"Snow Maiden"
Tozai Junmai Nigori
This is fairly thick and chewy nigori (cloudy sake), but it is still surprisingly dry. The aromas are bright and fresh and they show a lovely ricey and fruity combination. In the mouth, this sake has solid weight and gives the same flavors of fresh fruit and creamy fresh rice that your nose told you about. The finish has a pleasant astringency and is nicely mellow, beckoning you for another mouthful. You will rarely taste a classier nigori at this price, and this may be the ultimate food-friendly nigori.
Tasting Cards
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Junmai Nigori
"Pure rice" nigorizake made from only rice, water and koji, with no brewer's alcohol or other additives. Nigorizake means cloudy sake. The sake is passed through a loose mesh to separate it from the mash. It isn't filtered after that and contains much rice sediment in the bottle. Before serving, the bottle is shaken to mix the sediment and turns the sake white or cloudy.
Kura
A sake brewery. Also known as "sakagura".
Seimaibuai
"SAY-MY-BOO-EYE" The degree to which rice has been polished before brewing. 70% seimaibuai means that 30% of the rice grain (by weight) has been polished away leaving 70% remaining.
Nihonshu-do
Also called "SMV" (Sake Meter Value), nihonshu-do is the specific gravity of a sake which is used as an indication of dryness or sweetness. Positive values are more dry, negative values are more sweet. +3 to +4 is considered neutral. For example, -10 is very sweet and +6 is nicely dry.
Read more common sake terms defined.