Sake Review: Ty Ku Makes a Nice Gift

When your marketing department tells you to hang a tag on every bottle you sell proclaiming, "World's Best Tasting Sake," you're forcing yourself to meet almost impossible expectations. Who's judging? Which brewers and sake are being represented? What is the standard--well rounded flavour (marumi ga aru) or a simple, clean flavour (katai)? At what temperature is the sake being served? Yet, when I went shopping for a holiday sake gift set, this is exactly what was hanging from the neck of the Ty Ku Sake Black bottle I purchased. Keeping in mind that I am not a trained sake taster, but an amateur fan, let's see how it measured up.

Packaging

Overall, Ty Ku really nailed it with the packaging and it is sure to drive a lot of sales amongst consumers who are new to sake and would like to try something better than table sake from Gekkeikan and Hakutsuru, which are widely distributed in North America. The matte black box has embossed fish scales (presumably koi) and a dragon on it. The bottle is a uniquely styled curved triangular prism, with a shiny logo on the cap concealing an airtight stopper to preserve freshness.

The black cup matches the bottle nicely, but it is no great addition considering sake experts generally consider glass or crystal vessels as the best way to serve sake. If you choose to heat the sake before serving, however, the ceramic o-choko would come in handy. While heating a junmai ginjo like Ty Ku Black is generally considered a waste of quality sake, by the time you've finished the review, you might want to keep that gift cup handy. At first, I thought the final piece of the gift set was chopsticks, but Ty Ku calls them "stirrers." It was the first I've heard of sake stir sticks, and a quick Google search revealed that until today, those three words have never existed in consecutive order on the Internet. The sticks now reside in the cutlery drawer for my children's use.

Tasting

I must confess to having felt some trepidation in the days leading up to the sake tasting, wondering if all that packaging was meant as a distraction. By the day of the tasting, I had banished that skepticism from my mind, focusing my attention on the "junmai ginjo" appellation and the $30 price as indicators of value. Upon first sip, I felt overwhelmed by strong apple flavours. Half way through the glass, the cloying sweetness gave way to strong alcohol notes. A second glass repeated the experience.

My first thought was to blame myself. Having kept the bottle in my basement cellar, I wondered if I had chilled it sufficiently. I put the bottle in the fridge and vowed to try it again with an open mind within the next couple days. When that day came, I decanted it into a glass sake flask that has an opening where ice cubes can keep the sake chilled without watering down the drink. My hopes were dashed when the tasting experience replicated the one I had on the first day. It could be that my inclination for drier sakes with subtler flavours biases my opinion, but after two tries, I have decided to consume much of what remains heated and use the rest for cooking.

For a series of second opinions, here's a link to the Ty Ku Black page at Rate Beer. I didn't read them until after finishing my own appraisal, but it appears I wasn't far off the consensus opinion.

Statistics

Sake Meter Value (SMV): +2.0 (close to neutral on the sweet-dry scale*)

Acidity: 1.8 (with 2.0 representing the high end of the scale; higher acidity can make a sweet sake taste drier*)

Amino Acid: 1.7 (on the higher end of the scale, which could lend to heavier flavours*)

Alcohol %: 15% (on the low end of the scale, typically 15-20%*)

(*Source: The Sake Handbook, 2nd Ed., by John Gaunter)

Verdict

While Ty Ku Black did not compare well with other sake I have tried in this price range, I still think it would make a nice gift during the holiday season. Although a sake aficionado would appreciate a less-known brand in a plain bottle, a new sake drinker would likely enjoy the entire gift set, and would by no means be turned off from future sake experiments based on the flavour. Even if it wasn't for me, there's no doubt it received its medals at the San Francisco wine competition and World Beverage Competition for a reason.

My bigger complaint is that while researching Ty Ku's "World's Best Sake" claim on their website, I found they reserve it for their Yamagata-brewed Junmai Daiginjo White label. Putting the tag on the Nara-brewed Black label is misleading. Even keeping admonitions of caveat emptor in mind, I think it is fair to expect clearer labeling.