In the restaurant sansaro we have already organized numerous, high-quality tasting events on the subject of Japanese sake and Japanese whisky and in June 2019, we held the first tasting event outside, on our wonderful terrace in the Amalienpassage: a food pairing with Japanese gin. After the event was fully booked and the feedback from the guests was extremely positive, we quickly announced a follow-up date. We were pleased to welcome some of the participants of the first gin tasting as guests again last Sunday. Due to the vacation season, the number of participants was manageable this time, which made for an intimate atmosphere.
However, the tension on Sunday was initially internal, as rain and thunderstorms had been announced. However, when the sun shone over Munich's rooftops on Sunday afternoon, the team covered our beautiful terrace between the colorful fan maples with nosing glasses and our self-made fans - we had transformed photos by Luise Aedtner from her photo series "finding familiar things in foreign places" into stylish fans before the first gin tasting.
Culinary tasting event in warm summer weather
The weather was kind to the 20 guests - only after the end of the 2.5-hour tasting were there a few cooling drops of rain. The majority of our participants found at this time already place in our restaurant for a successful conclusion of the evening.
The following Japanese gins came up for tasting this time, each listed along with the corresponding food pairings by Chef Ken San:
Suntory Dry Gin Extra 40% + Hamachi No Aburi-Ponzu - As an aperitif, a refreshing gin and tonic with a classic lemony gin and a dry tonic water. Followed by a short grilled yellowtail fish (hamachi) in Japanese lime juice soy sauce and olive oil. Very summery!
Nice detail on the side: on this bottle you can still see the old Suntory logo, which was actually designed by the father of Mr. Wataru Hayase! Mr. Hayase supplies us with our special Japanese tableware, had a lovely store in the Amalienpassage until not too long ago and can be found today at https://rococo-japan.de/muenchen/
Komasa Gin Sakurajima 45% + Hotate To Lobster No Uni-Yaki - exotic duet of Komasa gin with distilled Satsuma tangerine and grilled scallop and lobster in sea urchin sauce. While the gin primarily reveals the citrus tones of the tangerine on the nose, the sweetness also follows on the palate. The juniper plays a role there rather in last place. What is rather untypical for gin, harmonizes very well in the pairing by the sweet-fruity notes.
Kyoto Distillery Ki NO BI Edition K 46% + Maguro No Tar Tar Sushi - that was really fine: the slightly peaty note of the limited edition gin aged in Scottish Kilchoman barrels acts in a harmonious symbiosis with the tuna tartare on sushi rice with spring onions and pine nuts. The gin was matured in whiskey barrels of the Scottish distillery Kilchoman, whereby he transports Cask Aged typical woody barrel aromas. The toriform note of the gin stems from the fact that the Kilchoman distillery is located on the Scottish island of Islay, where mainly peaty whiskey is produced. While he thereby in the nose very dry, earthy and somewhat smoky approach, he is very mild and balanced smoky taste. Great experience - and soon to be tasted on our drinks menu in the restaurant sansaro.
Wa Gin Premium Craft Gin 45% + Uzura No Sanshyo-Yaki - grilled quail breast, leg and mushrooms with mountain pepper soy sauce. A citrusy sake-flavored gin like Wa Gin makes a great accompaniment to this sweet, lightly peppery dish. Sourced from a small sake brewery, Wa Gin was made with koji yeast and sake aged for 10 years. This leads to a slightly metallic smell on the nose, which comes from the sake. Taste-wise, the sake impact is also present, it shows itself mainly citrus and juniper-heavy, but all this very mild on the palate.
Akyane Craft Gin Green Tea 47% + Matcha To Lime No Mousse - to the mousse with Japanese green tea and limes, the Akyane Green Tea Gin seemed like the icing on the cake. An extremely fitting combination. And as the name of the gin and the dessert served with it already suggest, the Akyane Craft Gin is characterized by green tea. The Sencha is very dominantly present in both the nose and the taste. Sweet and fruity tones let us already guess at the nosing, where the gin will go taste-wise. In the aftertaste, the fruity mild gin is strongly reminiscent of a pear brandy, which comes from the potato Shōchū used for the base alcohol.
And as a surprise we got something from the treasure trove of J-Whisky: the
Kinobi 7th Edition KI NHO BI Cask Aged Gin. For this gin, which is a collaboration between Kyoto Distillery and Karuizawa Distillery, 11 botanicals were distilled in six different flavor categories. The distillate was then aged for six months in a sherry cask that previously contained Karuizawa single malt whisky. This was a rare speciality that our speaker Jürgen Liebenau from J-Whisky had brought along. It offers a wide range of aromas. In the nose, it shows very interesting by the fruity, vanilla notes with lots of caramel and wood influence. The barrel aging in a sherry cask can be felt very clearly in the taste. Especially at the end it goes clearly and intensively in the direction of sherry. A successful barrel experiment!
From early September 2019 selection Japanese gin in the restaurant sansaro
And of course, we've since stocked up on an extensive selection of Japanese gin of various styles from him, which you can expect to see on our new 2019 drinks menu at sansaro restaurant from early September.
Great feedback for beautiful and varied event
It was a nice experience that our popular tasting events also work well on our beautiful terrace when the weather is right. The whole team is very grateful to the guests for their enthusiastic feedback and is already looking forward to the next event. As soon as new dates for our next sake, whisky or gin tasting take place, we will, as always, release them on our homepage and of course announce them to our regular guests in the newsletter. We are looking forward to your participation!
PS: We didn't shoot a video this time, but here's a review of the June event in moving pictures.
