Mio Sparkling and Shirakabegura Tokubetsu Junmai: Two From Nada

Nada, in Kobe, is the historic center of Japanese sake, hard Rokko mountain water, cold winter winds, and access to the best Yamada Nishiki rice.

Shirakabegura is Takara's brewery there, and we carry two very different bottles from it.

Mio Sparkling

Mio is a sparkling junmai at 5% ABV, and it's the world's best-selling sparkling sake.

The 5% is the whole design. Most sake sits around 15–16%, so Mio is closer to a beer in strength than to the rest of the sake list. It's also junmai, rice, water, koji and yeast, with no added sugar.

Aroma: Fresh grape, ripe pear, a hint of melon

Taste: Light-bodied, delicately sweet, cut by crisp acidity

Finish: Clean and lively

The comparison people reach for is Moscato d'Asti, and that's not far off. It's the bottle for the start of the night, or for a table where not everyone wants to commit to full-strength sake.

Shirakabegura Tokubetsu Junmai

The other direction entirely.

Tokubetsu junmai means "special junmai" — a junmai made with either higher-milled rice or some other declared special method. It's a category that tends to produce sake with more character than a basic junmai without reaching for daiginjo delicacy.

This is a clean, dry, food-first sake. It's not trying to be aromatic. It's built to sit next to a plate for a whole meal and not get in the way, and that's a harder thing to make well than something showy.

How We Serve Them

Mio very cold, in a wine glass or a flute. The bubbles and the aromatics both suffer if it warms up.

Shirakabegura chilled, or at room temperature. This one takes gentle warming better than most of our list, which is worth knowing in winter.

Pair Them With

Mio with anything fried, or as an aperitif before food arrives. Karaage and a cold sparkling sake is a very easy start.

Shirakabegura with the whole yakitori section, pork kakuni, or a bowl of ramen. It's the utility bottle.

Try Them at Juraku

Both are on the sake list at Izakaya Juraku, Lower East Side. If you're ordering for a table that doesn't agree about sake, get one of each.