My favourite was hakkaisan if i still remember correctly. Pretty nice, had some friends when i was leaving Tokyo who brought me to a big sake place and there were like 12 shots of different sake. There was one that was "like water", its surprisingly potent but my favourite is still hakkaisan. It was pretty strong though at least to a first time sake drinker at that time. I wolfed down all 12 shots and had a throbbing headache the next day that was somehow cured by more shots of hakkaisan.
When i landed in Kyushu and went to Kumamoto, the first thing my colleagues brought me to was to drink beer and then food plus sake. I agree, rice and sake don't mix for sure, for that matter, i found most beer as well at least for me.