Today we wanted to present two new products, two super fresh namazakes that took us directly to the heart of the breweries at the time of their tasting. Those of you who have had the chance to visit a kura certainly have this fruity and enveloping fragrance engraved forever deep in their pear-shaped cortex*. This delicate scent can be found with pleasure at home every time a bottle is opened, but nothing is more powerful than a namazake to trigger this reminiscence.
(*the piriform cortex is the part of the brain largely responsible for olfactory memory - yes, you can also learn essential things here!).

ABOUT NAMAZAKE
Namazake is a sake that has not been pasteurized at the end of production. We had discussed this subject in a previous communication by defining these few terms:

- Hi-ire: pasteurization of sake itself
- Ja-kan: sake pasteurized by transfer from one vat to another through a heated tube
- Bin-Kan: bottled pasteurized sake
- Namazake: unpasteurized sake
- Namachozo : sake aged in vats, without pasteurization, then pasteurized before bottling.
- Namazume: sake pasteurized before maturing in vats, then pasteurized just before bottling.
- Hiya-oroshi: a namazume sake that is offered seasonally, especially in autumn.

THE SAKES
With Amabuki Ichigo Kobo Nama and Shichiken Namanama, we are talking about unpasteurized sake, pure namazakes. This is also an opportunity to inform you about the way our products are transported and stored: all our sake is imported from Japan in containers refrigerated at 8°C and is then stored at 8°C until it is shipped. The time of routing by parcel being short, you will be able to consume them ultra-fresh.

1. AMABUKI ICHIGO KOBO NAMA
It is produced by Amabuki Shuzo, a Kyushu brewery that has made its reputation around the extraction of yeast from its direct natural environment, in this case from flowers. In the case of Ichigo Kobo Nama, the yeast was isolated from strawberry flowers (Ichigo = strawberry, Kobo = yeast). Of course, one shouldn't expect a direct link between this yeast and the sudden appearance of strawberry flavors in sake, but this is what Amabuki Shuzo has endeavored to do, and quite successfully.

On tasting, it is indeed a namazake, the nose is super lively, fresh, fruity, marked by red fruits, strawberry, citrus and rice powder. In the mouth the attack is disturbing, because it is lively while being supple and smooth. It quickly and generously envelops the palate. It then evolves on more power towards fruits such as apricot and apple. A great amplitude and sensations of roundness and smoothness. But it is also lively and fresh on spices. The finish is long and tense, on a beautiful bitterness, which adds to the sensation of freshness and purity.
39€ - 72cl - alc. 16.5% vol.

Sake and food pairing: we tasted it in association with a marinated sea bass sashimi with a homemade ponzu, customized with pomegranate (soy sauce, rice vinegar, yuzu juice, fresh pomegranate juice). But Ichigo Kobo Nama is also pure pleasure tasted fresh, alone as an aperitif.

2. SHICHIKEN NAMANAMA
With Shichiken Namanama, it is really the freshness and purity of spring water that we find in full. You certainly know that Yamanashi Meijo is located in the village of Hakushu, at the foot of the southern Japanese Alps, a region ultra-reputed for the quality of its water to the point that a great name in whisky like Suntory has settled there.

When tasting, it is around this sensation of great purity that Namanama is built. One finds a nose punctuated by fruits, apple and tropical fruits with pleasant lactic notes (we are on a Junmaï). In mouth, it is very fresh, it is juicy but remains round and creamy. The finish is lively, with a nice acidity and bitterness. It is clear, supple and light.
36€ - 72cl - alc. 16% vol.

Sake and food pairing: we tasted it on its own and then simply accompanied by a toast of fromage frais, a simple but successful pairing, a nice balance between freshness and smoothness. We can easily imagine it on raw and fresh preparations such as sashimi or carpaccio, or on more marked preparations with umami such as fish stock.

THE LIST OF OUR NAMAZAKES
To be found in the section "Nigori - Nama - Happo sakes":
Raifuku Nama Genshu - Sugata Nama Genshu - Tsukino Katsura - Kikka - Fukuzake Nigori Nama - Kinokuniya Namacho - Stella Muroka Nama