The historic Ozeki Brewery - the one's who invented cup Sake! - who is also one of the oldest sake breweries existing today, having been founded in 1711 in Hyogo Japan, has been on a quest to make Sakes more approachable to those outside the Sake community. The result of that is a very fun and colourful set of three fruited Nigori Sakes!

For some quick run-through, Nigori Sakes (Nigori meaning "cloudy") are Sakes that have been coarsely filtered to allow more of the rice mash that goes into producing the Sake itself to fall through and be kept in the bottled Sake for drinking. This is of course completely safe, and perhaps more importantly, makes for a sweeter and more creamy Sake that has become incredibly popular! Think sweet rice pudding with a side of Sake, and you've pretty much nailed how a Nigori might taste.

But Ozeki takes this one step further by combining their Nigori Sakes with an assortment of fruits!

The Ozeki Peach Nigori adds in 7% of peach juice to the Sake, whilst the Ozeki Strawberry Nigori adds Californian strawberries, and finally the Ozeki Pineapple Nigori has Costa Rican pineapples blended in.

These fruited Nigori's have been persistently calling out to us as we browse supermarket shelves and so it's time to pick them up and put them to the test!

Let's go!

Sake Review: Ozeki Peach Nigori

Tasting Notes

Colour: Milky Yogurt.

Aroma: White peach puree - incredibly aromatic.

Taste: White peach flesh - still really aromatic, like the ripest, juiciest peach, but a balanced sweetness that’s not an overkill. Texturally it’s like a probiotic drink with bits of white peach and just the slightest sense of booze.

Finish: Feels slightly grainy - like cooked rice bits with a deep milky, creamy supple sweetness of rice mash or Turkish rice pudding (Sutlac).

My Thoughts

Superb aromas of super fresh, ripe white peach flesh that carries through to the palate. The palate does not disappoint either, I really appreciated that this wasn’t overloaded on sweetness, it still felt very much like eating a peach - estery, aromatic, peach sweetness. 

Nice thicker texture as well that’s always really satisfying. And then on the finish I really liked how I could almost feel the rice bits that melted on the palate and with it came this deep, soft sweetness of mashed rice.

This is such an absolutely addictive Nigori. 

My Rating: 10/10

Sake Review: Ozeki Strawberry Nigori

Tasting Notes

Colour: Raspberry Yogurt.

Aroma: Sweet plum notes, even a touch of dried sour plums and lightly sour field strawberries. It's creamy, yet almost nutty and cheesy at the same time, almost like a soft brie cheese. A slight oxidative quality about it, almost like rancio.

Taste: The body is quite light, it's got a gentle creaminess, with very soft notes of strawberry yogurt. There's a slight sour sweetness to it that almost comes across more closely to sweet plums and it reminds me of umeshu. There's a slight tartness and sourness to it, something of fresh unsweetened strawberry jams made of field strawberries.

Finish: Short, with subtle notes of strawberry gummies.  

My Thoughts

I do find that with flavoured drinks, I always anticipate a stronger, clearer appearance of the advertised flavouring, but in this case, the strawberry notes were not very pronounced. They do come through, but they come off alot closer to field strawberries - the really small ones you might find growing in a meadow that's alittle more tart, and also typically softer and more mushy. It was in a way more natural and organic feeling.

This did however taste quite a bit more like a plum-based drink like umeshu, which was a tad bit confusing for a palate primed for massive vibrant strawberries. The sweet rice notes here were also softer and not so prominent.Nonetheless, it’s a pleasant sipper with subtle sweetness that’s enjoyable for those who like umeshu or strawberry yogurt.

My Rating: 5/10

Sake Review: Ozeki Pineapple Nigori

Tasting Notes

Colour: Really Cloudy Pineapple Juice

Aroma: Very bright and sweet notes of canned pineapple juice. It has a good mix of fruity, musky and sweet, although here the creaminess of the rice is not so prominent. It's quite aromatic.

Taste: The body is quite light and syrupy. Sweet notes of pineapple, here it's not as candied as it was on the nose and it's also much more gentle here. There's also some undertones of jasmine rice, in fact it's alittle gritty like a coarsely milled grits porridge.

Finish: Short, with lingering pineapple hard candy notes.  

My Thoughts

This is really tasty! It has a great, refreshing texture that doesn’t feel too cloying with sweet, juicy pineapple flavours that perked me up. I think this would be great with oilier foods, as it can cut through those greasier textures well.  

Here the rice notes also feel more prominent - even texturally it was grittier which gave it a more rustic feel. I'd say this was the most evenly balanced between the fruit and the Nigori Sake. That said, this isn't all that sweet, and at times might even come off savoury, and just to state the obvious - you have really got to like pineapples.

My Rating: 7/10 

The Conclusion

These three fruited Nigori's from Ozeki were all very interesting takes on the Sake style - and wholly unique! So big kudos to the folks over at Ozeki, for coming up with something that's quite one of a kind. They certainly add to the Sake literature with these, and if you're a Nigori fan, these should definitely be on your checklist - they'll more than catch you by surprise, tasting completely different from the traditional Nigori. Here it's bolder and more flavour forward, and it even got me thinking about using it for cocktails.

Now, for a quick recap of the three,

Ozeki Peach Nigori - This was phenomenal! It's got super fresh aromas of bursting ripened white peach flesh, and that translates to the palate where surprisingly it wasn't overloaded on sweetness; it totally felt like you were taking a bite out of a peach! Super fruity and estery, with a nice thicker texture that mirrored rice pudding. Some melt on the mouth sweetness of rice mash in the finish too! Rating: 10/10

Ozeki Strawberry Nigori - This one wasn't giving strawberries as much as I had hoped, instead it felt closer to meadowy field strawberries instead, where it's alittle more sour and mushy. It ended up actually giving umeshu instead, which was a little bit confusing. To their credit, the strawberries felt more organic in a way, but I was looking more for something that slapped big, juicy strawberries instead. A sidenote, the rice flavours were also largely masked and weren't very prominent either. It's not bad, it does somewhat give strawberry yogurt, but just not what I was expecting. Rating: 5/10 

Ozeki Pineapple Nigori - Very fresh and tasty! But you've got to really like canned pineapples because those flavours are big here. It's not overly sweet, has a nice acidity and muskiness to it, feels very tropical. Into the finish, the rice notes felt almost savoury and more gritty likes grits porridge. This one might be alittle more divisive, and alittle more love-it-or-hate-it, but I did actually enjoy it quite abit. I felt this had perhaps the best contrast of fruit vs. rice. Rating: 7/10