Sake and Candy

The first time was like this.

I was over at my brother Tim's place and he had just come home from one of his trips to Japan. At one point during my stay, he brought down a ceramic bottle wrapped in a rope mesh and various kanji symbols painted in blue on the side. He also brought down two small cups and filled them with the clear liquid from the bottle.

We raised the cups. With a hearty "kompai!" we clinked them together and sipped on their contents.

When it first hit my tongue, it was mildly sweet and dry. As it finished it's journey, it left only a hint of heat at the back of my throat. It was a very smooth drink.

The second time was like this.

I was going over to a friends house in Winnipeg and i needed to bring something along to drink. Recalling my previous experience with sake, i went to the local Liquor Mart to see if they had any. They did. Plus, it was cheap.

This is great, i thought. All sake must taste the same. Therefore, this will be my new drink of choice. It's so different and exotic. I will be so cool.

It tasted like watered down alcohol and it burned like rubbing alcohol all the way down. Needless to say, that bottle of sake is probably still sitting in some fridge somewhere, quite full. Since several months had passed since the first time i tried it, i thought maybe i didn't like sake as much as i did or maybe i was just saying i liked it to be polite.

Well, i can say with certainty that sake is good when it is not so cheap.

Yesterday, there was a festival in the neighbouring town of Kuriyama. A local sake maker and a local candy shop held a bit of a soirée to celebrate and promote their products.

...By giving free samples.

I made sure to take advantage of their hospitality and all the different varieties of sake they had there were so good. Also, there was a sort of market there with fried croquette vendors and beer gardens and the like. But, we didn't stay long since we arrived late and things were closing down.

So, at the end of the day, i still like sake. And those squash filled croquettes were pretty good, too.

(Thanks to Ray for the pictures)