Almost went real bad for me on the way home there... Also just now remembering the typo I saw in here spelling it "Saki" and I'm certain I forgot to fix it... So yes, I know. Bright Cellars: bit.ly/BrightCellarsHowToDrink17 Curiada: bit.ly/htddiypfchangs Drink Mate: amzn.to/3TtoCjW Twitch: bit.ly/2VsOi3d H2D2: bit.ly/YTH2D2 twitter: bit.ly/H2DTwit instagram: bit.ly/H2dIG Blog: bit.ly/H2DBlog Patreon: bit.ly/H2DPatreon Gear: amzn.to/2LeQCbW Outback gave me a soap drink: ua-cam.com/video/94L-qkYZids/v-deo.html I can't believe they serve this: ua-cam.com/video/k_920O41XYs/v-deo.html I messed with Texas (roadhouse): ua-cam.com/video/vUw0hwbM6cE/v-deo.html I tried desperately to fix the bad drinks from Chili's: ua-cam.com/video/1mDN1XYYm6A/v-deo.html
ironically "saki" is right if you went off of how you were actually pronouncing it the entire episode. the "e" in "sake" should be like the "é" in "pokémon" -- "eh" or "ey", not "ee" also, a note about the momokawa: you're probably not totally off about it being kind of water-like. iirc, they have very soft water there, which reflects in the sake being very soft and slippery. if you're looking for really punchy flavors, try nama (unpasteurized) sake!! you might have to get it from sake-specific retailers, but it's worth it if you're looking to try something really distinctive.
@@kirale1172 They should have spelled it "socky" even. I've quit trying to correct people on this since I live in the land where "karaoke" became "Karry-oki".
In case no one has said it yet, the texture in cocktail 2 you aren’t able to figure it probably comes from The nigori sake. Sake types are differentiated by how much of the rice hull is ground off before fermentation, and nigori uses almost the whole brown grain, and then pulverized it without filtration, so there is a rice “pulp” of sorts that settles to the bottom of a bottle. You can agitate it throughout the bottle, and it has a very creamy, almost “chewy” texture with strong fruit notes depending on the bottle. Goes great with spicy curries, and apparently with coconut rum!
Maybe, but he did say it had a curdled quality and if you put lemon juice in cream (as per the cocktail) it will definitely curdle and you will probably perceive that texture
I'm skeptical that the texture from the sake sediment could affect the texture of the cocktail to that degree, though I agree that it definitely would contribute. I've had that kind of sake before; it isn't so thick that it would single-handedly make a drink creamy, especially if it gets diluted with other things, plus ice. But maybe like gomme syrup, it'll add just a tiny bit of viscosity and silkiness, plus bonus graininess.
I agree entirely, Sake is such an incredible drink. I think adding the sake into the first drink could have brought a lot of subtle depth to it and could have extenuated those floral notes in the finish.
Conspiracy theory: these chain restaurants are catching on to you. They figured out where you live and have told all the bartenders in the area to watch out for you and Meredith and make your drinks with the top shelf stuff so they get good videos.
I just became a bartender at PF Chang's it's so funny that you made a video on Chang's the 2 drinks you tried are our new sake drinks that they came up with to push sake and those drinks are actually getting taken off the menu within the next month but the reason it taste like fresh strawberries is because we muddle strawberries in the drink
Yeah, the people willing to pay $13 for a cocktail are not the people going to chain restaurants for drinks. They sound really good, and I wish I could find some Asian-style bars around me.
@@prisonerr24601 "I wanna get blitzed in a PF Changs" is actually the title of the first album from Korean Pop Sensation "For Teh Lolz", oddly enough...
Sake has three drinks in one bottle. You can drink it warmed, ice cold, or room temperature. The flavour notes change depending upon the temperature it is served.
@@xyzpdq1122 As long as you're warming up cheap sake, I really can't object. It pains me to warm good sake, but there's something special about a warm cup of cheap sake in the middle of winter :)
They're generally certain kinds that are better at the different temps. Just like you could drink champagne warm... Or iced red wine (but vintage champagne shouldn't be ice cold, and I'm not going to chill a fancy cab). I'm not going to heat up my daiginjo, and as others said, cheap sake is almost what I almost always see for atsukan. But hey, everyone can drink as they want 😁
May sound cheap but Gekkeikan sake is one of my favorites, it's also the most readily available for me to lol. Nigori sake is really good as well. I've done a few light cocktails using sake
Someone else probably has mentioned it but the yuzu sake tastes VERY different than what people typically think of when they think of sake. It is almost more akin to limoncello so good job adding lemon juice and simple. 👍
Fun fact the two non-creamy sakes you tried were a type called Junmai. The smoother and more water-like in texture/look a junmai is, the more coveted it is (not always but putting it broadly). For a very bold flavor profile look into a Junmai Daiginjo, which polishes the rice at a much higher percent. I personally like Bunraku and Dassai 45 for cocktails!
Greg, you have the components for a Purple Haze right there. Plum wine and sake in equal measures, served hot and taken as shots. One of my favorites for sure!
Nigori sake is unfiltered, and definitely adds to that texture in the original cocktail. Junmai, Honjozo, Futsushu, and some other types of sake are the ones served warm/hot, and chances are that is what was causing you to want more character out of the dry sakes tasted.
I was writing a similar comment whenever he was trying to find that texture in his own drink, I don’t know if he mentioned it but glad someone else thought this too
I don't know if you've done this already, but a series idea: Choose a mixer, present a variety of different drinks that use that mixer, then devise a new drink featuring it. For example, an episode on pimento dram, an episode on green or yellow chartreuse, an episode on chocolate bitters...
Along with that he could occasionally throw in a “cursed” version of your idea with like horrible frat house mixers commonly found at college parties for Back-to-School. “On today’s HtD SunnyD screwdrivers, Kool-aid cosmos, and Russian Blackouts featuring Yoo-hoos and Everclear”
I've had heated sake and it's delightful once you know what to expect. Would definitely love to see an episode of greg exploring the different types of sake
One thing I have noticed with sake drinks, is they tend to carry texture waaaaaaaay better than other drinks I have had. Not sure if it’s cultural, and they just focus on it more, or if the sake itself serves as a better suspension substrate for thinks like pulp, or cream, to make something FEEL like coconut or anything else in your mouth.
I saw "Hakutsuru Sayrui Nigori" in the ingredients and heard "I don't know sake" and immediately feared a key ingredient would be left out or improperly replaced. Glad someone (Greg? Meredith?) [edit: Meredith - revealed 3 seconds after I submitted the comment] was able to grab another nigori sake (/sa-kei/) for the sake (/seik/) of the creaminess of the second cocktail, rather than trying to merge a clear sake (/sa-kei/) into it.
I love watching the edited process of Greg tasting the rums, the sake, thinking about how to make the drink. I'd have quite happily watched an extra minute of that. I know it's a longer episode tho.
I don’t know if you ever will see this, but I bartended at a Japanese Izakaya for years. Let me know if you want to do like a sake and sochu based episode, I’ll hook you up with some recipes. Edit: nigori sakes need to be shaken really well before pouring. Just noticed that. Double edit: you had the name pretty spot on, it’s “gay key con”. Comment police, that’s a pronunciation key. TRIPLE edit: the momokawa sake is made here in “ore-gun” but in a traditional way. It’s fairly popular with the Japanese population here.
I went to a liquor store looking for Kaoliang after your video on making drinks from 3 awful bottles, and they didn't have any. When I described it and why I wanted it (to make me and my friends suffer) the employee thought for a second and then recommended Choya. He said it was super sour and would probably be comparable. I was both sad and happy that it was not in fact comparable to Kaoliang. Choya is delicious and might be my absolute favorite wine I've ever tried. I still need to get a bottle of Kaoliang though to torture my friends with...
LOVE that you're tasting sake and plum wine! Such long and fascinating histories to delve deeper into. Would love to see you explore Asian alcohols more - some of the world's 50 best bars are now in East Asia using local spirits/ingredients and challenging the perception that cocktails are only for "Westerners."
Some of the texture for the second drink came from the particular Sake used…Nigori Sakes ( pretty much the only type I truly enjoy ) are usually a creamy color with a vague coconut-esque texture due to it being either unfiltered or very lightly filtered.
Nigori sake is best sake. (At least in terms of the stuff that doesn't just have stuff added to it.) All of the filtered sake tastes like I'm drinking slippery water. I have the same thoughts on soju.
I love Gregg! He's so upbeat every single video and his quality of video is great. I love the episodes when he can't control his mouth and swears like a sailor. I want to see a episode with Meredith on camera more.
I'd say the most important thing for you to do is have fun while making the show! Chains Across America is definitely a fun series. The strawberry drink's yuzu component made me think of that yuzu hard seltzer you tried in the seltzer episode. The main use of sake I see in my area is when bars don't have their full liquor license but want to sell cocktails. So, rice wine cocktails are the loophole. It gets used as a sub for vodka, tequila, rum, and maybe gin as far as I know. Also I love when you taste things. It feels informative.
Been really into sake for a long time. One very tricky aspect of sake is the fact that it's very temperature sensitive. I never really tried to make cocktails from it since I just enjoy sake for the itself. If you're inclined to learn more and you're still in/near NYC, I have places for you to visit and people for you to talk to.
@@nealarmstrong3050 I got 3: Sakaya on 9th st (keep walking past Veselka's). Owned by Rick and Hiroko, it's a small store that only sells sake. I've been a customer since the first week they opened, and they're awesome. They'll really help educate which sake for what situation, and what temp to serve it at. Lots of times I'll bring sake with me in a water bottle to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, and for that I'll request sake that are better at room temp. If you go, tell them Michael sent you. Decibel is also on 9th st, across the street from Veselka's and up the street a bit. This is a sake bar, and it used to be nearly impossible to find because the front door is through the basement entrance, like a speakeasy. Now, they have a big street-side area thanks to covid, so just look for that. I used to take friends here and pick sake's based on their drink preference when I wanted to look cool. Excellent selection, and good japanese style bar food. Also, cost is pretty reasonable. Sakagura is on 43rd between 3rd and 2nd, and is owned by the same people who own Decibel, but this is their fancy restaurant, so be prepared to spend a bit. You. Will. NOT. find this place if you don't know what you're looking for. The entrance is in through the lobby of an office building (look for a tiny sign a little bigger than a sheet of paper next to the glass doors), and at the elevators take the maintenance stairs down into the basement to find my absolute favorite Japanese restaurant in the city. One time my friends took me there for my birthday, and I asked for the sake menu to, again, look cool. I opened it to find that it is not categorized by type, but by region, and I quickly begged the waiter to help me because I was out of my depth. The food is phenomenal, the sake selection is bonkers, but their secret weapon is the Black Sesame Creme Brulee. That one dessert was instrumental to a number of successful dates.
Nigori sake is a cloudy semi sweet sake, its does this by retaining the rice lees. That mixed with the heavy cream is probably what gave that texture to the pf changs drink
100%, Sayuri sake retains some of the rice from fermentation and this gives both a creamy texture and a sweeter taste in the finished wine. No question that the texture of the drink from p.f. changs is from the Sayuri sake.
Julia Momose's Bar Kumiko in Chicago is one of the best in America, and her book The Way of the Cocktail is a great quick primer on sake & sake cocktails (and Japan's cocktail culture) for anyone interested.
Japanese pronounciation is tricky, and it's not helped at all by how Japanese words get romanized. If you don't already know that the "e" is pronounced like a long "a" (like in "say") then it can be an easy mistake to make. At least he DID pronounce the "e" instead of pronouncing it like "say-k", and he got the pronunciation of the "sah" correct. He did better than a lot of people I've heard. Who knows, maybe he'll do some research into Japanese pronunciation if he ever does a proper episode on sake! And for anyone curious, the proper pronunciation is "sah-kay" with nice round vowel sounds.
@@samdoehart1333 I've never understood why people get hung up on this. Japanese accents cause the sounds you're talking about, American accents cause the other. The point of a language is to impart information from one person to another, and if the area they're in has equated the idea of sake with the pronunciation "sawkee" then to say it in another way that people don't understand defeats the entire purpose of saying it. Affecting an accent you don't actually have often comes off as posturing as well, so why insist on people trying to change their accent to fit someone elses?
Maybe you can partner up with another youtuber that knows Sake well? I personally love the drink but I can't really sip on alcohol anymore so seeing some Sake cocktails would be neat. Also youtuber collabs tend to be fun anyway!
The Momokawa sake is made not far from my hometown. I was part of their sake club for many years. Totally worth going to the kura for a tour. They also make sake cocktails in their tasting room. If you are in Oregon, definitely go for it.
I'd absolutely love to see you try sake! Though I'm really not sure how well sake would do for mixing. One of the things about sake is that it's meant to be more subtle and enjoyed on its own. Interestingly, it is actually meant to be enjoyed warm in some cases! I'm not an expert but I'd definitely recommend doing some research into it. You could find a new thing to enjoy! Also, that Choya Plum Wine looks like a proper Japanese umeshu (pronounced oo-may-shoo)! It's actually made by taking ume plums and just adding them to a bottle of liquor with sugar, and so isn't really a proper wine but more of a fruit infusion.
Sake makes great cocktails! Lots of Japanese restaurants in my city do sake based cocktails, they're fab. It's an oversimplification but the best comparison for mixed drinks would be you can use it the same way you'd use whiskey but it can also take some more delicate flavours.
Back a couple decades ago I went to a Japanese restaurant in Vallejo, Ca. They only had a beer and wine liquor license. Since sake is only 14% alcohol it is consider a wine. Their bar served all the mixed drinks using sake as a replacement. My suggestion is making your classic mixed drinks while substituting sake for the regular alcohols like gin, vodka, whiskey and rum.
I still don't know how I ended up on this channel, but I LOVE it! Greg is hilarious and informative and the production values are spectacular. I'm assuming that is all Meredith - awesome set, camera work, sound, plus the captions on the upper left can be so damn funny. Keep it up and thank you!
its funny, i have actually drank all of the sakes purchased. the Momo Kawas are actually brewed here in Oregon in Forest Grove. they are the only sake distillery that is outside of Japan that has an Official Japanese brewers mark, i.e. the distillery was inspected and approved by a Japanese sake brewmaster. and the stock of mold that they make the sakes from is from a distillery in japan. they have tours and sake tasting events every now and then. Also, the choya is my personal favorite. i drink it stright, so goood, i have drank entire bottles all by myself, they also have single serve versions that they sell.
Go for a bottle of Ile Four Yuzu Sake, the stuff has nothing to do with proper Sake, but it is incredibly delicious and I think it works great in Cocktails and would have been perfect here for your drink. I can also send a bottle over from europe since I work at a place that sells them, if you have a post box. Also if you ever need some stuff from Germany/Austria specifically I could also send some of that.
If you're going for coconut texture and flavor, I'd say use coconut cream. We keep the stuff around as a staple at my place, to use in curries and tikkas, and the stuff goes phenomenally in drinks as well.
Hi from Japan! Umeshu, plum wine, is huge and I'm glad you loved the Choya! Plum wine is so good. It's also super easy to make your own at home. Wife's family let us sample some they'd had stored away for almost 2 decades...great stuff!
Greg you’d be proud of me. My wife asked for a creamy drink that tastes like key lime pie. I came up with a key lime daiquiri with a quarter oz of vanilla flavor and an egg white. It’s becoming a signature of the house.
Choya's a good example of plum wine! You can keep them in the fridge for a good long while and eat the plum at the bottom once you're done. Also good cut with hot water for a cold day!
I definitely recommend trying the strawberry drink with yuzu sake or at least yuzu juice in the mix. it's a really unique citrus flavor and probably brings a lot to the drink.
Momokawa is pretty nice. I'm also a fan of unfiltered sake and it comes across as a nice dessert drink. For what it's worth, the majority of sake that's warmed up in Japan tends to hide the bad qualities that come out when it's cold, so if it's meant to be served cold and it's good, you have a better product.
You know, if you made official How To Drink stickers, you could use those to tell the drinks in the thermos' apart, before you even pour them. So I think some How To Drink stickers would be super useful, for you, and not just something I want to buy and put on things myself.
Hey Greg, you mentioned that you don't know much about sake and I think a lot of people don't - Myself included! That said, i would love to see an episode where you do a deep dive a la your "What Is" or "Basics" store episode all about you kind of learning about Sake! Thanks for being a relatable dude in all of these! I love your stuff man!
I’ve been bartending at PF. Chang’s for a year now and it was cool to see your riffs on the sake drinks. Would’ve liked to see you try the sake warrior. Its a bit higher proof than the lotus and pretty refreshing as well. I think you would’ve liked that drink as well. Always enjoy watching your vids and trying your drinks. Great video!
Choya is amazing, though it's very sweet. I recommend it on the ice and with a splash of water. If you want a cocktail you can always sub the water for cranberry juice or other kinds of juice.
Sake carries other flavors very well because the default base flavor is "Hint of hint of that one note that makes wine taste like wine" and nothing else, which is why you don't usually mix with it unless you want to add some wine-level alcohol content into something with effectively no flavor change. Having tried several kinds of sake, there are a fair few that your mouth basically stops processing. Like, water you can still tell you have in your mouth, sake just kinda vanishes and it's very disconcerting. Plum wine has a lovely flavor, what kinds I've had, and I bet you could make a very like, light low abv spring/summer beverage with it
One of my go-to sake drinks is the Scotch Pearl. It doesn't have Scotch in it but it does have Momokawa Pearl. 60 ml Hendrick's 20 ml Momokawa Pearl sake 15 ml simple 8 ml plain rice wine vinegar (do NOT use flavoured rice wine vinegar) 1 clear boba rehydrated with lime cordial We shook it because we wanted the nigori sake to froth and create a creamy texture. Lime cordial boba on the bottom of a 5 oz coupe and double strain.
The cloudy stuff in the second drink is rice pulp from the unfliterd negorizaki. That’s special sake that is left with a cloudyness and dairy like texture often flavored with fruit.
I invented a cocktail, I call it the Banana Sundae. Recipe: 1 part Howler Monkey Banana Whiskey 1 part Pinnacle Whip Vodka 1 part Screwball peanut butter whiskey 1 part chocolate liqueur (or thoroughly shaken with chocolate syrup) A splash of orange juice (this is optional but recommended)
Because you mentioned not drinking a lot of Sake. I am Brazilian and it is fairly popular to make a Caipirinha but exchange the Cachaça for Vodka (which is very common) but it is also common to exchange for Sake. A Strawberry Sakerinha (caipinha but with sake) is an all time favorite for me.
Momokawa is great US sake! Their organic Nigori is comparable to a fantastic $50 bottle of Japanese Nigori that I've had. I used to live in Tokyo and there was a sake shop on the way from the train station to my apartment where I used to get a new bottle every week, so I've had a fair amount of exposure to sake. If you're gonna try hot sake, definitely use the cheaper one. Also, eat the plums! They're delicious and boozy. I actually like the plums more than the actual plum wine because it's too sweet for my tastes.
Takacho Bodaimoto Regal Hawk Sake, if you're looking for that massive full body Rich to the point of fatty (and sweet) sake. its like 40 somethin bucks, just hard to get. Legitimately some of the online shops will only sell you *one* to preserve what bottles they got.
Gekkeikan, or 月桂冠 (げっけいか） is pronounced gek-KAY-kan and literally translates to "Laurel Wreath," and Momokawa, which didn't have any Kanji on the packaging so I can't know for sure, but most likely is 百川 （ももかわ）which means 100 rivers, is pronounced mo-mo-KA-wa. Both brands are brewed in USA, with Momogawa being brewed in Oregon and Gekkeikan in California ^-^ if you're looking for a good sake, Hakkaisan Junmai Daiginjo (八海山純米大吟醸) is a good place to start. They have various types and their prices range from $11-80ish, but they are the most popular sake brewers in Japan.
I love this series, if for no other reason than to showcase how most chain co.'s just use fillers and well liquor to make their drinks, then charge $16 with a straight face for a watered-down Blue Hawaiian. I also admire that you didn't let your channel go down the road of pandering to viewers and following page hit count to determine content. The "Customer is Always Wrong" and similar series are, obviously, your top hitters, but this is about making GOOD drinks, not bad ones. As you mention in this vid, this is about making bad cocktails good, not just drinking crappy cocktails and suffering. So many UA-camrs are willing to just do the same thing over and over again, generally involving debasing themselves and/or some manner of unpleasantness so long as it drags in the page hits, and it's great you just went on with what you want to do with your page. I did like TCIAW, but I wouldn't blame you if you didn't go back to it when so many people seemed to think that was the new direction of the channel. Same for this series, it's not ALL this channel does, it's an occasional special, with regular content in between, and again, it's great you've kept control of the content, and not chasing page hits and an algorithm 🍻
I know this neat recipe for a sake based cocktail that's somewhere between a mojito and a mule. Take a half-cup of sake, preferably a dry sake, and let it sit and infuse with cucumber slices, cilantro sprigs, and slices of peeled fresh ginger for a minimum of 6 hours. After infusion, pour half of it into a glass with ice, then finish it with an ounce of lime juice and ginger beer, garnished with a lime slice.
You should keep an eye out for a Honjozo sake. It's undiluted (sake is typically fermented to 19-20% and then diluted down to 12-14%) and unpastuerized. Has a much heavier body and you get a lot more flavor of the rice, yeast, and koji
I would love an episode of Greg doing some research and learning about sake and trying a few different bottles. It would be a nice change of spirit to work with.
I have an idea, a challenge one might say. What are your recommended / go to cocktails, you would make when you do not have any utensils on hand (no shaker no barspoon ect.) For example when you are invited to a homeparty and you can only bring very limited amount of bottles with you, or for viewers (like me) who do not own anything yet.
I absolutely love RumHaven! (To me) you can taste that they use real coconut water and cane sugar to sweeten it. It just tastes like sweet boozy coconut water. To me Malibu can’t even begin to hold a candle to Rum Haven.
It's a shame he didn't (or wasn't able to) pick up a bottle for this episode. It is so much better than malibu. I was visiting family across the country and they sent someone out to pick up a bottle and I was like wait a minute, you guys know about Rum Haven?!
Greg, if you think that sake isn't high enough proof to make cocktails with, maybe consider picking up sochu, which is distilled rice spirits with a higher proof than sake.
Sake cocktail: the Sake Temple (adapted and renamed from the Spirit Seers YT channel). 3 oz sake, 1 oz grenadine, 1 oz lime juice. Shake and strain into a chilled glass. Served up.
When asking Meredith to have some wine with a sophisticated man during the Bright Cellars bit, I was definitely getting James Mason/Orson Welles vibes.
As someone who doesn't drink alcohol but finds all of this intriguing, have you ever done an episode on non-alcoholic drinks? Soft drinks, non-alcoholic cocktails, the works? From Virgin Maries to home-made soft drinks?
Choya is a great intro to plum wine, drank way to much when I was stationed in Japan. Sake is about as diverse in variety as wine is. I’d love more from u on sake
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I’ve done some study of sake and have tried… IDK… SO MANY. Your assessment of the Gekkigan and the Momokawa are on point😂 They're very... Approachable. 😅 If you're interested in trying something a little more fun go with Kibo! They taste of amber and apples and pears. I love love love Yuzu sake is dangerous because it tastes like lemonade and I can and have pounded that ish. 😂 Nigori is just unfiltered! It’s fun! I love it! Korean makgeoli is also LOTS of fun! It’s good! Love Choya!
Oh man, welcome to the club of loving Choya umeshu plum wine! Try a good pour with maybe 1/2oz of lemon juice lengthened with soda. And absolutely try the plums at the bottom of the bottle-- they're just so good with vanilla ice cream.
Kinda neat to see Momokawa when I live just a few blocks from the SakéOne sakéry where it's made. A bit confused why it's showing up in drinks in a Chinese (ostensibly) restaurant, but, whatever. I guess Kyoto is in China now.
For anyone planning on visiting Japan my one piece of advice is to not call it sake “socky”, because that is literally the term used for alcohol. If you want what we call sake in America, you have to ask and order using the term nihonshu, 日本酒 Sake recommendation is a brand called Dassai, it’s delicious Also Choya is super authentic but not too brand (can be found in every supermarket).
I checked the description before saying this and im glad i did! I was going to say that Greg and Meredith should include the final recipes in the description after seeing him increase the amount of coconut rum in the second drink but they already do!
Would it be worth trying a non coconut rum and then substituting coconut cream for actual cream? Also I know that sodastreams say not to but could you carbonate your cream component directly then add it in after the shake.
Tasted unfiltered sake in Japan for the first time. After having only heated sake at generic sushi joints my whole life the unfiltered ones were a total game changer!
GREG! In Japan you always drink that plum wine (with the plums floating in it, called umeshu pronounced ooo-may-shoe) on the rocks with a touch of syrup ^^ it's one of my all time favorite summer drinks!
Choya is gosh darn delicous, I'm always sure to order one at my local sushi restaurant and they serve cute single serve bottles which are essentially the large bottle (pull tab included) shrunk down. Goes down nicely in a cold, short glass with a splash of carbonated water. You can also eat the plums after finishing the bottle and achieve a nice buzz.
Oh I really don't like the idea of spiders in straws :( And if you're looking for some episode interest, would you ever want to do a deep dive history on some Halloween themed cocktails? When they first started showing up, prevalence in mainstream etc. and if they actually taste good or if they're just for the looks and high proof
The big thing with sake, at least in my opinion and I'm no expert, is understanding what temp you should be drinking it at. Sake's really open up when you drink it at the proper temp for whatever type of sake it is so maybe something to look into if you want to learn more about sake Greg 🤙
AH! Im so excited to see Choya getting reviewed here! Its one of my favorite wines. So glad to see it passes the HTD test. I dont know if its sacrilegious BUT I have mixed it into ginger drinks and I think it goes well with it (for my uneducated tastebuds lol) if you want to give it a shot.
When it comes to sake they can vary greatly if you chill or warm them. If I am remembering correctly, the general stereotype is that chilled sake is usually reserved for the most expensive sake. While warm sake is usually cheaper stuff to improve the flavor. (please, correct me if I'm mistaken!) Regardless you should do a Sake tasting episode! I couldn't begin to suggest what brands to look at, but its bound to be interesting!
Momokawa from Sakeone! I work at a winery in Oregon just down the street and they came to an event we had and served sake. They make really good stuff. Their moonstone is delicious. And they brought a sushi chef and gave us free sake and sushi all night lol
As a former P.F. Chang's bartender I can confirm your opinions. Our food was mediocre but our cocktails were surprisingly good I still use our Agave Margarita and Asian Pear Mojito recipes at home.
I don't know how reasonable it is for you to travel. Still, I'd love to see you and Meredith go to Japan and do the Trash Taste Podcast, like your Caribean content, and Explore Japan with one of the Japan Travel Tubers (John Duab, Chris Broad or Connor). Food and drink are excellent reasons to travel.
With sake you want that cloudy look, it shows a good brew on it and has a good body. Cheaper sake is usually clearer and to hide that is served in frosted sake cups to get the appearance of a better quality. Now I could be remembering that wrong as I'm by no means an expert, so take that with a grain of salt
I went to Longhorn Steakhouse this evening and ordered an old fashioned, which is actually on their short drinks menu... They served it to me in a martini glass, with no ice in sight, and a single cherry dropped into it. My revenge for charging me $10 for room temperature bourbon and a cherry is to come here and request that you visit Longhorn Steakhouse in this series.
Almost went real bad for me on the way home there...
Also just now remembering the typo I saw in here spelling it "Saki" and I'm certain I forgot to fix it... So yes, I know.
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Outback gave me a soap drink: ua-cam.com/video/94L-qkYZids/v-deo.html
I can't believe they serve this: ua-cam.com/video/k_920O41XYs/v-deo.html
I messed with Texas (roadhouse): ua-cam.com/video/vUw0hwbM6cE/v-deo.html
I tried desperately to fix the bad drinks from Chili's: ua-cam.com/video/1mDN1XYYm6A/v-deo.html
Is vacation Greg the descendant of unhinged British war gentlemen Greg for Bright Cellars?
It's not Sockey....Sa-k
I gotta recommend Dave and Busters (as I usually do) for good food, and good drinks. Greg, they have games too, they have a whole arcade!!!
ironically "saki" is right if you went off of how you were actually pronouncing it the entire episode. the "e" in "sake" should be like the "é" in "pokémon" -- "eh" or "ey", not "ee"
also, a note about the momokawa: you're probably not totally off about it being kind of water-like. iirc, they have very soft water there, which reflects in the sake being very soft and slippery. if you're looking for really punchy flavors, try nama (unpasteurized) sake!! you might have to get it from sake-specific retailers, but it's worth it if you're looking to try something really distinctive.
@@kirale1172 They should have spelled it "socky" even. I've quit trying to correct people on this since I live in the land where "karaoke" became "Karry-oki".
In case no one has said it yet, the texture in cocktail 2 you aren’t able to figure it probably comes from The nigori sake. Sake types are differentiated by how much of the rice hull is ground off before fermentation, and nigori uses almost the whole brown grain, and then pulverized it without filtration, so there is a rice “pulp” of sorts that settles to the bottom of a bottle. You can agitate it throughout the bottle, and it has a very creamy, almost “chewy” texture with strong fruit notes depending on the bottle. Goes great with spicy curries, and apparently with coconut rum!
Maybe, but he did say it had a curdled quality and if you put lemon juice in cream (as per the cocktail) it will definitely curdle and you will probably perceive that texture
@@MinaF99 good point!
I'm skeptical that the texture from the sake sediment could affect the texture of the cocktail to that degree, though I agree that it definitely would contribute. I've had that kind of sake before; it isn't so thick that it would single-handedly make a drink creamy, especially if it gets diluted with other things, plus ice. But maybe like gomme syrup, it'll add just a tiny bit of viscosity and silkiness, plus bonus graininess.
I agree entirely, Sake is such an incredible drink. I think adding the sake into the first drink could have brought a lot of subtle depth to it and could have extenuated those floral notes in the finish.
I came just to mention nigori lol…
Conspiracy theory: these chain restaurants are catching on to you. They figured out where you live and have told all the bartenders in the area to watch out for you and Meredith and make your drinks with the top shelf stuff so they get good videos.
Depends massively on who you catch on shift!
Ha. Wouldn't that require them to HAVE "top shelf stuff"? I would think they only stock the bare minimum.
@@DanThePropMan The bare minimum, and maybe one step above it if they're fancy.
I just became a bartender at PF Chang's it's so funny that you made a video on Chang's the 2 drinks you tried are our new sake drinks that they came up with to push sake and those drinks are actually getting taken off the menu within the next month but the reason it taste like fresh strawberries is because we muddle strawberries in the drink
sound like they're good because they're too expensive to sell then
Yeah, the people willing to pay $13 for a cocktail are not the people going to chain restaurants for drinks. They sound really good, and I wish I could find some Asian-style bars around me.
@@leohuang2610 I wanna get blitzed in a PF Changs for the lolz now
@@prisonerr24601 "I wanna get blitzed in a PF Changs" is actually the title of the first album from Korean Pop Sensation "For Teh Lolz", oddly enough...
@@leohuang2610 my wallet hurt reading that price
Sake has three drinks in one bottle. You can drink it warmed, ice cold, or room temperature. The flavour notes change depending upon the temperature it is served.
idk why, but I love the cheap, warm sake that smells like sweetened acetone
The perfect accompaniment to overpriced sushi
@@xyzpdq1122 even better if you chase the hot sake with cold beer
@@xyzpdq1122 As long as you're warming up cheap sake, I really can't object. It pains me to warm good sake, but there's something special about a warm cup of cheap sake in the middle of winter :)
They're generally certain kinds that are better at the different temps. Just like you could drink champagne warm... Or iced red wine (but vintage champagne shouldn't be ice cold, and I'm not going to chill a fancy cab).
I'm not going to heat up my daiginjo, and as others said, cheap sake is almost what I almost always see for atsukan. But hey, everyone can drink as they want 😁
May sound cheap but Gekkeikan sake is one of my favorites, it's also the most readily available for me to lol. Nigori sake is really good as well. I've done a few light cocktails using sake
Someone else probably has mentioned it but the yuzu sake tastes VERY different than what people typically think of when they think of sake. It is almost more akin to limoncello so good job adding lemon juice and simple. 👍
Fun fact the two non-creamy sakes you tried were a type called Junmai. The smoother and more water-like in texture/look a junmai is, the more coveted it is (not always but putting it broadly). For a very bold flavor profile look into a Junmai Daiginjo, which polishes the rice at a much higher percent. I personally like Bunraku and Dassai 45 for cocktails!
Greg, you have the components for a Purple Haze right there. Plum wine and sake in equal measures, served hot and taken as shots. One of my favorites for sure!
Nigori sake is unfiltered, and definitely adds to that texture in the original cocktail.
Junmai, Honjozo, Futsushu, and some other types of sake are the ones served warm/hot, and chances are that is what was causing you to want more character out of the dry sakes tasted.
I was writing a similar comment whenever he was trying to find that texture in his own drink, I don’t know if he mentioned it but glad someone else thought this too
Doing a sake episode would be awesome! I love sake but never really know what kinds to buy
I don't know if you've done this already, but a series idea: Choose a mixer, present a variety of different drinks that use that mixer, then devise a new drink featuring it. For example, an episode on pimento dram, an episode on green or yellow chartreuse, an episode on chocolate bitters...
Along with that he could occasionally throw in a “cursed” version of your idea with like horrible frat house mixers commonly found at college parties for Back-to-School.
“On today’s HtD SunnyD screwdrivers, Kool-aid cosmos, and Russian Blackouts featuring Yoo-hoos and Everclear”
Great idea
Hey Greg, Sake is often enjoyed hot. I'd love to see you do a revisit episode where you get a sake heater and try a bunch of different sakes.
Yeah, it's either served warmed or chilled. AFAIK the general preference these days for the premium stuff is chilled, but the rougher stuff warmed.
He needs to get sponsored by the sake subscription box tippsy. A couple boxes should sort him out!
Ancient technology of microwave
@@AshenVictor This is my understanding. If it tastes gross cold, warm it to save it. Also tourists want hot, so serve them the hot trash.
I've had heated sake and it's delightful once you know what to expect. Would definitely love to see an episode of greg exploring the different types of sake
I think a tasting episode on different sake would be interesting, especially if you also compared chilled to warmed.
One thing I have noticed with sake drinks, is they tend to carry texture waaaaaaaay better than other drinks I have had. Not sure if it’s cultural, and they just focus on it more, or if the sake itself serves as a better suspension substrate for thinks like pulp, or cream, to make something FEEL like coconut or anything else in your mouth.
I saw "Hakutsuru Sayrui Nigori" in the ingredients and heard "I don't know sake" and immediately feared a key ingredient would be left out or improperly replaced. Glad someone (Greg? Meredith?) [edit: Meredith - revealed 3 seconds after I submitted the comment] was able to grab another nigori sake (/sa-kei/) for the sake (/seik/) of the creaminess of the second cocktail, rather than trying to merge a clear sake (/sa-kei/) into it.
I love watching the edited process of Greg tasting the rums, the sake, thinking about how to make the drink. I'd have quite happily watched an extra minute of that. I know it's a longer episode tho.
I don’t know if you ever will see this, but I bartended at a Japanese Izakaya for years. Let me know if you want to do like a sake and sochu based episode, I’ll hook you up with some recipes.
Edit: nigori sakes need to be shaken really well before pouring. Just noticed that.
Double edit: you had the name pretty spot on, it’s “gay key con”. Comment police, that’s a pronunciation key.
TRIPLE edit: the momokawa sake is made here in “ore-gun” but in a traditional way. It’s fairly popular with the Japanese population here.
Gehk-kay-kahn, it isn't spelled Geikikon it is spelled Gekkeikan
I went to a liquor store looking for Kaoliang after your video on making drinks from 3 awful bottles, and they didn't have any. When I described it and why I wanted it (to make me and my friends suffer) the employee thought for a second and then recommended Choya. He said it was super sour and would probably be comparable. I was both sad and happy that it was not in fact comparable to Kaoliang. Choya is delicious and might be my absolute favorite wine I've ever tried. I still need to get a bottle of Kaoliang though to torture my friends with...
Greg is putting his body on the line for us with these chain restaurant visits. Thank you for your service, sir!
LOVE that you're tasting sake and plum wine! Such long and fascinating histories to delve deeper into. Would love to see you explore Asian alcohols more - some of the world's 50 best bars are now in East Asia using local spirits/ingredients and challenging the perception that cocktails are only for "Westerners."
Some of the texture for the second drink came from the particular Sake used…Nigori Sakes ( pretty much the only type I truly enjoy ) are usually a creamy color with a vague coconut-esque texture due to it being either unfiltered or very lightly filtered.
Nigori sake is best sake. (At least in terms of the stuff that doesn't just have stuff added to it.) All of the filtered sake tastes like I'm drinking slippery water. I have the same thoughts on soju.
Glad I searched the comments, first, as I was coming down here to say the same.
I love Gregg! He's so upbeat every single video and his quality of video is great. I love the episodes when he can't control his mouth and swears like a sailor. I want to see a episode with Meredith on camera more.
I'd say the most important thing for you to do is have fun while making the show! Chains Across America is definitely a fun series. The strawberry drink's yuzu component made me think of that yuzu hard seltzer you tried in the seltzer episode. The main use of sake I see in my area is when bars don't have their full liquor license but want to sell cocktails. So, rice wine cocktails are the loophole. It gets used as a sub for vodka, tequila, rum, and maybe gin as far as I know. Also I love when you taste things. It feels informative.
Been really into sake for a long time. One very tricky aspect of sake is the fact that it's very temperature sensitive. I never really tried to make cocktails from it since I just enjoy sake for the itself. If you're inclined to learn more and you're still in/near NYC, I have places for you to visit and people for you to talk to.
Please drop recs for those of us in the city!
@@nealarmstrong3050 I got 3:
Sakaya on 9th st (keep walking past Veselka's). Owned by Rick and Hiroko, it's a small store that only sells sake. I've been a customer since the first week they opened, and they're awesome. They'll really help educate which sake for what situation, and what temp to serve it at. Lots of times I'll bring sake with me in a water bottle to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, and for that I'll request sake that are better at room temp. If you go, tell them Michael sent you.
Decibel is also on 9th st, across the street from Veselka's and up the street a bit. This is a sake bar, and it used to be nearly impossible to find because the front door is through the basement entrance, like a speakeasy. Now, they have a big street-side area thanks to covid, so just look for that. I used to take friends here and pick sake's based on their drink preference when I wanted to look cool. Excellent selection, and good japanese style bar food. Also, cost is pretty reasonable.
Sakagura is on 43rd between 3rd and 2nd, and is owned by the same people who own Decibel, but this is their fancy restaurant, so be prepared to spend a bit. You. Will. NOT. find this place if you don't know what you're looking for. The entrance is in through the lobby of an office building (look for a tiny sign a little bigger than a sheet of paper next to the glass doors), and at the elevators take the maintenance stairs down into the basement to find my absolute favorite Japanese restaurant in the city. One time my friends took me there for my birthday, and I asked for the sake menu to, again, look cool. I opened it to find that it is not categorized by type, but by region, and I quickly begged the waiter to help me because I was out of my depth. The food is phenomenal, the sake selection is bonkers, but their secret weapon is the Black Sesame Creme Brulee. That one dessert was instrumental to a number of successful dates.
@@geromyre amazing list, very appreciated
Nigori sake is a cloudy semi sweet sake, its does this by retaining the rice lees. That mixed with the heavy cream is probably what gave that texture to the pf changs drink
100%, Sayuri sake retains some of the rice from fermentation and this gives both a creamy texture and a sweeter taste in the finished wine. No question that the texture of the drink from p.f. changs is from the Sayuri sake.
Julia Momose's Bar Kumiko in Chicago is one of the best in America, and her book The Way of the Cocktail is a great quick primer on sake & sake cocktails (and Japan's cocktail culture) for anyone interested.
Greg saying "Sake" caused me to take 1d4 psychic damage every time he said it.
I think he parroted Meredith after she said it wrong, and stuck with that the whole episode.
It's not super horrible but I get what you mean.
@@logansullins4545 I don’t think it’s Meredith’s fault, “sawkee” is a very common mispronunciation.
Japanese pronounciation is tricky, and it's not helped at all by how Japanese words get romanized. If you don't already know that the "e" is pronounced like a long "a" (like in "say") then it can be an easy mistake to make. At least he DID pronounce the "e" instead of pronouncing it like "say-k", and he got the pronunciation of the "sah" correct. He did better than a lot of people I've heard. Who knows, maybe he'll do some research into Japanese pronunciation if he ever does a proper episode on sake!
And for anyone curious, the proper pronunciation is "sah-kay" with nice round vowel sounds.
@@samdoehart1333 I've never understood why people get hung up on this. Japanese accents cause the sounds you're talking about, American accents cause the other. The point of a language is to impart information from one person to another, and if the area they're in has equated the idea of sake with the pronunciation "sawkee" then to say it in another way that people don't understand defeats the entire purpose of saying it. Affecting an accent you don't actually have often comes off as posturing as well, so why insist on people trying to change their accent to fit someone elses?
Maybe you can partner up with another youtuber that knows Sake well? I personally love the drink but I can't really sip on alcohol anymore so seeing some Sake cocktails would be neat. Also youtuber collabs tend to be fun anyway!
It would be so fun to see a cookbook out of you guys one of these days. Yall make so many interesting drinks that need to be preserved.
The Momokawa sake is made not far from my hometown. I was part of their sake club for many years. Totally worth going to the kura for a tour. They also make sake cocktails in their tasting room. If you are in Oregon, definitely go for it.
I'd absolutely love to see you try sake! Though I'm really not sure how well sake would do for mixing. One of the things about sake is that it's meant to be more subtle and enjoyed on its own. Interestingly, it is actually meant to be enjoyed warm in some cases! I'm not an expert but I'd definitely recommend doing some research into it. You could find a new thing to enjoy!
Also, that Choya Plum Wine looks like a proper Japanese umeshu (pronounced oo-may-shoo)! It's actually made by taking ume plums and just adding them to a bottle of liquor with sugar, and so isn't really a proper wine but more of a fruit infusion.
Sake makes great cocktails! Lots of Japanese restaurants in my city do sake based cocktails, they're fab. It's an oversimplification but the best comparison for mixed drinks would be you can use it the same way you'd use whiskey but it can also take some more delicate flavours.
I enjoy the Chains of America series, but then I find the energy you bring to this channel very entertaining. ☺️
Back a couple decades ago I went to a Japanese restaurant in Vallejo, Ca. They only had a beer and wine liquor license. Since sake is only 14% alcohol it is consider a wine. Their bar served all the mixed drinks using sake as a replacement. My suggestion is making your classic mixed drinks while substituting sake for the regular alcohols like gin, vodka, whiskey and rum.
I still don't know how I ended up on this channel, but I LOVE it! Greg is hilarious and informative and the production values are spectacular. I'm assuming that is all Meredith - awesome set, camera work, sound, plus the captions on the upper left can be so damn funny. Keep it up and thank you!
its funny, i have actually drank all of the sakes purchased. the Momo Kawas are actually brewed here in Oregon in Forest Grove. they are the only sake distillery that is outside of Japan that has an Official Japanese brewers mark, i.e. the distillery was inspected and approved by a Japanese sake brewmaster. and the stock of mold that they make the sakes from is from a distillery in japan. they have tours and sake tasting events every now and then. Also, the choya is my personal favorite. i drink it stright, so goood, i have drank entire bottles all by myself, they also have single serve versions that they sell.
Go for a bottle of Ile Four Yuzu Sake, the stuff has nothing to do with proper Sake, but it is incredibly delicious and I think it works great in Cocktails and would have been perfect here for your drink. I can also send a bottle over from europe since I work at a place that sells them, if you have a post box. Also if you ever need some stuff from Germany/Austria specifically I could also send some of that.
Send Greg some licorice Mentos. :)
9:43 the delivery of the "lotta spiders here in the how to drink bar" was perfect, gave me a good chuckle
If you're going for coconut texture and flavor, I'd say use coconut cream. We keep the stuff around as a staple at my place, to use in curries and tikkas, and the stuff goes phenomenally in drinks as well.
Came here to say this.
Hi from Japan! Umeshu, plum wine, is huge and I'm glad you loved the Choya! Plum wine is so good. It's also super easy to make your own at home. Wife's family let us sample some they'd had stored away for almost 2 decades...great stuff!
Greg you’d be proud of me. My wife asked for a creamy drink that tastes like key lime pie. I came up with a key lime daiquiri with a quarter oz of vanilla flavor and an egg white. It’s becoming a signature of the house.
Choya's a good example of plum wine! You can keep them in the fridge for a good long while and eat the plum at the bottom once you're done. Also good cut with hot water for a cold day!
I definitely recommend trying the strawberry drink with yuzu sake or at least yuzu juice in the mix. it's a really unique citrus flavor and probably brings a lot to the drink.
Momokawa is pretty nice. I'm also a fan of unfiltered sake and it comes across as a nice dessert drink. For what it's worth, the majority of sake that's warmed up in Japan tends to hide the bad qualities that come out when it's cold, so if it's meant to be served cold and it's good, you have a better product.
You know, if you made official How To Drink stickers, you could use those to tell the drinks in the thermos' apart, before you even pour them.
So I think some How To Drink stickers would be super useful, for you, and not just something I want to buy and put on things myself.
Yeah if they could get H2D brand stickers that are those fancy whiteboard stickers that would be epic
Hey Greg, you mentioned that you don't know much about sake and I think a lot of people don't - Myself included!
That said, i would love to see an episode where you do a deep dive a la your "What Is" or "Basics" store episode all about you kind of learning about Sake!
Thanks for being a relatable dude in all of these! I love your stuff man!
I didcovered that Choya plum wine a couple years ago and really fell in love with it. I like eating the boozy plums at the bottom too.
Choya is delicious, one of my favorites
I’ve been bartending at PF. Chang’s for a year now and it was cool to see your riffs on the sake drinks. Would’ve liked to see you try the sake warrior. Its a bit higher proof than the lotus and pretty refreshing as well. I think you would’ve liked that drink as well. Always enjoy watching your vids and trying your drinks. Great video!
Choya is amazing, though it's very sweet. I recommend it on the ice and with a splash of water. If you want a cocktail you can always sub the water for cranberry juice or other kinds of juice.
Sake carries other flavors very well because the default base flavor is "Hint of hint of that one note that makes wine taste like wine" and nothing else, which is why you don't usually mix with it unless you want to add some wine-level alcohol content into something with effectively no flavor change. Having tried several kinds of sake, there are a fair few that your mouth basically stops processing. Like, water you can still tell you have in your mouth, sake just kinda vanishes and it's very disconcerting. Plum wine has a lovely flavor, what kinds I've had, and I bet you could make a very like, light low abv spring/summer beverage with it
One of my go-to sake drinks is the Scotch Pearl. It doesn't have Scotch in it but it does have Momokawa Pearl.
60 ml Hendrick's
20 ml Momokawa Pearl sake
15 ml simple
8 ml plain rice wine vinegar (do NOT use flavoured rice wine vinegar)
1 clear boba rehydrated with lime cordial
We shook it because we wanted the nigori sake to froth and create a creamy texture. Lime cordial boba on the bottom of a 5 oz coupe and double strain.
The cloudy stuff in the second drink is rice pulp from the unfliterd negorizaki. That’s special sake that is left with a cloudyness and dairy like texture often flavored with fruit.
Don Q Cristal is the perfect neutral cocktail mixer. Great for mojitos, frozen strawberry “daiquiris”…etc..
I invented a cocktail, I call it the Banana Sundae.
Recipe:
1 part Howler Monkey Banana Whiskey
1 part Pinnacle Whip Vodka
1 part Screwball peanut butter whiskey
1 part chocolate liqueur (or thoroughly shaken with chocolate syrup)
A splash of orange juice (this is optional but recommended)
The Momokawa sake comes from SakeOne in Oregon. They make their own, but also import a large amount of other brands into the US
I don't drink much anymore, but I went through a phase in college where I got kind of obsessed with sparkling sake. Man, that stuff was tasty.
Because you mentioned not drinking a lot of Sake. I am Brazilian and it is fairly popular to make a Caipirinha but exchange the Cachaça for Vodka (which is very common) but it is also common to exchange for Sake. A Strawberry Sakerinha (caipinha but with sake) is an all time favorite for me.
Unfiltered sake is the best, I often prefer it to beer and wine and it pairs well with lots of food. It's so sweet!
Momokawa is great US sake! Their organic Nigori is comparable to a fantastic $50 bottle of Japanese Nigori that I've had. I used to live in Tokyo and there was a sake shop on the way from the train station to my apartment where I used to get a new bottle every week, so I've had a fair amount of exposure to sake. If you're gonna try hot sake, definitely use the cheaper one. Also, eat the plums! They're delicious and boozy. I actually like the plums more than the actual plum wine because it's too sweet for my tastes.
Takacho Bodaimoto Regal Hawk Sake, if you're looking for that massive full body Rich to the point of fatty (and sweet) sake. its like 40 somethin bucks, just hard to get. Legitimately some of the online shops will only sell you *one* to preserve what bottles they got.
Gekkeikan, or 月桂冠 (げっけいか） is pronounced gek-KAY-kan and literally translates to "Laurel Wreath," and Momokawa, which didn't have any Kanji on the packaging so I can't know for sure, but most likely is 百川 （ももかわ）which means 100 rivers, is pronounced mo-mo-KA-wa. Both brands are brewed in USA, with Momogawa being brewed in Oregon and Gekkeikan in California ^-^ if you're looking for a good sake, Hakkaisan Junmai Daiginjo (八海山純米大吟醸) is a good place to start. They have various types and their prices range from $11-80ish, but they are the most popular sake brewers in Japan.
I love this series, if for no other reason than to showcase how most chain co.'s just use fillers and well liquor to make their drinks, then charge $16 with a straight face for a watered-down Blue Hawaiian.
I also admire that you didn't let your channel go down the road of pandering to viewers and following page hit count to determine content. The "Customer is Always Wrong" and similar series are, obviously, your top hitters, but this is about making GOOD drinks, not bad ones. As you mention in this vid, this is about making bad cocktails good, not just drinking crappy cocktails and suffering. So many UA-camrs are willing to just do the same thing over and over again, generally involving debasing themselves and/or some manner of unpleasantness so long as it drags in the page hits, and it's great you just went on with what you want to do with your page. I did like TCIAW, but I wouldn't blame you if you didn't go back to it when so many people seemed to think that was the new direction of the channel. Same for this series, it's not ALL this channel does, it's an occasional special, with regular content in between, and again, it's great you've kept control of the content, and not chasing page hits and an algorithm 🍻
I know this neat recipe for a sake based cocktail that's somewhere between a mojito and a mule.
Take a half-cup of sake, preferably a dry sake, and let it sit and infuse with cucumber slices, cilantro sprigs, and slices of peeled fresh ginger for a minimum of 6 hours.
After infusion, pour half of it into a glass with ice, then finish it with an ounce of lime juice and ginger beer, garnished with a lime slice.
You should keep an eye out for a Honjozo sake. It's undiluted (sake is typically fermented to 19-20% and then diluted down to 12-14%) and unpastuerized. Has a much heavier body and you get a lot more flavor of the rice, yeast, and koji
I would love an episode of Greg doing some research and learning about sake and trying a few different bottles. It would be a nice change of spirit to work with.
I have an idea, a challenge one might say.
What are your recommended / go to cocktails, you would make when you do not have any utensils on hand (no shaker no barspoon ect.) For example when you are invited to a homeparty and you can only bring very limited amount of bottles with you, or for viewers (like me) who do not own anything yet.
I absolutely love RumHaven! (To me) you can taste that they use real coconut water and cane sugar to sweeten it. It just tastes like sweet boozy coconut water. To me Malibu can’t even begin to hold a candle to Rum Haven.
It's a shame he didn't (or wasn't able to) pick up a bottle for this episode. It is so much better than malibu. I was visiting family across the country and they sent someone out to pick up a bottle and I was like wait a minute, you guys know about Rum Haven?!
Greg, if you think that sake isn't high enough proof to make cocktails with, maybe consider picking up sochu, which is distilled rice spirits with a higher proof than sake.
if you are hunting for ideas try Recreating some of the drinks from Kentucky route zero, also try playing it! its an experience of a game
Sake cocktail: the Sake Temple (adapted and renamed from the Spirit Seers YT channel). 3 oz sake, 1 oz grenadine, 1 oz lime juice. Shake and strain into a chilled glass. Served up.
When asking Meredith to have some wine with a sophisticated man during the Bright Cellars bit, I was definitely getting James Mason/Orson Welles vibes.
My god do you flatter, such titans of sophistication to be compared with!
I like the sort of outtake footage at the end of the episode. That’s a nice way to add more video time and use more of the footage from recording.
As someone who doesn't drink alcohol but finds all of this intriguing, have you ever done an episode on non-alcoholic drinks? Soft drinks, non-alcoholic cocktails, the works? From Virgin Maries to home-made soft drinks?
Choya is a great intro to plum wine, drank way to much when I was stationed in Japan. Sake is about as diverse in variety as wine is. I’d love more from u on sake
I’ve done some study of sake and have tried… IDK… SO MANY. Your assessment of the Gekkigan and the Momokawa are on point😂 They're very... Approachable. 😅
If you're interested in trying something a little more fun go with Kibo! They taste of amber and apples and pears.
I love love love
Yuzu sake is dangerous because it tastes like lemonade and I can and have pounded that ish. 😂
Nigori is just unfiltered! It’s fun! I love it! Korean makgeoli is also LOTS of fun! It’s good!
Love Choya!
Oh man, welcome to the club of loving Choya umeshu plum wine! Try a good pour with maybe 1/2oz of lemon juice lengthened with soda. And absolutely try the plums at the bottom of the bottle-- they're just so good with vanilla ice cream.
Kinda neat to see Momokawa when I live just a few blocks from the SakéOne sakéry where it's made.
A bit confused why it's showing up in drinks in a Chinese (ostensibly) restaurant, but, whatever. I guess Kyoto is in China now.
my favourite drink has Plum Wine (Takara). It's 2oz Suntory Whisky, 1.5oz takara plum wine, 1/2oz Cynar, and 2 dashes bokers (or fee bro's cardamom bitters).
I've always liked plum wine. I don't get it often but it is a nice treat every now and then.
For anyone planning on visiting Japan my one piece of advice is to not call it sake “socky”, because that is literally the term used for alcohol.
If you want what we call sake in America, you have to ask and order using the term nihonshu, 日本酒
Sake recommendation is a brand called Dassai, it’s delicious
Also Choya is super authentic but not too brand (can be found in every supermarket).
I checked the description before saying this and im glad i did! I was going to say that Greg and Meredith should include the final recipes in the description after seeing him increase the amount of coconut rum in the second drink but they already do!
Equal parts chilled Choya and Nigori is one of my favourite sippers.
Would it be worth trying a non coconut rum and then substituting coconut cream for actual cream? Also I know that sodastreams say not to but could you carbonate your cream component directly then add it in after the shake.
Tasted unfiltered sake in Japan for the first time. After having only heated sake at generic sushi joints my whole life the unfiltered ones were a total game changer!
GREG! In Japan you always drink that plum wine (with the plums floating in it, called umeshu pronounced ooo-may-shoe) on the rocks with a touch of syrup ^^ it's one of my all time favorite summer drinks!
Choya is gosh darn delicous, I'm always sure to order one at my local sushi restaurant and they serve cute single serve bottles which are essentially the large bottle (pull tab included) shrunk down. Goes down nicely in a cold, short glass with a splash of carbonated water.
You can also eat the plums after finishing the bottle and achieve a nice buzz.
Adding a little framboise to sake takes off the "sweat sock" edge - it's called a purple haze.
The Roku gin used for the first drink at the restaurant is a yuzu gin, which is my fave gin. Yummm!
Oh I really don't like the idea of spiders in straws :(
And if you're looking for some episode interest, would you ever want to do a deep dive history on some Halloween themed cocktails? When they first started showing up, prevalence in mainstream etc. and if they actually taste good or if they're just for the looks and high proof
Oh, what a tangled web we weave when we put spiders in straws...
You have quickly become one of my top favorite youtube channels! The algorithm works... sometimes!!! :D
The big thing with sake, at least in my opinion and I'm no expert, is understanding what temp you should be drinking it at. Sake's really open up when you drink it at the proper temp for whatever type of sake it is so maybe something to look into if you want to learn more about sake Greg 🤙
AH! Im so excited to see Choya getting reviewed here! Its one of my favorite wines. So glad to see it passes the HTD test. I dont know if its sacrilegious BUT I have mixed it into ginger drinks and I think it goes well with it (for my uneducated tastebuds lol) if you want to give it a shot.
When it comes to sake they can vary greatly if you chill or warm them.
If I am remembering correctly, the general stereotype is that chilled sake is usually reserved for the most expensive sake. While warm sake is usually cheaper stuff to improve the flavor.
(please, correct me if I'm mistaken!)
Regardless you should do a Sake tasting episode! I couldn't begin to suggest what brands to look at, but its bound to be interesting!
Drinking game: Take a shot every time he mispronounces "Sake"🤣
Why did you do this to me, I'm so drunk after playin this game. ...
This dcinkning game is not sage, sou will probably get dood poison ing
Momokawa from Sakeone! I work at a winery in Oregon just down the street and they came to an event we had and served sake. They make really good stuff. Their moonstone is delicious. And they brought a sushi chef and gave us free sake and sushi all night lol
Rum haven is made with coconut water, and has one of the more "elevated" coconut rum profiles (as much as you can get...)
choya is some tasty stuff, great with seltzer also
As a former P.F. Chang's bartender I can confirm your opinions. Our food was mediocre but our cocktails were surprisingly good I still use our Agave Margarita and Asian Pear Mojito recipes at home.
I don't know how reasonable it is for you to travel. Still, I'd love to see you and Meredith go to Japan and do the Trash Taste Podcast, like your Caribean content, and Explore Japan with one of the Japan Travel Tubers (John Duab, Chris Broad or Connor).
Food and drink are excellent reasons to travel.
I don’t fly, so very hard to get to japan
With sake you want that cloudy look, it shows a good brew on it and has a good body. Cheaper sake is usually clearer and to hide that is served in frosted sake cups to get the appearance of a better quality. Now I could be remembering that wrong as I'm by no means an expert, so take that with a grain of salt
I went to Longhorn Steakhouse this evening and ordered an old fashioned, which is actually on their short drinks menu...
They served it to me in a martini glass, with no ice in sight, and a single cherry dropped into it. My revenge for charging me $10 for room temperature bourbon and a cherry is to come here and request that you visit Longhorn Steakhouse in this series.