Kaga no Yukizake

(Snow of Kaga Sake)

Sherbet of Japanese Sake Brings Snow Fall on a Midsummer’s Night.

In a season when hot and humid days continue, it is nice to drink a cold beer. But think about a change up in routine and have sherbet of Japanese sake.

Nakamura Brewery of Ishikawa Prefecture, Kanazawa City, brews a sherbet-like Japanese sake ice known as “Kaga snow liquor”. It is the liquor of choice for hot and humid summer nights.

Normally, sake is shipped out in a vacuum state refrigerated but not frozen. However, freezing is a prerequisite for this liquor shaping the bottle under the delicate conditions whether it does or does not become vacuumed. There are extremely rare times in which a vacuum will occur and the liquor will not freeze. It will not freeze even when the lid is opened. As soon as the air is introduced into the liquor with a spoon, the liquor freezes to sherbet. A snow fairy figure seems to have emerged in the liquor.

Whether or not you meet the snow fairy at the time of the bottling or by influences of the environment, the fact is that the coming of the snow fairy is inferred.

Kaga’s snow liquor is the proud product which used the original yeast of Nakamura Brewery. “It took several years of hardship to develop a product where you could pull out the taste of Japanese sake whether it was cold sake or frozen” said company president Taro Nakamura.

First take a scoop with a spoon and place it in the mouth.  The sound of crushing sherbet and a feeling of fresh and sweet fragrance of the liquor releases in the mouth suddenly.

Rather than calling it a dessert, it is new way to drink liquor. Because it melts quicker than ice, both a feeling of appetite and taste change within a short time. When the sake starts to melt, pour it into a glass. A new impression spreads in the mouth.

The snow fairy which melts down to Japanese sake brings charm and bewilderment to the person tasting it. It puts them into a magic state of drunkenness. A nighttime of such moments in the summer will be agreeable.