Burari Kesen LLC is offering a pre-sale of a tasting comparison set featuring undersea-aged sake and wine with original labels via crowdfunding until January 25, 2022.
The wine is reportedly a white wine made from the Niagara grape variety by Kanda Vineyard.
Here are the details.
About Undersea Aging
The tasting comparison set currently on pre-sale is the very first original-label set from the Hirota Bay Undersea Aging Project, a regional revitalization initiative that takes advantage of the way alcoholic beverages change in flavor when aged under the sea.
Aging in the ocean is said to occur at ten times the speed of aging in a sake brewery, and because production volumes across Japan are still very small, it is an extremely rare set of beverages that is seldom experienced.
Originally, it has been said that undersea-aged sake becomes mellower in both aroma and taste because the motion of waves and sound waves cause alcohol molecules to slip into the gaps between water molecules, enveloping them in water; however, scientific research has not yet clarified the exact cause, and much remains a mystery today.
This time, it is an unprecedented set that allows you to actually compare and enjoy those flavors side by side.
Set Contents
This set includes two bottles: sake (Honjozo Karakuchi) and white wine (Niagara).
Both have undergone undersea aging (aged for 6 months), with local alcoholic beverages from Rikuzentakata aged beneath the sea.
The sake is Honjozo Karakuchi from the local Suisen Shuzo, characterized by a crisp, sharp taste.
Undersea aging reportedly transforms its drinkability significantly, subduing the sharpness and allowing the mellow umami to stand out even more.
Meanwhile, the wine is a white wine crafted from the Niagara variety by Kanda Vineyard, and submerging it in the sea reportedly showed changes that particularly enhanced its mellowness and flavor complexity.
When it comes to wine, there have been few verification subjects to show what kind of changes occur, leading to a divide between those that show marked changes and those that do not; however, for the wine offered this time, they chose the white wine (Niagara variety) that exhibited the greatest change among the local wines.
Pay Attention to the Unique Initiative as Well
A rare set that lets you compare sake and wine whose flavors have been transformed by undersea aging.
The initiative leading up to the creation of this product is also extremely intriguing.
Why not consider purchasing it, not just for its scarcity value, but with a full appreciation of this initiative?
References
Hirota Bay Undersea Aging Project Overview: http://www.burari-kesen.com/aged/
Sales Methods
1. Crowdfunding
Campfire (until January 25, 2022)
https://camp-fire.jp/projects/view/517463
2. Online Shop: Rakuten Shop (From February 15, 2022)
https://item.rakuten.co.jp/iwai/c/0000000434/
3. Iwai (Physical Store) 73 Babamae, Takata-cho, Rikuzentakata-shi, Iwate 029-2205 Inside Machinaka Terrace
Phone: 0192-55-2912
4. Furusato Nozei (Hometown Tax Donation) accepting from within 2021 (Shipping scheduled from February 2022 onward)