Sho Chiku Bai - Organic Nama by Takara Sake

Adam W.
167 reviews
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Fantabulous sake

In addition to being organic and local (Berkeley counts as local right?) this sake is just plain delish. The price tag is small ($14 in a sushi bar) and everything else aside, it is one of the best Nama's I have ever had. It has a smooth, distinct flavor that is just a hint fruity. the smoothness was what i was most impressed by - usually Namas are harsher since they are brewed with so much less of the rice milled away. Not so here. Very impressive - reccomend this to neophites and sake snobs alike

Jenn A.
378 reviews
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A green sake in a green bottle

This sake is not overly sweet but has great melon flavors, with some hints of other fruits that I can't quite recall so I'll have to buy some more to try it. It is full bodied and very smooth -- it has no astringent or sharp flavors in it and the complex flavors are brought out by different tastes in the food (ginger or miso).

It is my "go to" alcoholic beverage when I eat dinner at Cha-Ya in Berkeley. I definitely prefer cold, unfiltered sake to filtered (or hot - ick!). This is really a fantastic drink - goes great with the delicious food at Cha-Ya. Even better - it's produced by locally grown organic rice, so that must make "locavores" in the Bay Area very happy!

Jenn's keywords: organic sake

Abendigo R.
285 reviews
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1st US sake made from organic rice!

I recently had this medium dry sake at Cha-Ya in the Mission, a great, organic, vegetarian sushi place that got its start on Shattuck in Berkeley a few years back.

I was blown away by its delicate, full-bodied, fruitiness, served cold. It comes in this darned cute little green bottle, and the rice is harvested (wouldn't you know it?) from the Sacramento Valley, the first organic rice sake in the US!

I didn't think it would be as good as it was, you know, being without sulfites or preservatives can put a lot of pressure on a new alcoholic beverage, from a systems perspective, to compete in flavor and body and aroma with other more conventional sakes. But not this one, no!

It's 15% alcohol, Ginjo grade (Some say, "Ginjo sake is to regular sake what single malt scotch is to regular scotch"), and draft-style, which means it was micro-filtered as opposed to heat-pasteurized. How green!

I love this sake. Love it, love it, love it. You should try some.

Abendigo's keywords: sho chiku bai, takara, organic, rice, sake, sacramento, california, alcoholic, beverage, ginjo