From Brasil's Indústria Agrícola Tozan - romantic name, no? Located in Campinas, near São Paulo, they do seem to produce a full range, including a namazake, a junmai, a ginjo, and even a "karakuti". This item though, not on the website! Still, from the label it is apparent that it is aru-ten, and from the price, I'm assuming it's the entry-level offering. Now, my contacts in the Brasilian sake world (yes, they exist) tell me this doesn't producer doesn't rate highly even amongst Brasilians. To my taste, I found it a bit heaty, though clean and tasting more like rice than just alcohol. However, it also seemed to enter a notable state of decline not long after opening. Will have to find alternative uses for the remainder.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Azuma Kirin
From Brasil's Indústria Agrícola Tozan - romantic name, no? Located in Campinas, near São Paulo, they do seem to produce a full range, including a namazake, a junmai, a ginjo, and even a "karakuti". This item though, not on the website! Still, from the label it is apparent that it is aru-ten, and from the price, I'm assuming it's the entry-level offering. Now, my contacts in the Brasilian sake world (yes, they exist) tell me this doesn't producer doesn't rate highly even amongst Brasilians. To my taste, I found it a bit heaty, though clean and tasting more like rice than just alcohol. However, it also seemed to enter a notable state of decline not long after opening. Will have to find alternative uses for the remainder.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Eating well in Brasil
Yet another trip that incorporated both exercise and the gaining of weight. First stop after deplaning, Ostradamus on Florianopolis.
Although, yes, we ate the famous oysters, this local dish, berbigão, was definitely the highlight - literally hundreds, maybe thousands of cockles, stewed with potatoes and served with rice, farofa (powdered manioc), and also what I can best describe as a manioc-based poi. How DO they open all those cockles though? Hard work. Delicious!
Big avocado! Must be the humidity/gravity/timezone.
Biker's repast of fried polenta, palm hearts salad, and caipirinha.
Rice fields near Ilhota. I don't know what the breed of rice is in this area, but it was very tasty.
Bananas near Luiz Alves. Acres, and acres of banana plantations.
I'd always imagined chicken coops to be smellier.
Oddly, I enjoyed the Peruvian food better at the restaurant literally around the corner from my friend's place than I did in Peru... well, I exaggerate a little, but... and yes, this is what you think it is.
Porto Belo may not be up to much, but it does host some fantastic baked goods.
How did it take a week to actually eat some proper beef? Our celebratory post-cyclethon dinner.
Washed down with some surprisingly decent Brasilian wine. Not particularly interesting, but not bad, not "fake", not aspiring to any international stylings, which was nice.
Moqueca, Brasilian fish stew. The coconut milk and corander had me a bit confused, with the right level of heat this could have passed for Thai (but brought back to center with some local chili concoctions.)
And finally, last meal, a family barbecue, churrasca, in the built-in fire pit... must get me one of these.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Cachaça
On a mountain-biking (300 km in 3 days - we learned later on that it was intended as a 6 day ride) trip in the south of Brasil, in the state of Santa Catarina, we overnighted in the town of Luiz Alves, a municipality with about 9,000 residents and 25 cachaça distilleries. A solid ratio, and a fine place to kick off a hard day's riding..
My riding partner was not so keen on this liquor, but a glass at dinner changed his mind - smooth and delicious.
Spezia was recommended by the owner of the hotel we stayed in, and despite it being a sleepy Monday morning at 7... ok, 9, they rustled up someone other than the puppy to show us around. 1km down, 120km to cover today.
The cane fields surround the town, not so obvious amidst all the banana plantations, but nonetheless, locally grown. After the juice is pressed, it is collected in these large open fermentation vessels.
The only still on the property, but a hefty size.
Aging room for the young cachaça, aged 1-2 years and intended for mixed drinks.
The barrel room - oak barrels, most printed with the names of various Bourbon distilleries, but apparently not previously used. Didn't quite understand this. The room isn't exactly open to the elements, but it was very warm and humid.
Of course, alcohol to clean makes sense, but it didn't inspire much confidence.
Which was, of course, very, very wrong. DELICIOUS, 15 years old, smooth and textured, full of flavour, including a mild hint of vanilla, from the oak no doubt. Wow.
Interesting, informative tour, but we had a lot of cycling ahead of us this day, so really we had to push off, but wait, what's this? A tasting bar??
Well, you can guess what happened next. Only the lack of storage space prevented the strapping of barrels to the bikes - only a single bottle of that lovely 15 year old elixir. The light weaving along the dirt paths that morning suggest it was for the best.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Ozeki Komatsu Tatewaki Junmai Taruzake
If there's an industrial-sized brewer whose products I have a soft corner for, it's Hyogo's Ozeki. And products like this are proof that even the big guys take the time to do some interesting things. Semaibuai of 73%, SMV +5, acidity 1.6, and 15% abv, this is a full throttle taruzake, with strong sugi spice on the nose and palate. However, underlying the cedar notes is a clear, sweet, and lightly tangy brew with pleasant mouthfeel and finish. The sugi, I think, almost can't help but being dominant though, and I can't drink more than a small glass of this at a go. But that's hardly much of an unbiased critique, as to date, Taruhei is the only brewer whose taruzake I would even consider buying repeatedly, especially the Sumiyoshi.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Sake-beer
A homebrew chimaera, an amber ale - crystal malt and hallertauer hops, but without the ale yeast. Instead, #7 sake yeast. Unlike ale yeasts which have fermented reasonably robustly in our basement, and even more unlike the sake batches which have, unsurprisingly, been even more vigorous, this simply refused to budge. Therefore, I brought the fermenter to the upstairs, where it was a good 10-15 degrees F warmer.
There it proceeded politely, though I was very much given to concerns over accentuating the yeast's melon characteristics. Bottled after two weeks and given a further three weeks, the first assessment was particularly fruity on the nose, much more strawberry than melon. But now, after another month, these components have receded, leaving a nicely balanced, modestly hopped, subtly fruited light ale, with light caramel and dusty cocoa notes originating from where I do not know. I was admittedly lax with the chemistry, so I won't bother reporting specific gravities and such, but it doesn't taste particularly strong, maybe 3-4%??
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Tedorigawa Daiginjo Kokoshu
This is a special, small-batch (only 750kgs of rice, milled to 40%) sake from Ishikawa Prefecture's Tedorigawa, completely te-zukuri, i.e., handmade, and aged for 3 years at low temperatures. The end result is a deeply satisfying (and expensive) brew, very clean, mineral and melon nose. sweet, round, but very high mid-palate acidity, long tingly finish. A shame it's so dear!
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Urakasumi Junmai
A long-ish hiatus due to brewing activities and a quick visit to the UK. Oddly, sake consumption was almost zero over the past month. But, post-earthquake, I did head up to Mitsuwa to pick in search of some Tohoku products, including this junmai from Miyagi Prefecture's Urakasumi. They fared better than others, but nonetheless, all could use a boost from export markets. Couldn't go far wrong with this, a solid brew - mana musume milled to 65%, SMV +2, acidity 1.3, and 15.5% abv. Prominent rice character, full, but with a lightly rough bitterness to finish, sweet and a bit nutty too.
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