Sake and Sumo

Recovering from last night's festivities with J. and S., R. and I are now in Osaka - just taking it easy. After a walk around the Osaka castle, we returned to our hotel room to watch day 13 of the May Basho - it has been an excellent sumo tournament, some big upsets, and we were really pulling for more. No disappointments today - our favorite, Ama, won again, and Kotooshu, the Bulgarian Ozeki, knocked off his second consecutive Yokozuna... good times...

Anyways, we watched today's matches while drinking some interesting sakes, all chilled, but not cold.


"Awash!" sparkling junmai sake... sweet and yeasty. very smooth, round bubbles, quite soft and very light... no wonder, only 7%... this goes down too easy, like a cream soda. Interesting flavours of elderflower and anjou pear... very ripe.


Suishin junmai daiginjo, a classic representative of the soft Hiroshima style. Although the nihonshudou is +1.5, this is really fairly sweet. 17% alcohol. Definite mustiness on the nose, sea breeze, brine, grass. Slightly nutty, hints of caramel on the palate. The finish is a bit edgy, a bit prickly. It is sweet, but not from fruit... this is rice sweetness, and quite delicious.


Hakusan junmai daiginjo, from Ishikawa prefecture. Not as interesting as the Suishin, but still pleasant. 15% alcohol. More dry. A light copper colour, quite pretty. A bit of mustiness on the nose, but that fades, replaced by a bit of canteloupe and mint. Also, hints of parmesan reggiano, nicely aged. Not too much fruit on the palate, but quite dry, soft, slightly salty and bitter finish, which I like. Went nicely with Pringles...


After the matches, we headed out to Dotombori to try to find some pizza. These Asian adventures are hard on R., proper vegetarian food isn't so easy to find. But, find pizza we did. Big day tomorrow, we have an appointment with a sake brewery tomorrow!