52 Day Moromi Junmai Ginjo Namazake + New Project

52 Day Moromi Junmai Ginjo Namazake + New Project 五拾弐日もろみ 純米吟醸生

A new and excellent sake discovery! Photos with Paku’s new iPhone. Great label design. New, and secret Peko project!

I discovered this incredible namazake with an even more incredible name from my favorite brewery (that doesn’t seem to want to be interviewed). Fifty-two day moromi. (I think that means that the mash (moromi) is fermented for 52 days, rather than the usual 30 or so. This sake seems to me to be of biblical proportions — or perhaps I just imbibed too much. This is another genteihin (限定品), or ‘limited product’.

Then Paku got a sexy new iPhone 3G and I am trying it out for foodie photos. It is very convenient and takes pretty good photos.

Furosen (不老泉)

Furosen is the brand name of perhaps my favorite sake brewery. The name means something like ‘Fountain of Youth’, but not quite.

52 Day Mash (五拾弐日もろみ)

The other words state that this sake is fermented in a wooden vat (木樽) and that it is a limited edition　product (限定品).

52 Day Mash (五拾弐日もろみ)

Junmai Ginjo Nama (純米吟醸生)

This sake is nama, meaning that it is unpasteurized. At the bottom is the name of the brewery (Uehara Shuzo), the address (Shiga Prefecture) and the brewery’s stamp (red).

52 Day Moromi
As you pour this sake into an uncolored glass the first thing you notice is the color which is a rich ‘ogon-iro‘, or golden color. Most sake is not actually colorless but this is quite golden.

Next you get the bouquet, from a good distance away too. Like a lot of premium modern sake, 52 Day Moromi’s bouquet is fruity.

52 Day Moromi is namagenshu (生原酒), it is unpasteurized and not diluted with water. As it is nama (unpasteurized), the flavor is quite fruity and very complex, very natural. As it is genshu (undiluted), the alcohol content is a whopping 17-18%!

The Taste
One the front end, the taste is rather soft and though this sake is plenty potent, it is decidedly delicate.

By the time you are at the back end of this one though, it is completely different. While still fruity the high powered aspect asserts itself and your mouth is hit with a full on, full bodied blast of what makes a good nama genshu, nama genshu. Raw and unrestrained, yet refined and somehow retaining its delicacy. Quite a combination!

Peko’s New Project

Then, a few days ago, I started another little project. This photo is the very first thing for the world to see. Paku doesn’t even know what it is all about. Stay tuned!

Me and My Beagle

This is the very top of the ‘大’ on the mountain where the Daimonji character bonfire is done. That’s Kyoto down below. Daimonji is Higashiyama, or the East Mountains and off in the distance are the Western Hills.