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 […]