flavor shows alot of koji funkiness, with its signature twang showing stronger than normal. The lemony tartness works surprisingly well with moderate cinnamon and tapioca creaminess. Medium-full bodied, sweet and silky smooth, it finishes with just a slight tickle in the back of the throat. Overall, this is an excellent sake for satisfying the sweet tooth.

There is not much of an aroma here, a slight bit of mineral, a tad bit of subtle spiciness. The flavor is slightly bland with very light subtle flavors, tastes very clean, with an earth mineral quality. Not sure what to make of this as I have not had a lot of experience with sake. I really think this might need some regional cuisine to really bring it to its full potential.

375ml bottle from DragonStout, Kikusakari Zenkouji, blue bottle. The pour was flat, off clear color, not a lot going on there, my first rated Sake, not my first sake, though, for sure. The aroma was vanilla tapioca pudding with some sort of a spice that was off. The flavor followed, not a lot more to comment on beyond the notes on aroma. A nice change of pace, but if I hadn’t done much more than this among the sakes of Japan, I would dismiss them all for the sake of beer. Thanks, Brian, for this neat experience.