All the talk about beer last week made me thirsty, as did a post on umeshu, Japanese plum wine, by our resident Japanese culture correspondent, Yokahamama. So, during my biweekly visit to the Purveyor of Alcohol, I picked up the following for this weekend:
I needn’t tell many readers of this website about Samuel Smith, a British brewery whose products are all first rate. Oatmeal Stout is one of my favorites (Imperial Stout is equally awesome).
Umeshu is a big deal in Japan, and is served in a variety of ways. As Y. notes in her post (you can see it in the background), it’s made from ume (Prunus mume), a fruit more closely related to apricots than plums. The wine is made by steeping ume fruits for a long time—a year or even more—in a mixture of alcohol (shochu) and sugar. The Choya brand of umeshu has a good reputation. It’s only about 12 bucks for the container, and the 500-ml bottle contains 6 ume fruit. It’s not clear whether I should eat them afterwards—advice is conflicting. The wide mouth allows extraction of plums.
Here’s a YouTube video showing how umeshu is made. I’ll report back on the flavor. It’s a sweet wine, suitable for after dinner or as an aperitif, but I like those. This is a highly LOLzy video because there’s a French poodle who attentively watches the process:
I’ll stick with my bubble-gum ramune, thanks.
So you finally just went out and picked some up for yourself instead of waiting for delivery? Did the delivery ever make it? If not, maybe they’ll be claircognizant enough to deliver it as soon as you finish your first bottle… ;-))
Hope you like!!
I made some a year ago, which is now all gone… (*whistling, looking at ceiling*)…or I would gladly share with all (except I found out that you have to lie and say you’re sending juice, because it’s illegal to send alcohol).
Actually it’s the Oatmeal Stout that I find most interesting. How does it compare to stouts typical malt/barley stouts?
It depends on your definition of “typical”. In theory oatmeal stouts should be slightly smoother and sweeter. The English styles are definitely different than the American styles. You could take a look at beeradvocate.com that rates beers from people and provides beer styles. In any case, I consider it a good stout and certainly better than the travesty from Ireland that everyone likes. Then again, I prefer Imperial Stouts (like the Abyss).
You are absolutely right about the over-rating of Guinness.
I will be trying to make that. I love plums, I wonder if shochu is available in Saskatoon.
I and all of my Japanese friends always ate the ume. One of my favourite treat drinks when I lived in Japan.
Mmmm, like making sloe gin.
Indeed. Though I usually forgo the sugar.
Oh yes, I prefer to eat/suck on the ume with the last few glasses (once you can reach them).
Samuel Smith ruined my life … but it sure was a tasty demise.
Now I “let go and let Loki” because it’s just one day at a time.
Of course you eat whatever’s in the bottle, that’s why it’s there!
You might think to yourself or even say out loud, “I sure as hell am not going to eat that worm at the bottom of the bottle,” but, believe me, when you get to the end of that Mescal, you’ll eat the worm. And you’ll dance like nobody’s watching. And you’ll wake up with your underwear on your head.
Or maybe that’s just me.
No, no it’s not just you
If you find the umeshu too sweet on its own (I do), you can make a really nice cocktail by basically making a Manhattan substituting buckwheat shochu for rye and umeshu for sweet vermouth. Garnish with ume instead of a cherry.
Another dog video!
It’s NOT a dog video. It’s an alcohol video with an ancillary dog.
Quite right. Notice the dog appears to be sitting on the stove. Very doggish if you ask me.
Years ago I read about the process of making saki, rice wine. Lots of waiting, rolling, mashing and ritual. Sort of thing I could get into. Like making donuts, but not at 4AM.
My uncle made something called “cherry bounce” which was cherries in brandy. Their buoyancy varied and they would settle to the bottom of the bottle or rise to the top, hence the name. I’m sure my uncle woke up with underwear on his head many, many times.
Samuel Smith’s Oatmeal Stout is definitely in my top 5. It used to be my all-time favorite, but got demoted when I had my first Steelhead Extra Stout by thr Mad River Brewing Company. It’s simply the best beer on the planet. Nearly perfect in every way.
Only tangentially on topic, but I’m also a fan of that oatmeal stout (evidence: http://adammil.net/img/baking/pizza.jpg !), and I really wanted to send some to a friend in Yokohama. Not allowed to mail alcohol (Those post office workers never listen to reason!), I tried to find some last time I was in Yokohama, to no avail.
It would be awesome if Yokohamamama just happened to know where to get some and just happened to mention it… *ahem* 😉
Fat chance, I guess. 🙂
If you live near Fuchu (on the Keio Line), there’s a very good place there called Beerhouse Ken (you can Google it, but it’s in Japanese), where they sell Samuel Smith’s and a lot of other English, German and Belgian, as well as Japanese and American ‘ji-biru’ (local brews).
Oh–good! I was hoping you’d chime in, too. As I said below, Yokohamamama doesn’t get around to the bars/shops too often (I just make my own :-))
Also, there’s a little magazine called Ko-e edited by a gifted young American, Ry Beville, which specialises in poetry, paintings, photographs and beer: it contains many advertisements about bars, pubs and shops where you can get decent beer in Japan – all over it. Incidentally, The Warrior Celt, a pub between Ueno and Okachimachi stations sells (when they have it) Shepherd Neame’s 1698 ale, which is excellent (and very strong, as I discovered one evening…), and also Bishop’s Finger (I think the bishop was Anglican so one is probably safe).
Come to think of it–I should ask my brother-in-law. He spends *lots* of time in bars here when he’s working on a gallery showing, and in fact is working on a book detailing little known (but good) places to eat and hang out. Mamas who spend their weekends at baseball practice serving o-cha to the coaches (I’m o-cha toban *again* next weekend!) don’t hit the bars too much ;-))
Gomen nasai! I don’t know where to find that–but I do know that I mailed Umeshu to my sis and my mom by going to a different post office than the one I first went to, and said I was sending Ume Juice. *cough*
My sis who comes over all the time said the only place she knows that sells specialty American brews is a bar in Nakameguro (Mama doesn’t go to bars too often these days… ;-))
Loved all the sanitation along with all the staph epi.
I just tried a double stout by Green Flash Brewing in San Diego County – pretty good. Another one on a different plane – nice fruity complex beer is Victory Brewing’s (PA) Helios.
It’s probably fair to say that Sam Smiths are some of the worst English ales. Drinkable, but ultimately pretty unremarkable. So if you like that, you’ve got a real treat in store when you get on to the good stuff.
What do you think of bottled Oxfordshire ales? I had a Marsh-Mellow which was pretty reminiscent of cask ales I had in the UK this summer.
“The wide mouth allows extraction of plums.”
It also makes it a hell of a lot easier to get them in there.
I was wondering why the fruit in the bottle looked like plums but the picture on the bottle looked more like peaches. I’ve never seen this mummy prune.
You can always try eating one of the plums and if you don’t like it then you can ditch ’em regardless of whether they’re meant to be eaten or not. I’ve tried eating the fleshy part of the mangosteen rind because the locals ate it – but I doubt I’ll try that a second time.