Bottle - Creamy rice and yeast notes with some marzipan. Intense mushroom and caramel with some acidity. When heated, balances the edges nicely.

Bottle sample at Izakaya Yama. Clo. Light earth aroma. Taste is very herbal with mushrooms. Dry finish. Tasty.

Super popular sake in Japan. Had a glass at a fancy Japanese place called Kokage. Went well with the oden. Poured yellow with slightly brown tones. Slight sweer nutty aroma with a small flavor of alcohol. Similar taste though a little more sweetness and overall more flavor. Finish was smooth but the alcohol was definitely in there. Reminded me of a nutty albeit less complex koshu. Almost a bit shochu/Japanese whiskey like but with a much lighter bite. I’d buy it

Doing my first sake rating with this Yamahai. I got a full 1800 ml bottle of it, so why not. Pours transparent but a bit coloured, sort of yellow’ish. Aroma has a lot of rice, some moromi and yeast. Not too fragrant but rather robust and powerful, kind of fitting with what I know about Yamahai. Taste feels full, little acidic and turns spicy at the end. Can imagine this going together with some dishes, so need to test it out, not really able to drink al of it in one go anyway. Complex sake, a lot going on, maybe not se easy to drink but definitely good to try. Feeling a bit weird when rating it with numbers (never done this for sake) but well, you have got to start from somewhere.

Bottled@SBWF2012. Slightly hazy pale yellow colour with no head. Aroma is fruits, some rice and mild floral notes with some mild herbal notes. Flavour is fruits, rice, some mild resiny and sprucelike notes. Balanced and quite mellow saké.

Sample @ SBWF 12. Light yellow colour. Rice, fruit aroma. Fruity rice, alcohol flavour.

720ml bottle (SBWF2012)
Looks like a vodka. Pleasant spicy aroma, some alcohol heat. Quirky, but still clearly ricey. Thin palate. Tangy, but fairly clean. I reckon I could pair this with food quite well, but as a drink on its own, there’s not much to it and no reason for me to drink it.

720 ml bottle, at home. Very yellow color. Strong rice aroma, slight caramel or mizuame, koji. Rich rice flavor, yamahai tang / funk, some candy sweetness, alcohol, fruit, even a bit of citrus. Rather co plex, with good umami, though overall not breathtaking. A bit too much roasty rice forward for my tastes

At Toku restaurant, London. Light straw yellow colour. Prunes aroma. Herbal and fruity flavour, yeasty notes. Nice.

What a great Yamahai. You get enough of the gamy and earthiness from the Yamahai fermentation. The flavors keep in your mouth long enough to resonate well with richer foods like good yakitori or even beef and pork dishes. Definitely not recommended for sashimi or sushi.