I'm not certain whether we consider sake to be a wine or a beer product, but I find that I drink it in a sedate fashion more similar to how I drink wine than my guzzling of cold beer on a hot summer night, so I hope you'll all forgive me for posting to this forum rather than to the Other Beverages forum where I know there are beer threads.

Last night we had sushi, and ordered a really nice sake with our meal -- Fukumasamune Men Junmaisake Wine Water Sake. A bit pricey (C$32 for 300 ml in the restaurant) relative to the more common sakes, but absolutely delicious!

It's quite opaque, looking very much like rice pudding that has had way too much water put in it, but though we were expecting it to almost have pieces of rice in it (from the mottled appearance), it was soft and delicate on the palate; lovely flavors reminiscent of Casaba melon with very faint hints of citrus that swirl around the palate almost elusively, followed by a surprisingly long finish that hints at a greater concentration than its delicacy in the mouth suggests. It was slightly off-dry, and had an almost creamy texture (I assume from the rice starch). A beverage to sip and savor. Served very cold in a special rounded carafe (almost like the old Kool Aid pitchers) that has a deep indentation (like a deep, narrow punt) angled down from halfway up one side so that it can be filled with ice to keep the sake which surrounds it cold. Very cool, in both the literal and figurative sense.

I don't know where this product sits in the hierarchy of sakes, but we had a couple of bottles that were increasingly enjoyable with each sip. I'd go out of my way to buy this, but I was informed by the manager that it was a special order for the restaurant. Too bad!