DASSAI SAKE – SAKE FOR THE SENSES

October saw the celebration of International Sake Day and this year, premium luxury sake brand, DASSAI brought the celebration to New York allowing party-goes a special evening of sake tasting at the Haven Rooftop located in the Sanctuary Hotel. Chairman and Founder, Hiroshi Sakurai, and President of DASSAI, Kazuhiro Sakurai flew all the way from Yamaguchi, Japan for the celebration stating, "Sake will help make your life joyful and fun."

The Asahi Shuzo Brewery and DASSAI sake have been in the Sakurai family for generations now and in 1984, Hiroshi took over the brewery to continue the tradition. Hiroshi explained some of the important decisions and steps that go into making their delicious DASSAI sake. "To make the best of the best sake, we decided to use the king of sake rice, which is called Yamada-nishiki. So with rice, there are different types. They're the same family, but sake rice and table rice are a little different. I decided to use the best sake rice, top quality. We use only this to make sake." He went on to say, "Other sake brewers try to make different quality sake, there's a lot of variety in the grade of sake, but our brewery only aims to make the best grade sake. That's why it's so simple."

Hiroshi and Kazuhiro brought all the different types of sake for their guests to enjoy. The line up included DASSAI 23, the highest milled of commercial sake with an aroma of melon and peaches, DASSAI 39, which has a smooth and mellow taste, and DASSAI 50, which has a combination of sweet aromas. They also showcased their sparkling sake, DASSAI Sparkling 39 that has a smooth flavor and light fragrances as well as DASSAI Sparkling 50, which is slightly fruity with a refreshing taste. Guests were also graced with DASSAI Beyond, a rare and extraordinary sake that has unparalleled smoothness and clean, complex flavors. The bottle of each type of sake has a unique design. Hiroshi states that the bottles appearance is "very, very important. For human beings it's not just your taste buds, it's also your eyes. You use all of your senses." Kazuhiro adds, "The bottle changes because we are changing all the time. This is how we feel and the bottle reflect the effort that we've put into the sake."

"Sake will help make your life joyful" said Hiroshi. Kazuhiro agrees adding, "It's tasty, like a life serum."