Seattle: Sake Nomi

While walking back from Salumi, I noticed a sign for a sake shop, Sake Nomi. As it turned out they have tastings every day and change the selection on Tuesdays. For $5, you get to taste 6 sakes. The fee is waived if you purchase a bottle.

Sake Nomi reminded me of the only other all-sake shop I’ve been to, True Sake, in San Francisco. However, I don’t recall them having daily tastings.

Sake is graded according to how much the rice used in brewing was polished. The rice is polished to remove off flavors in sake. Premium sake is made from rice polished to 70% or less of its original size. Premium sakes are graded as Junmai/ Honjozo (70% or less), Ginjo (60% or less), Daiginjo (50% or less).

My favorite of the six we tasted was the Urakasumi “Misty Bay” which is a Junmai from Miyagi (Hokkaido and Tohoku region).

The most interesting thing I learned that day was that nigori sake which has always been explained to me as unfiltered sake is not actually true. Nigori means cloudy, not unfiltered. The cloudiness comes from the rice solids that have not been fermented.

It would be neat to try different sakes every week since it’s such an affordable tasting.

Sake Nomi

76 S Washington St., Seattle, WA 98104 – (206) 467-7253