Kikusakari Tarusake

Brewed by Kiuchi Brewery
Style: Taru saké
Ibaraki, Japan

900ml, straw wrapped, short round barrel. Pours clear, simple syrup colored, with very nice legs. Sweet aroma of ripe honeydew melon, and a hint of cedar planks. Smooth, creamy texture. Finishes with a medium dryness. Flavor of sweet rice, cedar wood, some tropical fruit and light honey. Finishes with a flavor of a grapefruit half. Overall, very oily and deep bodied. By far, this sake has the most uniqueness of character from any sake I have tried. Very full bodied, smooth, and easy to drink. My 1800th Rating!

Bottle… Crystal clear sake. A couple swirls of the glass leave a beautiful ring near the top that slowly melts and morphs into twenty or so snake-like legs winding down into the drink. The cedar aging produces a wonderful cracked pepper nose. Medium to full-bodied with an oily/fatty mouthfeel. Sweet, but crisp, and a touch woody and peppery. Finishes off warming and lightly sweet and leaves a trace of spicy wood on my tongue.

Clear with very faint yellow hues. Thick drooping legs. The aroma is interesting and a bit different then the other sakes I have tried. Melon (on the verge of being bad), cedar, pepper, and alcohol. The flavor is quite nice. The cedar really comes out late. Up front it is more melon and some sweetness. Before and immediately after the swallow the cedar kicks in. Soft and full mouthfeel. This is probably my favorite sake that I have tried. Graned my sample size is small.

Musty cedar aroma, with spices and alcohol. Pours clear. Smooth cedar, sweet rice, yeasty, peppermint, feels thick and creamy yet very thin. Excellent!

Thanks to the guys at Knightly for turning me on to this! Pours out nice and clear. You can definitely tell the cedar barrel influence on the aroma, giving it a woody peppery aroma. As this get colder, I started to get more fruit in the taste along with some alcohol and pepper. Leaves a hint of fruit in the aftertaste. Very clean smooth drink that is much better than any other sake I have had before.

72 cl. Bottle [Thanks to Storm] See throught pale glowing color. Aroma of sweet flower, wood, pine nedel, alcohol. Full bodied an alcoholic texture. Alcoholic pine and flower lingering finish. 7-3-7-3-14 19-04-2008

720mL Bottle: Clear almost beige tinge, nice ropey legs. The aroma is thick with koji and light pepper with a hint of cedar. The flavor has a sweet impact with a muffled alcohol mouthfeel. Finishes dry and rounded. The tail is lingering with dry and acidic notes but very refreshing. I really enjoyed this sake!

Clear with a light hint of yellow. Small thin legs. Strong alcohol nose, near burning, with undertones of epoxy and cedar. Light sweetness in the front with some coconut and rice milk. Middle and finish carry the alcohol flavor. with out being overly warming or abusive. Silky and smooth in feel. Touch of gin late in the finish. Quite enjoyable.