Kubota K.O.

Yes, talking about myself getting totally knocked out by a splendid sake the other night. Introducing Kubota Manju*.

I cannot really recall when was the last time that I got so hammered, so much so I couldn’t help the puking at last. But this one is a really fancy killer: silky smooth in the mouth, faint vanilla taste carried across, sweet floral scent as you take it in, strangely unworldly and mellow – minus almost the entire sharpness of the liquor, although it is of a slight 15% alcoholic content. Makes me think of Debussy’s Claire de Lune, a misty moon on a crisp winter night…

I lost track of how many times I bottomed up (very inappropriate treatment for such a fine brew), and the sake was so immediately easy going that the alcohol kicks in before I started expecting. Like what the Bard says: ‘look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under it.’

There was no photographic record of the event, but I had enjoyed that killing-me-softly kind of sensation. Kubota Manju costs few more bucks, but a morning after that is free from troubled hangover goes a long, long way.

photo courtesy of Asahi

* ‘Kubota’ is the name of the brewery, and ‘Manju’ is a top-class category among the Kubota product line by Asahi, with a celebrative meaning of ‘ten thousand anniversary’ or ‘long life.’