Hiyaoroshi Hijinks: Nov. 2012 Urban Sake Tasting Club!

Hiyaoroshi Time!

Last night was the second Urban Sake Tasting Club Event! We held our event at Sakagura and focused this time on Hiyaoroshi Sakes, which are also known as “Fall Namas”.

We started the meeting with a fun “kagami biraki” which is a ceremonial breaking open of the sake barrel. We had a handy tabletop version (from Shichihonyari Brewery) that we used to formally open our event. It was a lot of fun cracking open the barrel! The first sake was then poured for everyone to enjoy and to do our Kanpai!

Kagami Biraki

The three Hiyaoroshi sakes we sampled at this meeting were Denshin Aki Namazume Hiyaoroshi Genshu Junmai, Urakasumi Tokubetsu Junmai Hiyaoroshi Namazume and Wakatake Aki No Ki-Ippon Namazume Hiyaoroshi Tokubetsu Junmai. Phew! those are some long names, but Hiyaoroshi boils down to the fact that it is only pasteurized once, before storage/cellaring for about 6 months. It’s released in the autumn season and had a distinctive, fun flavor that pairs beautifully with autumnal foods.

Speaking of foods, Sakagura prepared a wonderful appetizer of seared scallop over cucumber with a mango-egg yolk sauce. Delish!

Everyone with their favorite Hiyaoroshi!

After a brief lesson on Hiyaoroshi, we tasting all the sakes and compared our notes. Everyone had their own favorite! Then for the final hour of our meeting, we just let our hair down and had a lot of fun.

If you’re interested in joining the club yourself, you can sign up for our December 2012 Urban Sake Tasting Club event now! See the event listing here. Hope to see you there!

Thanks to Sakagura and to all the Urban Sake Tasters for joining me! See you in December!