Type
Moriki Shuzo · Mie
Moriki Shuzo Tae no Hana Junmai Kimoto Muroka Nama Genshu "Sublime Beauty"
$41.00
No sales tax — Oregon
Rice
Yamadanishiki (estate grown organic)
Prefecture
Mie
Flavor profileEach scale is our tasting-room read on where this bottle sits between two extremes — dry to sweet, light to full-bodied, soft to acidic, and subtle to aromatic. These are subjective, however, and will shift with food, serveware & temp.
DrySweetBone dry: crisp and clean, almost no perceptible sweetness. Everyone will read "5" as dry.
LightFullVery full: big, dense and viscous, layered and very complex, and/or lots of sweetness, alcohol, umami & age (or all the above). Like a strong cocktail, you'll sip a 5 more slowly.
SoftAcidicAcidic: bright, zippy, noticeable sourness, very often balanced by higher sweetness. Acidity is a key part of this sake's character, and might be heightened with special techniques, yeasts, koji, or CO2 gas.
SubtleAromaticSubtle aroma: if you stick your nose in, you'll get a few quiet notes of fruit, grains, nuts & rice. Aroma isn't a big part of this sake's character. An aromatically quiet sake can still have a powerful flavor, though.
Pairs with
Youtuber Sake Boss likes it with bacon cheeseburgers, and in my experience anything big, bold, and high umami will do the trick. Aged steaks, pepperoni, broccolini pizza, okonomiyaki, takoyaki, yakitori, blue cheese, veggies & warm bagna cauda (or look up Jeremy Fox's recipe for miso bagna cauda), tonkotsu ramen... whatever the case, Sublime Beauty will cut right through and in the finish, reverberate and reanimate the best flavor elements from the dish.
This super-unique, one of a kind sake has high umami, high intensity, high complexity, and evolves over time. When it's fresh from the brewery you'll get notes of dried banana, vanilla, soft pear, brown butter, whole grains, Nag Champa incense, white miso, fresh coconut meat, and crispy roasted chicken. The palate has elements that remind me of kombu dashi-- a bit saline and marine. It's chewy, full, and delicious.
“We’ve been making Challenge 90 since 2003, a year in which my husband had excess rice and wanted to do something with it. It was around the same time that we started to use Yamada Nishiki and the same time that we started to use a traditional yeast mash (kimoto), meaning that that we were going back to our roots, expressing traditional brewing methods in a modern way. The yield of rice we grow without pesticides varies from year-to-year, so when we have one hundred kilogram of extra rice, we make a traditional yeast mash.
In terms of cultivating Yamada Nishiki, Mr. Hase advised us that it’s like a weed, so we should not treat it in the same way as improved rice varieties, but rather grow it stoically without giving it much of anything. Then the true character of Yamada Nishiki will come out. In fact, there were times when I followed this advice to the letter and ended up with poor rice (haha).
Challenge 90 came from the idea that there was no need to polish Yamada Nishiki, which had been grown stoically and was free from any miscellaneous flavours, in order to bring out its full potential.”
Ground shipping is $25 to $40, free at 12 bottles.
Free pickup at our Portland shop. An adult (21+) with photo ID must be present for delivery.
Out of stock. Get an email when it's back
We'll email you once when it's back in stock.
Specifications
Region: Kansai
Type: Junmai
Rice: Yamadanishiki (estate grown organic)
Rice-Polishing Ratio: 90%
ABV: 17%
Starter: Kimoto
SMV: +8
Acidity: 1.9
Yeast: ambient
Size: 720ml
Poured at our Wednesday Flight
- Wednesday Lessons #24: Seimaibuai, Dec 13, 2023
Shipping
Ships to most states, not Alaska, Hawaii or Utah. No sales tax (Oregon). Free Ground shipping at 12 bottles. Pickup at our Portland shop is free.
Pick up in person
Shop open Tu–Sun. Order online and pick up at the shop — 107 SE Washington St. #121, Portland, Oregon.
