What is the nicest Japanese Sake that isn't too expensive?!
I can buy sake from my local Tesco, but I don't think this will be anything like a proper Japanese drink (In my experience, never trust a British company to replicate another country's food or drink properly) and as such I want to import some from Japan.
However, since I've never tried it I don't know which is the nicest, or indeed what the difference is! I don't want it to be too expensive (since I mightn't even like it!) and I don't want to have to order a crate of the stuff.
I would be much obliged if someone could give me their opinion on which Japanese sake I should go for :)
Answers:
Best Answer - Chosen by Voters
you are asking a impossiable question
first there are different grade of sake
Honjozo-shu, Ginjo-shu, Daiginjo-shu, Junmai, Junmai Ginjo, Junmai Daiginjo,
there are also namasake(unfilter/unpasteurized) within each grade, just like wine each grade have their own favor and texture, price range can from ~$10/bottle of Junmai up to $270/bottle of Junmai Daiginjo.
Different grade of sake have diffrent dry/sweetness, you can almost look at it as drinking wine -- Different food pairing, serving temp etc. the only different it you do not pair sake with rice dish (and yes sushi being one of them), look at it this way what is the point of drinking sake (rice wine) and eating rice at the same time.
my advice to you is try it out, by the way it sound like you have never try sake before, do try out the one made by British company first, most of those have been adjust to "local" taste while mantain the tranditional favor.
There are so many kinds of sake in Japan, some are good to drink hot or chilled, and some are sweet, bitter, or sour.
And it is very hard to choose right one for a particular person because of his or her liking.
The link below may give more in-depth information about sake.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sake
I find that I prefer the unfiltered Nigori sake. To my fairly blunt palate, Nigori has more flavour associated with it. My favorite so far is Sho Chiku Bai Nigori sake- as an unfiltered sake, it is a cloudy white. I tend to drink it cold-ish on special occasions.
Yes...sake