Just Malt Features Umenoyado Haikara Sake

We don’t feature a lot of Sake on justmalt.com, but as a lover of all things Sushi, we do drink a lot of Sake.  Today we’re going to highlight a new Sake coming from Umenoyado in Nara, Japan called Haikara Sake.

This Sake is the product of a 5th-generation sake producer (opened in 1893) and it is a unique fruit-infused Sake.  This east-meets-west Sake will appeal to both traditional and progressive Sake drinkers and in fact Umenoyado prides itself on on being an industry pioneer in the Sake world. 

The Sake features water from Mt. Katsuragi and rice from  Hyogo, and according to Umenoyado, this ensures that “the sake, no matter how innovative, always maintains the legacy and roots of its origin.”

“Haikara” translates to “high collar” and it refers to the shirts worn in western cultures or being fashionably western….and the Sake follows suit.  This “new Sake experience” features two flavors.  Yuzu is brewed with the Japanese yuzu fruit and Momo which is brewed with a Japanese peach.

We should note up front that while the bottle packaging of Haikara departs from the traditional shape of a Sake bottle, they do look very distinctive and with the smaller label, they do display the Sake very nicely.

Yuzu pours a yellow cloudy color with lots of pleasant citrus and lemon.  The flavors lean toward grapefruit, lemon and a deep mandarin orange that we really liked.  You can’t miss that there is traditional Sake in the background, but the fruit takes center stage.  We really liked the Yuzu flavor and thought this would be a really fun base for a cocktail.

With that in mind, we tried out the recommended Tea For Tiki cocktail (Yuzu, Absinth, pineapple juice, green tea, dry curacao and lavender bitters) and while we were unable to add the recommended bitters, we did find the cocktail refreshing and complex.

We should note that we only drank Haikara cold and did not attempt to warm it.

Both Haikara Yuzu and Haikara  Momo Sakes are available now in 720ml bottles for a suggested retail price of $34.99.  The Sake will reach 12.5%-AbV and be sure to taste it cold, over ice or in one of Haikara Sake’s innovative cocktails.