Julien sang at the Lunchtime concert, held at Marama Hall, Dunedin, New Zealand on Wednesday, May 16th.

Julien presented a selection of five songs from Schubert’s song cycle Die schne Mllerin, D. 795.

A full review of the concert can be found at http://www.odt.co.nz/entertainment/music/209557/review-classical-style-genres-enlivening-change

At Toast Bar on Friday 4th May 2012 in Dunedin the Ninja party night went off with a bang.

With over a 100 Ninjas in the place getting into the Namida Wasabi Spirit and enjoying the fire eaters and the free shots, the Ninja Olympics was exciting.

One of the experiences enjoyed by those brave enough to partake was the “Drinking the River” competition.

This involved a large block of ice with a carved channel down the centre.

What you need for drinking the river. Girl in mask is an optional extra.

The aim of the game is to drink whatever is poured in the top end of the ice channel without losing any to the floor.

Contestant drinking the river

Plenty had a go at doing this, but it is harder than what you think. For a start the drink is extremely cold, and very alcoholic. That normally manages to make it difficult, especially after a couple of tries. LOL.

Drinking the river straight from the bottle

Everyone agreed that this method of consuming Namida Wasabi Spirit (and other alcoholic drinks) is certainly different and eye catching. In fact, some people regarded it as showing off, but felt that it should be part of the ongoing Ninja Parties in the Toast Bar and the other bars in the near future.

Watch the news for the next Ninja Party bar.

Really getting into it with Namida Wasabi Spirit

Straight Namida Wasabi Spirit for the really adventurous at the Toast Bar.

This is a gimlet with a twist. Using a basil leaf gives it an extra refreshing touch that is just right for the coming Northern summers – assuming you get one this year.

Ingredients:

2.5 oz Namida® Wasabi Spirit

.25 oz fresh lime juice

.25 oz simple syrup

1/2 leaf fresh basil

Method:

Combine in shaker with ice and shake well

Strain into Martini glass OR pour ice and all into a Collins glass on a hot summer day.

In this months edition (April 2012) edition of Air New Zealand’s prestigious in-flight magazine, Kia Ora, Namida Wasabi Spirit is featured on Page 16 as part of their Hot News feature.

The magazine is available to every passenger on AIr New Zealand flights around the world, and our exposure on the International stage will be a boost to expansion of the brand.

The new menu included a number of new cocktails using the amazing taste sensation, Namida Wasabi Spirit.

There will be photos and recipes shortly, so keep an eye on this page.

Dockside in Wellington has paired the new season Bluff oysters with the Namida Wasabi Spirit in a special promotion.

Dockside, an iconic bar on the Wellington waterfront, is offering a special deal for oyster lovers.

Wellington restaurant Dockside had 300 dozen oysters arriving in the shell today.

Dockside general manager Mike Banks said he was serving $140-a-head oyster lunches to 120 people today.

Diners could eat unlimited oysters for three hours and would be offered them raw, Kilpatrick, on top of a prime rib steak, in a Namida Wasabi Spirit shot or with lime sorbet. “It’s a celebration of an iconic delicacy,” Banks said.

Time for a visit to Wellington by the look of it.

Ingredients

25 ml fresh lime juice
50 ml Namida Wasabi Spirit
20 ml rose syrup
4 pickled ginger pieces

Method

1. Muddle the pickled ginger pieces and Namida Wasabi Spirit in a mixing glass.
2. Add the other ingredients and ice.
3. Shake well.
4. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Namida – Japanese for Tears

40% alc./vol.
www.wasabispirit.com
Producer: Edward Snell & Co. Ltd, Cape Town, South Africa.

Named after the Japanese word for tears, Namida is flavoured with pure Wasabia japonica rhizome, not the coloured horseradish-derived fake wasabi commonly found in the west. The bottles are screen printed with the profile of Wasabia japonica leaves and carry both the batch and bottle number.

Namida Wasabi is the result of a family’s obsession with growing and marketing Wasabi first aroused by a television documentary on wasabi screened in New Zealand in 1989. This inspired Michel Van Mellaerts and his wife Jenny to start growing wasabi and after a couple of years of experimentation they perfected their organic hydroponic growing system.

It is the opera-singing son of this wasabi-cultivating couple, Julien, who we have to thank for creating this wasabi spirit in 1996. Namida is made in small batches of 6,000 litres by triple distilling grain neutral alcohol with wasabi rhizomes grown in New Zealand by Julien’s parents. Distillation now takes place in South Africa, perhaps as a direct result of the mustard gas released by the wasabi blowing up the still of the first Kiwi distiller.

Appearance: (batch 002, bot No. 1071) Clear, pale wasabi green.
Aroma: Formidable, clean, wasabi, horseradish nose.
Taste: The promised wasabi-flavoured palate also has the rhizome’s heat, though not overpoweringly so.
Aftertaste: Long, not entirely pleasant finish with lingering bitter, rooty flavours. One for mixing in Bloody Marys rather that sipping.
diffordsguide rating: 4/5

Original article can be found at http://www.diffordsguide.com/class-magazine/read-online/en/2012-01-24/page-1/spirited-reviews

Ingredients

3 oz. Tomato Juice
1 1/2 oz. Namida Wasabi Spirit
1 dash(es) Soy Sauce
1 squirt(s) Lime Juice
1 Lime slice

Method

Mix in a cocktail glass and garnish with celery sticks and a lime wheel.

A perfect combination of heat and zest, this cocktail is sure to tantalize your taste buds. And with its all-natural ingredients, low-calorie count, and refined flavour profile, the Bloody Geisha is the perfect cocktail to satisfy your zest for flavour.

Ingredients

Ice cold Namida Wasabi Spirit
Ice
Vermouth
One olive

Method

Ice cold Namida Wasabi Spirit
Shaken with ice and a bit of Vermouth
Pour into a Martini glass and serve with two cocktail sticks through one olive