Rihaku (Dreamy Clouds) Junmai Tokubetsu Nigori Sake

Brewed by Rihaku Shuzo Co., Ltd.
Style: Nigori
Matsue-shi, Shimane Prefecture, Japan

Has a medicinal overtone if not served very cold. Mild flavor, lacking character, except at the end when the cloudy rice lees add a very pleasant sweetness, and thicken the mouth-feel.

Chilled bottle. Cloudy white pour with sticky legs. Moderate coconut and melons aroma. Light to medium body with a creamy texture. Medium green apple and rice flavor with a medium sweet finish of moderate duration.

Pours a pearl color. Aroma of coconut and plums. Taste of rice and...well, that is about it. Hints of some other things I can’t describe. Finish is balanced but alcoholic. Feeling some intoxication from this but not a particularly pleasant experience.

Fairly fresh bottle, probably early-mid 2006, 300mL, purchased from Belfast, ME co-op and consumed on 9/3/06.
This one didn’t have nearly as much sediment as most nigoris I’ve seen, which created a less milky, more glossy pearl-like appearance. Light enamel and light-cream tones. Still in the glass, and creating some moderate legs.
Very nutty smell, much moreso than I’ve seen in a nigori, without the extreme tropical-fruitiness. Coconut-pineapple is still apparent, inevitably, but it’s matched in stride by a sticky rice-sugar and light, dry, rice sharpness. Alcohol is well-concealed in the aroma. Aroma strength is high, but I must say I had to really stretch to pull many complexities out of it.
Soft and comforting is the palate, with a growing rice dryness that seems to climax on the finish. I expect harsh alcohol or a heavy sharp-graininess, but it never comes. Rather a light milky-pineapple flavor up front, with warm honey-walnut paste sitting bluntly on the end. Very neutral, fruit-skin-like notes, like extremely unripened pear/nectarine perhaps. Strong nuttiness, rather chewy at times, but also, with the lower amount of sediment, it does seem a touch watery in places. A light dose of white and black pepper further dries the finish.

Gave the bottle a good shake to mix up the sediment. Cloudy off-white body. Aroma is anise coconut, peppery spice and some alcohol. Palate was much smoother than previous Nigori, this was a little thicker and the texture reminded me of mineraly water. Mellow tastes of banana, coconut and anise with a warming alcohol and pepper finish.

300mL Bottle: Pours a lighty foggy dusk color with speckles on the glass. The nose is spicy and peppery with sweet melon and berry notes, slightly musky with moderate alcohol. Bright and earthy, moderate body. Fairly neutral flavor, balanced finish, long tail. Not a bad sake, just not my favorite. I’m not a big nigori fan anyways.

I love the names of the sakes and the bottles are usually interesting but the contents are unappealing to me. Pours a hazy white like a liqueur. Aroma holds hints of coconut. Syrupy in the mouth. Flavor is of distilled alcohol and not much else. Bad drink.

More "sake" smelling. Creamier mouthfeel. Nice, sweet alcohol hit and a bit of alocohol at the back of the throat. Coconut milk with alcohol. Very dry.