Pungo a sake

Anybody try it? I know a sake has a longer open bottle life than wine, but thought I would stretch.

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I’ve never seena sake without a screw top.

Many high-end sakes, particularly in 500ml format, have hard-topped cork stoppers like a whisky bottle, but I’ve never seen one with a pure cork before.

Just finish the bottle. A sake buzz is the best.

Ah yes I’ve had a couple of those.

I actually went to a sake brewer in Hyogo, Japan last fall to discuss this very thing. They assured me that sake does indeed change with time / exposure (although not as much as wine), and are currently testing a Pungo on their products. We tested a bottle I brought home with me over three weeks, and it actually got smoother over time.

The issue with closures on sake bottles (at least in Japan) is that there’s not really a standard. The bottle itself is much more likely to be a design element of the brand, and even a particular line within that brand. This particular bottle actually had a rubber stopper installed, but I was able to use the small Pungo expanding stopper. It was a tight fit. Of course, if too odd a size, you could always transfer to a used screwcap wine bottle and the threaded stopper.

doesn’t Pungo make an insert for a screwcap so that the Pungo can be used?

Yes Alan, our expanding stopper works by sliding it into the bottle, and we also have a new screwcap version we’re releasing that just threads right on. So far I’ve just used the expanding version on the few sake bottles I’ve pungoed.