Tried on the GB but apparently they don't know crap about it.

Never really tried much Sake wine before. Looking for good recommendations.

Only time I've ever had it was at the Offshore Technology Conference ... a Japanese company had it in their booth. They served it heated and in a wooden cup that you could retain for seconds, thirds, etc etc etc.

All I know about it are the following types. Hot or cold, and filtered or unfiltered.

I've heard the type served hot is just to hide the bad taste. I.E. good Sake should be room temp or chilled.

I bought a cheap bottle of the stuff a while back and didn't really car for it, but then again it was only about a $5 bottle.

It tasted like a flat vodka tonic to me, now I use it to marinade meat prior to stir fry.

In my limited experience with sake, I feel pretty comfortable in saying that it should just be renamed "headache".

sake bombs are the devil...but I just can't.say.no.

Stuff will make your cheeks go numb.

Don't claim to know a lot. But there is a place off McKinney Ave we go to in Dallas every once in a while. It's delicious. They have over 30 types, some seasonal. Only one was hot. It's basically their version of wine. Besides filtered/unfiltered and hot/cold it also comes down to how much the rice grain is polished before the process begins. The rice can also be of different types and different regions. We really enjoyed the ones we've tried.

As for the selection for purchase in a grocery store or Spec's I don't really know.

Sake can be served both hot and cold. Serving it hot does not hide the bad taste in my opinion. I prefer it at room temperature or cold though. I only drink it when I am actually eating Japanese food and it is a quick drunk. If you do not like the taste I suggest you look for a sparkling sake or a flavored sake such as apple. I started doing the sparkling sake just because of the taste. Served chilled it is actually pretty good. The brand I have most often had is Zipang. Pretty sure you can get it at HEB.

Nigori is pretty good. It is an unfiltered Sake and is best served cold and well shaken. It looks like a rice milk but it's quite potent. Give it a shot. There's a brand called "crazy milk" sells for less than $10 in case you don't like it.

Momokawa has a pretty good primer about sake on their website:

http://www.sakeone.com/assets/client/File/SakeOne-01Understanding.pdf

Also, Momokawa is not the worst place to start. They have a pretty broad line-up and make decent sake out of Oregon. However, I am personally not a fan of their "G".

Sake has a pretty wide diversity of flavors depending on the style. The primer about will teach you what you need to know about their styles.

I might start with a nice nigori. Snow Beauty is widely available and not bad for the price. Nigori is much sweeter than other sakes, however. Serve chilled. Always.

Another good sweeter sake is karatamba. It is in a black bottle with big gold japanese characters. Pretty good.

Tozai has some pretty good, affordable sake as well.

As for other drier sakes, there are many that I like, but I don't know their names. I typically go for sake bottles with as little english as possible on them.

Hope you have some success! Remember, try 3 or 4 very different sakes before you give up on the drink completely. Check the dryness measure on the back of the bottle to give you an indication of the sweetness.

Enjoy!

Black and gold

SAKE BOMBS!!

I'm basing my opinion on experts, and they've all said that hot sake is an abomination, and that's the cheap stuff that isn't very good.