Age your wine in a shady octopus garden.
One of the charms of drinks such as sake, wine, and whiskey is that the nuances of their taste vary greatly depending on the ingredients and manufacturing method. This world of experience is further expanded by the process of aging in different containers and environments.
now, Hokkaido Ocean Festival proposes a new way to age alcohol under the sea. Applications are being accepted from March 20th to April 19th and from June 30th, 2024 to June 29th, 2025 for those who wish to submerge their drinks off the coast of Hokkaido.
Although this is not the first underwater cellar, it has some unique features. First of all, Hokkaido, where our company operates, is surrounded by three seas, each with different conditions, but the temperature is relatively stable and there are few typhoons, making it suitable for storing bottles. .
At the Hokkaido Marine Festival, A unique surveillance service that uses solar-powered cameras to point at your basement 24 hours a day and can be accessed from your smartphone. You may be able to imagine the taste while looking at the crabs, or even witness the crabs crossing.
Research shows that exposure to certain vibrations can significantly affect the flavor of a drink as it ages. Even minute ripples in the water caused by wind, animals, or passing ships can create flavors not available on the surface. In addition, When the bottle is placed on the ocean floor, a calcified layer and barnacles develop. It will be your own unique souvenir.
This service was initially targeted at businesses such as sake breweries and restaurants, but is now also available to the general public. However, it is not cheap, 105,600 yen (US$700) per storage cageThis includes submersion, monitoring, maintenance, wax sealing, and insurance. The storage cage can hold 12 bottles of combinations of whiskey, gin, rum, tequila, shochu, sake, wine, sparkling wine, champagne, liqueurs, and more.
▼However, the bottle must be approximately the same shape as a regular sake or wine bottle.
If that's too expensive, you can always try to find a bottle of ocean-aged alcohol at a nearby bar or restaurant. Misogi no Mai, a sake brand from Kikonai, Hokkaido, is also selling an interesting two-bottle set of sea-aged and unaged bottles for a tax-deductible 30,000 yen ($200) through the hometown tax donation program. It's a great way to see what a difference this aging makes, but it tends to sell out quickly.
Either way, it's an interesting way to experience new flavors of your favorite drink. Personally, I have a bottle of vintage Dr Pepper from a great terroir and was looking to add some body to it, and this might be just the thing.
*To apply for underwater aging, you can fill out this Google form in Japanese.
sauce, Image: PR Times
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