Type
Tamagawa Junmai Ginjo Namazake "Ice Breaker" (2025 vtg)
$32.00
No sales tax — Oregon
Rice
Nihonbare (Shiga)
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.
LightFullFull: rich and mouth-coating, lots of presence and intensity, usually higher in sweetness, alcohol, age, and/or umami. A powerful sake you can't help but notice.
SoftAcidicSoft: the most common degree of acidity for sake. A little bit of acidity to give it structure and keep the flavor refreshing, but acidity isn't an important part of its identity.
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
Very versatile due to the higher umami content and the gentle aging, which makes it both savory and fruity. It pairs beautifully with fully savory dishes (mushroom risotto, roasted chicken) as well as sweet-savory, which highlights its sweetness. For example, it was fantastic on a whole grain toast with ricotta and persimmon. If you’ve never had Gjusta’s persimmon burrata olive oil toasts…that might be one to seek out and have with it! Also think Fall salads (dried cranberries, nuts, whole grains, bitter veg) and bitter greens (roasted kale, broccolini, radicchio) dressed with balsamic or a soft vinaigrette, which the sake will serve to temper– removing bitterness and letting the umami and sweetness of the vegetable shine through.
Or if you think “umami and fermentation,” it’s hard to miss on Tamagawa pairings in general. This is my ace in the hole for smoked sprats, pickled herring, dried fish and charcuterie, aged cheeses, deviled eggs and smorrebrod, & pickles of all kinds.
One particularly memorable pairing involved molasses bread, fresh cheese, apricot jam,
olive oil and salt. Another: fresh made, lacto-fermented sunflower seed cheese!
2026: This year we're in full brown butter mode! Not as dry, oily, or funky as it has been...great regardless. Reads a little more properly of a junmai ginjo, or is it just me who's changed? Notes of ultra ripe banana, a little melon, fleshy and a bit fatty like guanabana or creamy tropical fruits. Caju! I'm really looking forward to letting this one age and evolve a bit, seeing where it goes. -Nina
An unusually bold, earthy, complex namazake which is aged at room temperature for a year and a half before its eventual release in Summer. Ice breaker is so named for its ability to be served over ice: the rich, concentrated flavors withstand the addition of ice, but like all of toji Philip Harper's sake, it is also delicious served warm. On the nose, Ice Breaker is earthy, with raw macadamia nuts and sunflower seeds leading the way-- fresh coriander and grassy notes lending freshness.
From the brewery: "Ice Breaker alleviates the heat and humidity of the Japanese summer, just as nihonshu breaks the ice in social situations. Deep-flavoured, spicey unpasteurized genshu over ice is both refreshing and satisfying, and the intricate variations of flavour and aroma as the temperature and alcohol level shifts are endlessly fascinating. The sake world's first penguin!"
Tamagawa’s house style is very unique, and might be best characterized by their committment to ambient temperature sake aging even when the sake is nama (unpasteurized) as it is here. Tamagawa’s style is full bodied, robust, often genshu (undiluted) and always with a very umami-forward, concentrated, somewhat briney character. It follows that their interpretation of natsuzake is true to this house style, embracing the tradition of enjoying whisky on the rocks! Ice Breaker encourages you to drink it iced, so that the heady concentration can dilute and evolve over the course of the drink. (I like a squeeze of lemon, too!)
2024 notes: On the palate, it is classic Tamagawa style: soft, rich, deep, earthy, but with some fruit for levity: fresh apricot, red apple, bosc pear. An oily, tahini and sunflower seed butter aftertaste, as well as the wildness of fresh grasses, grass seeds, turned earth, and fallen leaves brings you back to earth.
Your case:
$30 flat-rate case shipping (up to 12 bottles) — the more you add, the less per bottle. Per federal requirements, an adult (21+) with photo ID must be present to receive the delivery.
Sake Club members: $20 shipping (up to 12 bottles) with your club bottles About the clubs
Specifications
Region: Kansai
Class: Namazake
Style: Namazake
Rice: Nihonbare (Shiga)
Rice-Polishing Ratio: 60%
ABV: 17.5%
Yeast: Kyokai #9
Size: 500ml
Shipping
Available nationwide to states and counties that permit alcohol. No sales tax (Oregon). Flat-rate case shipping; in-store pickup available.
Pick up in person
Shop open Tu–Sun. Order online and pick up at the shop — 107 SE Washington St. #121, Portland, Oregon.
