Dassai Blue Nigori and Nigori Sparkling: The First American Sparkling Nigori

We have written about Dassai and Dassai Blue before, about the Hyde Park brewery and about why freshness is the argument for brewing in New York. Since then two cloudy bottles have joined the line.

Nigori, Briefly

After fermentation, sake is pressed to separate liquid from the solid rice mash. How finely you filter it decides everything about what you get.

Filter it clean and you get clear sake. Filter it coarsely and rice solids stay suspended in the bottle. That is nigori, and it is not a lesser product or an unfinished one. It is a deliberate choice to keep the texture and the rice sweetness that filtration removes.

Dassai Blue Nigori is a junmai daiginjo nigori, so it starts from the same premium base as the rest of the range: Yamada Nishiki, heavily polished. Creamy in texture with vibrant fruit, and considerably more elegant than most people expect from cloudy sake.

The Sparkling One

This is the more significant bottle. Released in 2024, it was the first sparkling cloudy sake produced entirely in the United States using traditional Japanese methods.

The technique is the part worth understanding, because most sparkling sake is not made this way.

It uses in-bottle secondary fermentation, the same method as champagne. Sake goes into the bottle with active yeast still working, the bottle is sealed, and the carbon dioxide the yeast produces has nowhere to go. It dissolves into the liquid.

Crucially, no sugar is added. The bubbles come from the rice's own remaining sugars being fermented in the bottle.

The alternative, which is far more common and far cheaper, is force-carbonation: making still sake and injecting CO2 before sealing. That gives you bubbles. It does not give you the fine, integrated bead that in-bottle fermentation produces, and it does not develop flavor the way a second fermentation does.

The rice is Yamada Nishiki polished to 50%, and it is coarsely strained before that second fermentation.

What It Tastes Like

Fresh and inviting on the nose: green apple, ripe pear, and the delicate sweetness of Japanese wagashi confections.

The palate is balanced and lively, with a natural sweetness that comes from the rice rather than from added sugar, moderate fizz, and a crisp finish.

How to Drink It

Well chilled, in a champagne flute or a white wine glass.

Handle it gently. There is live sediment and live carbonation in the same bottle, so shaking it is a poor idea. Turn it slowly a couple of times to redistribute the cloudiness, then open carefully.

Pair It With

Ebi tempura, anything fried, and light sashimi. Bubbles and salt is a reliable combination, and the rice sweetness handles fried food well.

Try It at Juraku

Dassai Blue Nigori and the Nigori Sparkling are on the sake list at Izakaya Juraku, Lower East Side, alongside the rest of the Dassai Blue range. Check the current menu or ask us what is open.