Water runs down the ancient slopes of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the Arkansas heartland, and is piped into a truck that delivers it to the doorstep of a nearby… brewery? Titan rice grown in the Arkansas fields is brought in by the… wait, wait a minute. They’re making what here? Sake?? Here, in bourbon country?
All right. You’ve got my (booze-addled) attention.
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From the land of bourbon whiskey and Chick-fil-A comes Oishii Sake, a homegrown, all-American sake brand looking to change the way the American public views (and consumes) Japan’s native rice wine.
Every ingredient—all four of them—is sourced from the grand, ol’ U.S. of A: “We believe great rice + great water = great sake,” says CEO Buzzy Sklar (sound familiar, bourbon heads?). This sake is just as notable for what’s not in it. There are no sulfates, and it’s gluten free and kosher. Oishii sells two sakes at the moment: Oishii Clear and Oishii Cloudy.
Oishii Clear has a nice, light and sweet flavor profile with notes of pear and melon, and it closes with a bit of a savory umami sensation. Oishii Cloudy switches up the flavor template. It’s light, sweet, and clean but with creamy notes of banana and melon.
Water, yeast, rice, and koji mold all come together to create each bottle of Oishii, with no artificial ingredients or added flavors. With so few ingredients, sake is affected greatly by these ingredients’ minute differences, which are themselves reflective of where they’re grown.
From stream to stream and field to field, to say nothing of the specific variety of rice, the water and rice used mean you can literally taste where they came from. Oishii, made with Blue Ridge water and Arkansas Titan rice, tastes unique precisely because it’s made from these ingredients. You won’t get the same notes of flavor in any of the Japanese sakes on the market, with their own distinct sources of water and rice far away.
Beyond the right-down-the-middle pairing with sushi, Oishii says their sakes are designed to pair well with grilled meats, seafood, vegetarian dishes, and even pizza. Oishii offers a selection of cocktail recipes ripe for Oishii sakes, too.
Sake, in general, can be served chilled, room temperature, or hot. We recommend you enjoy their beverages chilled at first, though, since room-temperature and warm sake can be a bit of an acquired taste, whereas chilled sake is more accessible.
Want to try it? You can find both sakes on Oishii’s site for purchase. The uniqueness of an American sake made in the thick of bourbon whiskey country, coupled with the modest price, makes for a strong argument that anyone from the sake connoisseur to the sake curious owes it to themselves to seek out a bottle. Oh, and don’t forget to shake it like a Polaroid picture each time before serving in order.
