Do you like Japanese food but wonder why a country
that produces such interesting and delicious food would
create an alcoholic beverage served hot ae coffee to go
w ith their meals9 If your impression of sake is that
the only possible reason to dr ink it is because it is
sim ply what one does at the local sushi b a r. but is in
gener al a barely tolerable beverage then you have tied
the tru ly American experience of sake With par Axis
to the editor . whose loyalty to Budweiser I can
comprehend on neither a p o litica l nor aesthetic level,
the sake served in this country is the tarste erjjivelent
of our country's famed k mg of Beer s
At the Momokawa Sake T w , Inq Room n Forest
Orove, rig h t off Hiqhway 8, you can develop an
appreciation of the rice wine I earn a bit about
Japanese culture and have a damn fine time while you
are at it Momokawa, which means "peach riv e r* ,
opened operations about 18 months ago in Washington
County and they have big plans for the future At this
point they have a small, fr lendly tasting room ( open
1 2 -5 d aily) and their business offices in this state
They are s t ill im porting their sake from Japan at this
point, bu, are test mg rice crops in Boardman. M yrtle
Pom, and Hermiston and are expecting to open their
brewery w ith in the next 18 months
Thetr b re w e ry-to -b e ts actually a structure
already It is a conversion that captures, in
microcosm, the conversion that Oregon as a whole is
undergoing Momokawa is located d irectly across the
street from a lumber m ill, b uilt three years ago for
the processing of old growth tim b e r, which they are
turning into their brewery The use of the
in fra stru ctu re of an incr easingly outdated and
destructive industry to facilitate the emergence of a
business that is part of one of the state's increasingly
product ive and clean industr les is one of the better
karm ic maneuvers I have witnessed in quite some time
The thing about sake is that there's much more to it
than you might expect In Japan, where sake is more
than just any old dr ink. there are over 2 ,4 0 0 different
brewers and 10,000 different types of sake Sake, like
beer and wine, can range from the absolute worst,
foulest stuff, to very intense, satisfying and expensive
brews Going to Momokawa can give you the
opportunity to take a break from the one type of sake
you most like ly have been drinking, to tr y a small
var lety of excellent wines If you have never had a
chance to tr y sake this is the best place around to
introduce your taste buds to a different experience
Momokawa s tasting room serves 4 of the 5 sake that
they sell in Oragon Silver D ry. Silver Sweet. Black.
and Gold The other var lety, Momokawa Daigmjo, goes
for $50 a bottle so if you want the best you have to
break out some dough The other sakes, however,
should more than give you an excellent introduction to
high quality rice wines One thing to remember while
tasting is that most sake has an alchobol content of 151
or more, meaning it packs quite a wallop Dan Denny,
their brewmaster and our chatty, knowledgeable and
fr im d ly pourer on this day, was more than generous
w ith the quantities he put in our glasses - - so if you re
d rivin g you might want to consider putting a bit of each
taste into the dump )ar While this may be a large
social te w pas in Japan, careening off the road while
try in g to avoid those polka-dotted flyin g lizards is
probably a bigger one, all things considered
Momokawa makes only premium sake Unlike the
advertising ploys many industries employ, this is no, a
gimmick There are specific guidelines as to wha, can
be called premium or super premium sake Premium
sake refers to the polish" of the ric e gram The outer
husk of each grain of r ice oontains fatty acids and
various im purities th a t, when mashed into sake,
significantly affect the quality and taste The more
polish the rice has means a greater amount of the rice
has been milled away, and thus the higher the quality
the sake w ill be Momokawa s sakes range between
4 51 6 5 1 polish which puts them in the
super -premium and u ltra -p re m iu m categories
The effect that the polish has on the sake is
immediately apparent For one thing you drink
Momokawa s sake chilled, much like you would white
wine, no, ice cold, but cool Of the 4 sakes the, you
sample only the Black do they recommend heating, and
then to only about , 0 0 ‘ F. rather than the 135*F-
140*F that ,s common ,n restaurants Soke is not
supposed to be heated to these hiqher temperatures bu,
w ith cheap sake, the heat masks the inconsistencies in
the flavor I have had Black warm and chilled and I
preferred it chilled, bu, with food, especially spicy
dishes, warmed sake could be a better compliment
The folks a, Momokawa are on the ball enough to
assume tba, people know less about sake than, w e ll,
almost anything Upon getting yourself to the tasting
counter they give you a page that gives you an idee of
what flavors you can expect and look for in each sake,
how the dryness and sweetness interact in sake ( The
Sake M eter) and a general run down on what sake is al,
about Sake is an acquired taste, so have an open mind
about what you are taa,mg I found, ha, as the tasting
went on down the line I was able to appreciate each new
taste in the different types a little b it more I suggest
going through the tasting in order , and then gomq back
1 0
v r m
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i m
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to taste the firs t two again to see if your reaction the
second time around is different than the fir s t I,
seemed to me that once I realised that "dry" and sweet"
mean very different things to sake than they do to wine,
I was able to appreciate If# sate for who, it wos rather
than try in g to apply standee ds that didn t re a lly fit
Momokawa'» tasting room, though sm all. is very
nice, as are the people who work there the m ixture of
Japanese and American cultures in some of the items
they have for sale is somewhat humorous Oolf s h irts
v id hats adorned with "Momokawa Sake" In Japanese
charactera seemed to be in the mar ke, ing w ee between
Nike sh irts and those fancy sh irts with an Italian word
on them that people don I bother to f '^ r e out the
meaning of before the/buy ( I have a fr lend who wore
one of those shirts and was told by a woman in a bar
tha, the tr anslat ion of the word on the s h ir, meant
"Almost a m «T Bu, that is a completely different
story ) They also have some authentic Japanese art and
pieces that are fascinating, even in their s im p lic ity
The cypress boxes, which are the traditional cups
(called "m a a u jfo r sake drinking, are an excellent
example of this sim plicity These cups are light, have
Japanese char acters bur ned into them and add a woody
flavor to the sake These are available individually or
in a g if, box tha, includes 2 cups and the sake of your
choice A, many traditional sushi bars, regulars sign
their own cup and leave it a, the bar so they can use it
over and over again For those aaektng something a bit
more fancy, permanent ( and wasfuahle). there are
porcelain versions of these cups as well
At the very least take home a bottle of their sak e to
t r y w ith some of vour own home cook inq This is good
etiquette at any vineyard where you do a tasting This
type of sake goes with more than Japanese food so ask
them lor a few suggestion on some foods that would
compliment your choice Their prices are completely
reasonable, starting at about $8 a bottle w ith discounts
for case pur chases They also have small 375 ml
bottles for just over $4 so you can take home a variety
pack This may be a good way to go for indivi&jels with
no friends or social life to speak o f, because sake, like
good wine, has a relatively short life span once opened
Momokawa has plans not only to expand across the
street but is ,n the process of turning its corner of
Fores, Orove into a Japanese cultural center Plans for
the construction of a bed and br oak fas, done in
authentic Japanese style
complete with public hot
baths - - and a Japanese restaurant are already
underway They hope to have this completed by 1996
or 1997 In the immediate future they have a Grand
Opening celebration planned tha, promises to be on the
wonderful and completely bizarre side In May they
w ill have a wnrkend that w ill include fond, discounts on
sake and a sumo wrestling tournament as part of a day
of festivities This "tournament" is open to any
member of the public w illm q to don one of those
inflatable sumo suits and belly buck w ith some other
equally addled individual For more information give
them a cal, a, 3 5 7 - 7056
In the quickTy growing universe of Oregon wineries
Momokawa Sake has created a niche for themselves tha,
is distinct Although sake may no, be what springs to
mind when thinking about our wine industry, it is
definitely becoming part of the business and adds a
d ive rsity to any tour of the areas wineries Expand
your horizons and take an opportunity to try what w ill
soon be one of Oregons newest and most interesting
beverages
$ 44 » Oí*
L a u rels
Cannon
Beat h
W ine Shop
2a) > llenilmh
(s o )) 4 )a iaaa
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.•if»- i a'inns I
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MORE
COOKIES
Cinnamon Roda.
Pizza by the Suce,
Muffin« Espresso,
and Cookies
239 N HEMLOCK
Ph. 430-2032
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busme.
My point t r e . , « the most part
very -.traiijhthirwqrd and simple And they
■/»•nt tobe m fu ll npe« atmn a’ Ron Paul *.
, 141 N f Bruadwjy t r * r Iloyd
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