Dassai Sake @ Kumo Izakaya

Dassai 23 - The best Sake you will ever drink.

So recently, Snow Crab Nebula got a real treat when we were invited by Dassai Sake, an ultra premium offering out of Japan's remote and mysterious Yamaguchi Prefecture to try three of their Sakes at the absolutely fabulous Kumo restaurant in Fitzroy.

This evening was full of food, fun and the finest Sake I have ever tasted.

And I mean fine both in terms of its incredible Quality, but also the fineness of the rice used to make it.See sake is rice wine, but unlike wine made from grapes, you can't just press the grapes, ferment it and hope for the best. Rice won't ferment unless it Is milled (that is ground) And then seeded with a special kind of mold to extract sugars.

The finer you can mill the rice, the better this process works, And the more impurities you get rid of. So a really fine mill produces a really good sake.The mill rate of a sake, or the percentage out of 100 of the original rice that is left after milling, is therefore very important.Now a good premium sake might have a mill rate of 80.

 

Dassai's finely milled rice results in amazing Sake.

Dassai sake put their mill rates in the name of each kind they make, and their number *start* at 50 and get better from there.The difference between Dassai and a normal sake is therefore incredible.

 

We got to sample the interesting Dassai 50 Sparkling, the exceptional Dassai 39 and the absolutely amazing Dassai 23.

Dassai 50 Sparkling - Better than a Moet IMO.

Starting with the Dassai 50, a sparkling 'nigori' or 'cloudy' Sake. This was probably my least favorite of the three on offer, but was still amazing. It was described as the champagne of their range, and the bottle and Gundam Wing esque future cork in it gave it a Moët by way of Mikasa vibe.

 

Dassai 50 Sparkling - A revelation in the glass: "Can this really be Sake?"

 

The liquid that came out was milky white (because of the fine rice particles still in it) and fizzy. It looked sort of like Calpis soda but it tasted like a rich, astringent, white wine. It had only a little of the sweetness of the other Dassai sakes, but it cut through a fiery meat dish like a katana through flesh. 

 

Dassai 39 - My personal favourite sake.

 

Next up was the Dassai 39. This one was a revelation, it was far smoother and sweeter than the 50, but was robust enough that it went well with richer dishes than the far more delicate and nuanced 23. The taste of the 39 was almost candy sweet, but surprisingly, was not at all cloying. Its nose was all spun sugar and fresh berries. The taste was so clean and pure, and yet strong enough that the fried dishes and meat that came with it did not overpower it. Sign me up for several cases!

 

Finally there was the Dassai 23. It was like nothing else I have ever had. The nose was all melon and rich summer fruits, but the plate was so subtle and nuanced that it almost felt like a crime to do anything but sit and sip it in quiet contemplation. The 23 was a drink that stood out for me among anything that I have ever had. It would convert anyone, even the most hardened of wine snobs, to drinking sake, and really should shoot to the top of the 'must try' lists of everyone reading this.

Getting a bottle might be hard though, as for any of Dassai's exceptional bottles, prices start high and availability is super low. Do yourself a favour and try any or all of them if you can.

And thank you to Kumo, Dassai Sake and Sake Master, Samurai and exceptional host Andre Bishop for an amazing night.

 

A review of the fabulous Kumo, where our dinner was held, will follow shortly.