Not-Port Offline: Ozeki Sake

[SushiNorth]

On March 28th a small tasting of Sake was held at my place. The goal was to compare the premium sakes of the budget brand "Ozeki," best known for making the inexpensive "house sake" heated at american sushi shops, with sake of more reputable brands. Various cold and hot japanese dishes accompanied the tasting and far too many leftovers haunted me during the week that followed.

Sakes:

Ozeki Yamadanishiki Junmai Ginjo
Ozeki Osakaya Chobei Junmai DaiGinjo
Dassai 50 Junmai Ginjo
Ozeki Komatsu Tatewaki Junmai Taruzake (Cedar-aged sake)
Ozeki Nigori (unfiltered sake)
Kagatobi Junmai Ginjo
Takara Shirakabe Gura Tokubetsu Junmai Ginjo
Yamamoto Mizunoshirabe Ginjo

As the tasting primarily became an introduction to sake types, and some of the flavor range, i'm not making individual tasting pages. I think one's overall impression on the range of the sakes is more meaningful than trying to recall which specific ones were liked and disliked. I will include my notes (and two of the tasting sheets as best as i can read them - many remained at the end of the evening heh), and encourage others to add as they see fit. The prices, btw, were as follows:
$15-$18 for all Ginjos except Dassai and Kagatobi, which were about $22. The Dai Ginjo was $24, most Daiginjo goes for $35 and up. The nigori was probably $10/bottle.

[SushiNorth]

My notes:
Yamadanishiki - harsh with a little banana nose, it started delicate but was still too harsh and bitter in the middle. There was some honeysuckle in there, and it had a chemical tail. It sucked.
Dassai 50 - decent, but rough and I don't like its taste when its below room temperature or served without food. It's hard to rate it below "OK" when I know its been a star in the past.
Osakaya Chobei -- light and floral, this was a surprisingly decent Daiginjo from ozeki.
Komatsu Tatewaki (the noble warrior) -- Yup. Sake aged in cedar. Age it another 8 years and get back to me. When passover ends, I'm pouring this bottle into my cedar boxes for traditional drinking.
Nigori -- too sweet, even for a nigori.
Kagatobi - flowers on the nose and sweet, in the mouth it's smooth and reminds me of cucumbers. The tail is a bit rough but it's decent stuff.
Takara - harsh nose, then to taste it's harsh, clingy, acidic with a little earth and fruit. It's acidic all the way down. Poor.
Yamamoto - faint nose, smooth and earthy, with a flavor of mushrooms. Poor.

jdaw:
i can't read all your notes as some of the ink ran, but you scored half-a-check to Dassai 50, a quarter check to Takara ("unctuous texture" and looks "like water"), a full check to Kagatobi, and a fat X to Yamamoto. Yamadanishiki, unrated, you described as fungal/mushroom/bitterroot. If I remember, you had us leave the DaiGinjo near you, but there's no notes here heheh.

anonymous:
Yamadanishiki: light grape nose, vlight, sweet, vaguely current taste, muddy and a little spice tail
Dassai 50: floral and rosemary taste (hint of pear), a little furry in the back of the throat
Osakaya Chobei:Robust, sweet, and floral taste.
Kagatobi: sweet eggy taste, zero tail.
Takara: alcohol and cream nose, rich taste, tail "burns"
Yamamoto: smells like paint thinner, rice and alcohol in the mouth, almost no tail