Sho Chiku Bai Premium Ginjo Sake is produced by Takara Sake USA Inc. – a Berkeley, California based spirits company first established in 1983. They are part of a larger, Japan-based corporation called Takara Group, which was originally founded 1842 and produce a variety of spirits such as sake, shochu, and others. Their branding places an emphasis on harmony with nature. Each Sho Chiku Bai sake utilizes rice sourced from the Sacramento valley and snow melt from the Sierra Nevada mountains. This particular bottle of Premium Ginjo Sake is made from Calrose rice, which is polished to 50%, washed, soaked, and steamed. 20% of that steamed rice […]
Joto Junmai Sake is produced by Eiko Fuji Brewery – a 13th generation family-run sake producer in Tsuruoka City, Yamagata, Japan. As a brand, Joto produces a variety of liquor products including sake, umeshu, and more. This particular bottle of Junmai “The Green One” Sake uses a Dewa-No-Sato variety of rice, with a polishing ratio of 80%. This percentage refers to how much of the rice grain is left after the milling process. After the rice is prepared and malted, it is fermented with a local Yamagata yeast, and pressed with an automatic pressing machine to remove the rice particles. The end result sake has a SMV (gravity) value of +7.5 […]
While I’ve sampled a few sakes over the years (Emmeline and I even shared a sake flight the last time we had sushi), I’ve never actually owned a bottle myself. I was always too overwhelmed by the number of brands and styles. Thankfully, I came out of the holiday season with this bottle of Gekkeikan Black & Gold Sake, so I don’t have to stress anymore, and can finally start my sake journey. The Gekkeikan brand can be traced all the way back to 1637, when Jiemon Okura first established a sake brewery in Fushima, a town near Kyoto. The Okura family continued to operate the brewery and expand the brand until it was officially renamed […]
One of my personal goals this year is to try more spirits from other countries and cultures. And it seems like Emmeline was on a similar wavelength, since she gifted me this bottle of Hassaku Sake during the holidays. Hassaku Sake is produced in Wakayama, a Southern prefecture in Japan that borders Osaka. Wakayama is famous for the citrus fruit hassaku, a fruit similar in taste to an orange but the size of a grapefruit. While it’s branded as a sake on the bottle, Hassaku Sake might be closer to a liqueur in taste and proof. But the base spirit is high quality sake produced by Sekai Itto Co. and then blended with locally sourced hassaku […]
Homare Strawberry Nigori is produced by Aizu Homare Brewery, located in the city of Kitakata in Fukushima, Japan. First established in 1918, Aizu Homare is considered one of the top breweries in the area, and produce a variety of sake, sochu, and liqueur products.
This particular bottle of Strawberry Nigori is a flavored Nigori sake. If you’re not familiar with Nigori, it differs from other types of sake by the […]