So this has nothing much to do with the band but I figure it’s not really a stretch for this here blogg, where Joe has been sake-bloggin like there is no tomorrow. And to good effect, for sure.

Up there is my first attempt at an old fashioned. I’m pretty sure that my choice of scotch was my first mistake- something I realized after I added more soda and bitters to soften things up. The Glenrothes 1985 single speyside malt scotch whisky just doesn’t play well with others. It juggernauts anything standing in it’s way and kicks you on the way down to send the message home that you should never mix it with anything ever again as long as you live. I really should have known better, but when I’m alone in the kitchen, I really can’t help myself. I start touching things and before I know it, I have orange juice in my cereal and the aforementioned scotch in my coffee.

Next time I’ll use the Basil Hayden’s and it will be pure gold.

This cloudy gem is called Shirakawago Sasanigori. It is named after its village of origin. This sake represents my admiration for the unknowable. Here it is posed next to a MicroKORG XL synthesizer.

After giving the bottle a brisque shaking, I drank this one using the highly professional apparatus shown above. From the glass, this “Lightly Cloudy Sake” succeeded at elevating the mellow taste of the rice, with barely a hint of an aroma and few complementary tastes. The wood of the box opened up the aroma, though. I sniffed mightily, apprehended wafts of basil, and visualized twisted juniper trees.

The final word: I recommend this sake if you enjoy visualizing twisted juniper trees. Also good if you like booze or foggy blue glass.

On a related note, does anybody want to go with me to this sake-tasting benefit? http://www.nylovesjapan.com/ Price of entry: $100. But it will go to a good cause. And in the grand calculus of life and love, it seems well worth it to pay $100 so I can feel like $1,000,000.

This sake came to me in a jar whose label I cannot read. This sake represents one of my many noteworthy failures of understanding. Here it is posed next to my new Summer Holiday 7″ from Wild Nothing, which contains the very worthwhile track, “Lovers Like Vultures”, which is on neither the Gemini album nor the Golden Haze EP.

It had a full-bodied taste and smelled of pungent clementines and spruce. This one made me feel like a million bucks.

At Spike Hill!

In case you didn’t catch on, we are celebrating the fact that our album art is ready and we will shortly present our debut EP for you to consume and enjoy.  Times are such that I order my sake not in carafes or bottles, but in walls:

This one made me feel like twenty-six million bucks.

Yonetsuru represents my return to sake blogging with a vengeance.  Here it is posed with one of my favorite album covers.  This one smelled like Big League Chew, had a nice strong alcohol finish, and made me feel like a million bucks.

mmm

Since this is my first post and my first ever piece of writing about sake, I figure I should set the bar low and impress you all later by exceeding expectations. 

Sara no Kaze: a junmai sake polished to 60% grain size. I selected it because it came with a free thimble-sized drinking glass and was named after someone who spells Sara the right way.  This one made me feel like a million bucks.