Kirei

【English】

“Clean”, “beautiful”.

【Japanese】

きれい

An expression used to describe the sensation on the palate after taking sake into the mouth. It is used when appropriate umami levels are combined with a certain smoothness. Although it is too subjective an expression to be able to make a categorical statement, it tends to be used of sake with no off-odours or off-flavours, and low levels of acids and amino acids.

It is used in a positive sense, and the expression tanrei (淡麗), with characters signifying light (or pale) and clear, is a close synonym. (Kirei is a commonly-used word meaning clean/ tidy/beautiful in general-use Japanese, but tanrei is mainly used only in the context of alcoholic drinks, particularly sake.) In the opposite sense of a sake which gives a rough feeling on the palate, the term arai (荒い, “rough”) is used. Examples with off-odours or off-flavours, excessive levels of acidity and so on may also be criticized as kitanai (きたない, dirty), the opposite of kirei.

When a sake is lacking in suitable seishu flavour, it may be described as usui (thin) or sabishii (さびしい, literally meaning “lonely”).