Ah, the sweet, sweet taste of a Japanese sake brewery.

Japanese fast food chain Mos Burger has built up an impressive reputation for supporting local farmers and businesses, proudly using Japanese-grown rice, meat and vegetables in a large number of their menu offerings.

Now, Mos Burger is throwing their support behind another locally sourced product, with the announcement that they’ll be teaming up with the Yamaguchi-based Asahi Shuzo sake brewery for a brand new Dassai milkshake.

Yes, you read that correctly — Mos Burger will be selling a Dassai Milkshake. Dassai is a sake brand that’s become incredibly popular worldwide, but before you start wondering what a sake milkshake might taste like, this drink doesn’t actually have any alcoholic kick to it, as it contains 0.00 percent alcohol.

How is that possible? Because it’s made not with sake, but with amazake, a traditional sweet drink that’s created by mixing steamed white rice and water with kome koji (“rice malt“). Kome koji is rice that’s been inoculated with Aspergillus oryzae, a mould used to make sake, which helps to ferment the rice and water to create a drink that’s so healthy and easy to digest it’s often fed to weaning babies.

The new milkshake contains Dassai Amazake, which is made with the same koji used by Asahi Shuzo to create their Dassai sake. This amazake also uses Yamada Nishiki rice, which has been polished down to 50-percent of its original grain to give it a smooth sweetness.

Mos Burger is calling the new milkshake the Dassai Mazeru Shake — with ‘mazeru’ meaning ‘to mix’ — as customers will be able to mix the non-alcoholic Dassai Amazake into the Vanilla Shake to enjoy the different flavours.

▼ The new drink is served with Dassai Amazake at the bottom, Mos Burger Vanilla Shake on top.

The beverage is said to showcase the subtle sweetness of Dassai’s koji, as well as the smooth aromas of Yamada Nishiki rice, a variety that’s widely touted to be the best for sake-making. The beverage has been thoughtfully designed so that the Dassai Amazake becomes deeper and richer in flavour and aroma the more you sip the shake. And although it doesn’t contain any alcohol, it’s said to have a taste that’s similar to the flavour of sake, making it a fun drink to enjoy while celebrating the upcoming New Year.

Dassai’s makers believe the new shake will be unique and surprising, as it allows for the two usually separate worlds of Japanese sake and hamburgers to cross over in an unusual way.

As it’s non-alcoholic, customers of all ages will be able to enjoy the Dassai milkshake. Sold in a small size for 334 yen (US$3.21) and a medium size for 399 yen, the new shake is scheduled to be available at Mos Burger stores nationwide from 26 December until early February 2021 . However, the shakes will only be available in limited quantities so be sure to get in quick, as sales will end as soon as stock runs out.

Source, images: Mos Burger Japan
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