Sake Collection 2018 1 | P a g e Table of Contents Page MDC Commitment to Quality 3 Sake 101 4 Sake & Food Pairing 5 Sake Ingredients 6 Sake Production 7 Premium Sake Classifications and Flavors 8 More Sake Styles and Flavors; Sake Service 9 Selling Sake by the Glass; Storage 10 Guide to Our Product Listings 11 Sake in Alphabetical Order 12 Amabuki 12 Born 14 Dassai 16 Hakkaisan 18 Hakutsuru 19 Homare 21 Kikusui 24 Kitaya 27 Kizakura 28 Shirakabe Gura 34 Sho Chiku Bai 36 TYKU 41 Sake Spritzers 44 Plum Wine 45 Sake Cocktails 47 Sake by Prefecture 48 Sakes by Classification & Style 51 Daiginjo Sake 51 Ginjo Sake 52 Tokubetsu Sake 54 Junmai/Honjozo Sake 55 Futsuu-Shu 57 Nigori (Cloudy) Sake - Unflavored 57 Nigori (Cloudy) Sake – Flavored 57 Flavored Clear Sake & Flavored Spritzers 58 Sparkling Sake - Unflavored 58 Alcohol Added Sake - Aruten Shu 59 Genshu (Undiluted) & High Alcohol Sake 60 Namazake/Unpasteurized Sakes 61 Organic / Green Sake 62 Shizuku (Drip Pressed) Sake 62 Kimoto & Yamahai Sake 62 Heirloom & Unusual Rice Sake 63 Aged Sake 64 Seasonal & Special Order Sakes 64 Cups, Cans & Individual Servings 65 Glossary of Sake Terms 66 Resources 72 2 | P a g e Our Commitment to Quality Sake is a serious business. Now embraced by wine professionals as an autonomous beverage class, it has become one of the fastest growing wine categories in the USA! Sake is now a mainstay in more than just Asian restaurants, with numerous Sommelier-led beverage programs embracing it, and growing numbers of specialty bars incorporating Sake into cocktails! Mutual Distributing Company is the most successful sake wholesaler in the state, topping $2.1 million dollars and 29,000 cases in 2017 with repeated annual growth of over 15%, year after year! Our success is the result of an unfaltering commitment to quality, variety, freshness, marketing and education. Our growing portfolio boasts over 160 SKUs encompassing every imaginable style from 19 of Japan’s most important prefectures and beyond! We purchase in limited quantities on an as-needed basis from only the most successful, quality-conscious importers, ensuring we always have the freshest possible inventory on-hand. We deliver and store our sakes in temperature control, guaranteeing our clients receive product that has been properly cared for from our shelves to theirs. Furthermore, we recognize that many of our clients’ customers are new to sake, so we take painstaking steps to provide incomparable marketing tools and education to ensure sell-through on all our products. Everything from colorful menus with bottle-shots, individual Sake information cards, Sake flight set-ups, posters, signs and more are individually created for each account, by our Art Department, so no two accounts receive the same design!! Mutual offers comprehensive sake training to our sales team, clients, their staff members and their clients. Whether it’s a simple sake tasting event, a dinner or an in-depth seminar, we utilize the finest resources available to ensure every participant gets the most out of the experience. Contact your sales representative for more information on sake marketing and education, taking advantage of Sake Certification Courses in North Carolina, and use this text to enhance your knowledge! Our Sake Specialist Sara E. Guterbock, CBS, CSP, ISS, CS, CWE, DipWSET is the Japanese Portfolio Manager, Sommelier, Wine, Sake and Sales Educator for Mutual Distributing Company. She is a Certified Sommelier (CS) through the Court of Master Sommeliers, a Certified Wine Educator (CWE) through the Society of Wine Educators, received her Diploma in Wine & Spirits (DipWSET) through the Wine and Spirits Education Trust in London, England, in 2012, and became a Level 3 Sake Educator for WSET in January of 2017. In 2018, she also completed the Certified Sake Professional (CSP) course, with John Gauntner! In 2014, Sara was among the first groups of people in the United States to be qualified as a Kikisake-Shi, or International Sake Sommelier (ISS) through Sake School of America & The Sake Service Institute of Japan. This was particularly meaningful to Sara, as she spent a year living in Japan as a high school student and grew up in a family that placed great emphasis on learning and experiencing the Japanese language and culture. Understanding Sake brought together Sara’s passion for the beverage industry with her life-long love of Japan, its people, traditions, and cuisine. In 2016, Sara began teaching the Certified Sake Advisor and International Sake Sommelier courses through a special partnership between Mutual Distributing Company and Sake School of America. She now facilitates these certifications as well as the WSET Sake Qualifications in the Southeastern United States. Sara devotes a tremendous amount of energy introducing people to the complexities and beauties of Sake and its unmatched ability to pair with food. Sara is hopeful her ongoing efforts will continue to spread awareness and interest for Sake in North Carolina and beyond!! 3 | P a g e Sake 101 What is Sake? Sake is a natural alcoholic beverage created by fermenting rice. It is neither a beer nor a wine, although many people confusingly use these terms. Sake is produced through a unique brewing process called Multiple Parallel Fermentation in which starches in the rice are converted in to fermentable sugars at the same time that yeasts convert them to alcohol. This allows Sake to ferment to very high levels of alcohol, naturally. Sake is now brewed all over the world and remains the most traditional beverage of Japan. The finest modern sakes are intended to be served cold, like a fine wine, and pair with everything from sushi to steak. Sake is one of the most food-friendly beverages in the world—it mitigates fishiness & bitterness in foods, while enhancing Umami! Sake styles range from crystal clear and aromatic to rich & cloudy. Sakes can be still or sparkling, dry or sweet, and some are even infused with fruit flavors. How is Sake Unique? • Sake is Gluten Free, Tannin Free & made without the addition of Sulfites • Sake is typically higher in alcohol than most wines & nearly all beers • Despite its higher average ABV, premium sake has a lower instance of hangover symptoms than most wines, beers and spirits! • Sake is one of the most cerebral fermented beverages in aroma and flavor profile. • Sake mitigates fishy flavors and bitterness in foods. It makes strongly flavored, oily fish, such as salmon, taste neutral, and erases the sharp bite of ginger, greens & other bitter foods! • Sake is five to ten times LESS acidic than wine. This means it has less of a bite when paired with sweeter foods! • Sake can stand up to spicy foods! Sake is less acidic than wine, has no tannin, and is typically not wood aged. These factors make sake a mouth quencher with heat! Sakes with sweetness can reduce heat even more. • Sake enhances perception of Umami in foods. Wine is an enemy of umami, but sake increases one’s perception of deliciousness & savory character in foods! • Because Sake turns up the volume on flavors, it can stand up to many types of cuisine! Sake isn’t just for Sushi! • Sake is a benefit in the kitchen. In marinades, kojic acid tenderizes meats & sake is more flavor-neutral than wine when deglazing. • Sake makes you beautiful! Kojic acid lightens and evens skin tone! Try sake instead of toner! • Sake is a benefit to your smile!! It doesn’t stain your teeth like wine, and because it’s less acidic, it inflicts less damage to your tooth enamel. 4 | P a g e Sake & Cocktail Culture • Sake’s unique flavor/umami enhancing quality means it makes mixer flavors more pronounced. Even a small bit of sake, like bitters, can dramatically lift the flavors of a drink. • Undiluted & cloudy sakes add weight & viscosity to cocktails. Cloudy sakes add unique dimension & can create layers for visually stunning beverages. • Flavored sakes dramatically lift the aromatics of cocktails. • Many Sakes used are less expensive than spirits and can lower beverage costs. • Sake is just plain cool—it gives mixologists a whole new way to play. Sake & Food Pairing • Sake diminishes fishy flavors! It makes strongly flavored fish & shellfish taste more clean & neutral! This could be because sake is high in succinic acid, the same, potent substance that gives fish & shellfish its characteristic meaty flavor from the sea. When we taste a beverage with distinctive levels of succinic acid, it reduces our sensitivity to the acid in the fish; so, by sipping sake before tasting fish, it reduces our tongue’s ability to perceive fishiness! It has also been noted, when unsaturated fatty acids that build seafood are added to wine, they produce smelly, oxidized alcohols called aldehydes. When these are added to sake, there is reportedly LESS formation of aldehydes. Sake also has no added sulfur, which is thought to increase fishiness, and is made exclusively with water that is free of iron, which can cause an unpleasant, fishy & metallic aftertaste. • Sake erases the sharp bite of ginger, greens & other bitter foods! Generally speaking, bitterness in a beverage increases the perception of bitterness in food. Acidity in a beverage decreases the perception of acid in the food. Sake is tannin free so generally does not increase bitterness in foods & it is much lower in acidic strength than wine, so it tastes lighter and less sour than wine to those who are sensitive to acid. • Sake enhances perception of Umami in foods. Umami is a savory, ripe, inviting flavor & can be distinguished as the difference in flavor between a raw & roasted mushroom. It is prevalent in cured meats & aged cheeses, ripe tomatoes, fish oils, miso & soy sauce.