The deep, rustic flavors of Shichi Hon Yari call for a friend...and pepperoni pizza shows UP. Together, the flavors of the sake lockstep with the pizza's cheese, tomato, crust and toppings in perfect unison and my taste buds do the ultimate umami happy dance.

Dassai is one of my favorite bottles of sake to drink with Alyssa. The reasons, I must admit, are largely self-serving. I have yet to travel to Japan and now, with Covid-19 travel restrictions still in place, am begrudgingly assigned to live vicariously through Alyssa’s stories of her own time there. And no sake invokes as many vivid memories as Dassai 45.

After years of drowning the taste of microwaved sake in cheap cold beer, Yuki No Bosha “Cabin in the Snow” Junmai Ginjo was like a lightning strike that immediately woke me to what sake could be. After that, I began to explore the ginjo category as a whole, trying to understand how these complex floral, fruity notes could come from rice.