Please Help Japan

Chikusen Cup Sake 

Another one of the 47 cup sakes I bought (one from each prefecture in Japan). Took me ages to work out the name of, and find this brewery. Why is Japanese so hard?

Anyway, pretty sure the sake is called Chikusen (竹泉) and the Brewery is Tajime (田治). Their website is here but only in Japanese, unfortunately.

The reason it took me so long to work out the name is the kanji on the label is "竹", which is (in the reading I know), "Take", or bamboo in English. Turns out it can also be read as "Chiku"!?! Why is Japanese so hard?

Anyway, lets peel back the metal lid and sip from the glass cup...

First off, there's the basic sake smell (alcohol and rice), nothing distinctive there.

On the palate, it's got quite a strong tangy taste, you can feel the alcohol. Not too sharp and acidic, just a slight tang on the tongue (not sure if tang is even a proper descriptive word, aah, according to the dictionary, it's "a strong taste or flavour")...ok, not so much a tang, more of a zing. Not too string, but definitely there.

There's an odd aftertaste too it, which I can't quite place, but it's kinda reminding me of bananas. But not natural ones, more like the chewy banana shaped sweets you could get back in the UK, with that chemical banana flavour, but this is less chemical and more banana. I know that sounds like it should taste like a natural banana, but somethings just a bit off, so...

I'm rambling.

Overall, nothing wrong with it, but nothing stands out. A pretty average, but perfectly drinkable cup sake.

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