Smoothly: Summer Sake

Theme music for this post: Dream Ten by Liquid Mind

"Smoothly" is an adverb in the English language and it comes from the root word "smooth," an adjective used to describe something free of unevenness of surface, not rough. The Japanese rendering of the word in " Japanese - English" is pronounced "su-moooz" without the "TH" and the "LY" sounds. Sometimes you can hear it pronounced "smoozU." According to my PC translator the word in the "ly" form, in the Japanese language, you say "sarasara/さらさら" for the adverbial form, smoothLY. This may not be the most accurate transliteration as the meaning is written differently to mean different things. Personally, I think it sounds sexier the Japanese-English way. Here, practice it with me " su-mooooz."

As I was sumuuzing away to Dream Ten while trying to utter the sound perfectly, somewhere from the darkest crevice, I could smell mirth and frankincense, as an old shadowy figure emerged from within with thin, aged, wrinkled, and cracked white whiskered lips. He uttered the word, in long drawn out baritone " smoooozu." From what I could make of him, from my one squinted human eye, he must have been an ancient god....perhaps Odin? And then,before I could think another mere thought from my enfeeblement I was caught away, and a vision of Yuchan emerged from the womb of that hot misty now hollowed sphere, shot down from a dying star, and cast upon a rocky beach draped in red, barely robed...and, oh god, so su-moooz was she.

My apotheosis leads me to my theme for tonight. さらさら純米 [ sarasara-junmai] a smooth flowing pure rice brew. I have always extolled the virtues of Japanese sake as quintessentially the purest essence of the Japanese woman. I mean, you've got the allure of her fragrance on the lips, her impact is quiet at first and then she explodes releasing all of her flavors all at once, she's sweet yet simple and fruity and most of all sumoozu down the throat.

If I had to choose a sake that embodied Yuchan's attributes then what better place to choose from than the Tohoku region. Hailing from Aizubange town, is a lovely sake called Tenmei-Sarasara Junmai, which is produced & bottled by Akebono Sake Brewery「天明さらさら純米」

The rice used is called go-hyaku-mangoku, a premium rice grain for brewing sake. It's a shiboritate, or just pressed sake so it's quite young.    The seimai buai is 60%. Alcohol is 14%. This sake is a  summer sake but it was brewed last year 

2010 [22BY] according to the brewing year. When tasting it, it has a subtle and quiet smoothness to it that hooks you instantly. This is a good sake. I love summers. Experience the smoothness.