I’ll be honest and say that I know next to nothing about sake. I know that it’s a Japanese rice wine and that it’s served either hot or cold. Beyond this, I’ve had it on only few occasions. My most notable, albeit very brief, encounter with it was in the form of sake bombs. Yes, that’s when you drop a shot glass of sake into a glass of beer and guzzle it down…and then have another. Am I revealing too much here?
I was in my mid-twenties then, working hard and in the company of fun friends. It was justified, right? Besides, I didn’t start drinking socially until I was twenty-four; I had some catching up to do, maybe. But being the featherweight drinker that I am, I couldn’t really get into the binge drinking habit–not even if I wanted to. My alcohol intolerance, or allergy, has seen to that. I’m the girl who gets flushed (and gets a nasal congestion) after a half glass of wine. The good: My body naturally limits my alcohol consumption. The bad: It’s quite embarrassing to walk out of a restaurant with a beet-red face looking like I’ve had two bottles of wine when in fact I’ve only had one or two glasses.
Back to the sake. I’ve been experimenting with a bottle that was gifted to us sometime ago. I found several cocktails featuring rice wine mixed with a variety of liqueurs and fruit juices. I decided to improvise with what I had on hand and came up with this concoction. Instead of the liqueur, I used a combination of sake, sorbet, frozen mixed berries, and fresh lemon and lime juice. It wasn’t bad; quite refreshing, actually. The raspberry sorbet I had was a little too sweet for my taste so I had to balance it out with a generous squeeze of lemon and lime juice. Overall, I would do this again, but I’ll have to tweak it a little more until I get it just right.
Sake and Raspberry Sorbet Cocktail
- 1 part raspberry sorbet (or your flavor of choice)
- 2 parts cold sake
- 1 part frozen mixed berries (or any frozen fruit that will complement your sorbet)
- Lemon juice or lime juice, optional
- Fresh fruit, mint or lemon/lime zest for garnish
Use these proportions just as a guide. I don’t like overly sweet cocktails so I found myself needing the citrus to balance the flavors out. Otherwise, combine all ingredients, blend until smooth and serve immediately.
One word – YUMMY!
This sounds amazing with raspberry sorbet, sake, and berries! Hey, if you would like, you can submit it for my 5 star makeover event on smoothies and shakes – this is kind of a smoothie with a twist 🙂 Let me know! http://www.fivestarfoodie.com/2010/05/5-star-makeover-announcement-smoothies.html
Natasha, thanks for the heads up. I was actually thinking last night that this seemed more like a smoothie to me–maybe I should have added more sake! 🙂
Already submitted. Thanks again!
Unfortunately…it is a cold and dreary 35 degrees in Colorado…but as soon as it warms up, you better believe I’ll be making this. Yum!
Hm – I am not sure, why Sake was used – this beverage [which can be translated more as rice beer] is so delicate, that you are overpowering the aromas – even if you are using a “normal” liqueur.
Your drink would work well with rum or [for god sake] even with vodka.
But I consider it as waste [and even not responsible, as you are suppressing the natural alcohol character] to use Sake in this drink.
Thanks for your input and I’ll bear it in mind next time. I’m not an expert like you–in fact, I’m generally not a cocktail drinker. I used sake because I had a large, open bottle that needed to be used up. I understand that sake doesn’t have a very long shelf life once the bottle has been opened. I made it very clear that I don’t have a lot of experience with this beverage so I experimented. I would hardly call this irresponsible or wasteful. This is how we learn, right?
Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
Wow! I know next to nothing about sake, too, but I’ve always wanted to learn more! This is something that I would definitely try – it looks beautiful. And about the flushing – you remind me of my dear friend Linda who turns beet red – I feel for you, but I agree that it’s a great way to self regulate the drinking 🙂
I was afraid to use too much sake but I think it would have helped in this case. The cocktail was a little thick, almost like a smoothie but it was fine overall. I don’t know if you read the other comments but someone was very disapproving of my use of sake for this cocktail, but hey, playing with food is part of the fun, right? 🙂
I do agree that it’s fun to experiment with food and drinks! Why not? That’s how some of the best dishes come about!
Wow sounds yummy… I love sake!
This sounds awesome. The combination is intriguing.
Wow, great job here. Awesome picture too! You should really consider submitting this to Recipe4Living’s Summertime Sipper Contest! It looks delicious!
Demais!