CITY Issue 57

DRINK SAKE, MASTERED Unless they’re dining out on sushi, most Americans rarely think to order sake. But the Japanese rice wine, served hot or cold, is more sophisticated and versatile than its reputation lets on. Joe Jarrell introduces us to a ‘sake sommelier’ who wants to put a few good bottles on your dinner table. S ummertime connotes shorts and sund esses, sizzling ba becues and suntans, sweet tea and sake. Well, okay, summe time sake is a st etch, but that may be about to change. “ nything oﬀ the g ill is pe fect fo a sta chbased beve age like sake,” insists Beau Timken, a licensed maste sake sommelie in San F ancisco. “ nd it has a lot less calo ies than bee .” Timken is a sake pionee , co-autho of Sa e: Mode n Guide, and founde of me ica’s ﬁ st dedicated sake sto e, T ue Sake, which celeb ates its ﬁve-yea annive sa y in ugust. He’s dedicated to pushing d inking palettes beyond bee , wine, and spi its, and believes sake is ﬁ nally eady to take cente stage. “Sake has no sulﬁtes, is low in histamines, and has about one-thi d of the acidity of wine,” Timken explains, “so it’s g eat fo people with ce tain sensitivities. nd you can d ink a lot of it without suﬀe ing awful hangove s.” This a gument, howeve , has gone unhea d, p ima ily because, until ecently, high-quality sake was diﬃcult to ﬁnd outside of Japan. Timken says me ica’s expe iences with sake a e eithe hot, cheap ve sions at sushi ba s o sake-bomb cocktails. This limitation has kept the vene able ice beve age f om mass acceptance. “Fo bette o wo se, the fate of sake has been ma ied to sushi,” he says. “But I want people to know that sake’s not the hot otgut stuﬀ in little ce amic shot glasses.” Timken’s sake epiphany occu ed about yea s ago, when a g oup of Japanese ﬁshe men in a small ba sha ed some p emium sake with him. Sake documentation was a e and few people we e helpful, so Timken ead eve ything he could and expe imented upon himself by taste-testing dozens of bottles, keeping copious notes along the way. “Many we en’t good, but I saved my cu ent custome s a lot of g ief,” he jokes. Timken took a deep dive by opening T ue Sake, an ambitious boutique dedicated to the sake expe i52 CITY TY ence. “It sounds c azy but my goal fo opening my sto e was to save the dying sake indust y,” Timken says. “The whole point was to make sake so popula in the West that the young Japanese gene ations, who conside sake a ‘g andfathe d ink,’ would take notice and sta t d inking it again.” Besides the me its of taste, Timken acknowledges that sake’s coolness and obscu ity play into making it a g eat gi ing statement among f iends. “The bottles a e beautifully designed, so they’ e the ﬁ st to be opened at pa ties, and then eve yone wants to discuss them,” he says. s a sake evangelist, Timken enjoys demystifying misconceptions. Small ce amic cups a e ideal fo wa m sakes, but a en’t othe wise equi ed, so he encou ages people to d ink sake f om the cup o glass they most enjoy. He also debunks the notion that pou ing sake fo oneself is bad luck. “Pou ing fo someone else was a common business p actice in the s in Japan, whe e many deals we e cut at sake pubs,” he explains. “It was basically a bonding expe ience that assu ed both d inke s got wasted quickly. But when people a e f iends, they pou sake fo themselves, not each othe .” Timken obse ves that spa kling sakes and slightly sweete sakes a e t ends gaining momentum because Japanese p oduce s have ﬁ nally ecognized the untapped ma ket fo female d inke s. newe t end is the sho t-p oduction, seasonal sakes that a few sto es like T ue Sake oﬀe ; exclusivity, as much as taste, bolste s thei popula ity. The big t end ahead will be koshu, o aged sake. Koshu gene ally va ies f om yellowish to golden tones that esemble beautifully aged Scotch whisky. “These sakes a e much da ke , iche , and eally full-bodied,” says Timken. “This is the new f ontie .” Visit T ue Sa e at Ha es St., San F ancisco, o call ( ) . Fo mo e info mation on sa e education, p oducts, esou ces, and Tim en’s Sake: Mode n Guide, o to .t uesa e.com. WAKATAKE ONIKOROSHI: DEMON SLAYER Type: Junmai Ginjo. Pair with: Summer salad (dark veggies and greens). Tasting notes: This is kind of viscous, with an abundance of fruit tones and a sneaky dryness. Flavors linger in the mouth and can take on oils, vinegars, and heavy dressings. Try it if you enjoy: Pinot noir, dry chardonnay, honey ales, or amber beer. HOYO MANAMUSUME: FARMER'S DAUGHTER Type: Tokubetsu Junmai. Pair with: Corn, french fries, grilled meats. Tasting notes: Quiet, confident, and easy to drink, this is a soft, silky ride, especially when paired with food. The nose jumps from plum skin and steamed rice to minerals and dried fruit. Try it if you enjoy: Merlot, pinot noir, sauvignon blanc, or ales. YUKI NO BOSHA: CABIN IN THE SNOW. Type: Junmai Ginjo. Pair with: Grilled fish and shellfish. Tasting n o tes : Th i s l i m i te d re lease has a brilliant nose with peach, strawberry, and minerals. Fruity but not too sweet, with vivid acidity. Try it if you enjoy: Fruity reds, chardonnay, or fruity ales. http://www.truesake.com

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City Issue 57 Contents Letter from City Our Friends Action Wanted City Moment Temporary Contemporary In Rouge Fast Food The Amused Bouche How We Live/The Kitchen Taste Test Dessert Wine Going Local Expert Opinion Travel Employees Only Summer Showers Wild Things Be There at 10 P.M. Sharp If... Where To Buy It Icon

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