I can’t believe it’s not Nihonshu?

Butter already does a pretty good job of talking us into slathering it on every edible surface that we can. Japan’s Canoble brand is always looking for ways to make it even more delicious, though, and their latest is an especially Japanese one: sake butter.

Released earlier this month, Degustation Ginka Sake is a collaborative creation between Canoble and a group of celebrated brewers of sake, or Nihonshu, as Japan’s representative alcohol is called in Japanese. And yes, the butter is alcoholic, with an alcohol content of 3.2 percent, so it’s not recommended for children, pregnant women, or those with an aversion to alcohol.

For everyone else, though, the set contains nine pieces of fermented butter, each with a different sake kneaded into each piece. The place of honor right in the center of the package goes to Yamaguchi Prefecture’s Dassai, one of the most popular brands in Japan among customers and creative partners, while the others (from left to right and top to bottom) are: Densu (Aomori Prefecture), Hiroki (Fukushima), Nabeshima (Saga), Wakaze the Classic (a sake brewed in Paris), Kenkyu Jozo Data 15 (Gunma), Hanamura (Akita) and Kokuryu (Fukui). At the bottom left is an unnamed butter and amazake (sweet sake) blend.

Sake, a distinctly Japanese drink, might seem like an odd pairing with butter, an ingredient not at all indigenous to Japan. Canoble says, however, that the milk content of the butter helps the aroma of sake, particularly its fruity or floral notes, stand out, and that its salt draws out the sweet properties of sake’s flavor profile. Considering how delicious the Dassai milkshake and truffles were, there’s precedent for combining creamy flavors with sake to create new and delicious flavors, so Canoble might be on to something here.

The nine-piece Degustation Ginka Sake set is available here through the National Department Store online shop, priced at 3,240 yen (US$28.15).

Source, images: PR Times
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