Sake Blog 
Hibino Star Sighting!
My trip to Japan was exhilarating, but exhausting. After days of struggling to find my way around around Kyoto and embarrassing myself trying to use broken Japanese, I was glad to be back in my crowded, loud, but favorite city: New York, baby! Still, I didn’t want to leave Kyoto totally behind. [...]
Donguri – Sippin’ It Old Skool
New York’s Upper East Side is a bastion of Old Money, well preserved traditions as well as many well preserved ‘Ladies who Lunch’. Kinda goes without saying that this mostly makes for a decidedly un-hip place to hang out. On my last trip to the UES, my search for sake took me to [...]
Sake Scene at Soba-ya
Down old East Village way is a little soba place called Soba-ya that is just the bees knees. I’ve been there twice now, so it’s finally time to post on the sake happenings at this terrific soba joint. First thing to know – there will always be a wait to be seated if [...]
Honmura An
In New York City, we have more opportunities sip Japanese sake than maybe just about anywhere outside Japan. On the one hand, this may very well be the reason I have never been able to find the money for a down-payment for a condo. On the other hand, Scott and I have discovered [...]
Tsukasabotan: A Space Odyssey
Sake Captain’s Log, Stardate 1215.6 — I was recently invited to join some friends at awesome Sake Hana (265 E. 78th St btw 2nd and 3rd Ave 212-327-0582) to try Tsukasabotan “Space Sake”. Sake from outer space? Well, not exactly… It’s actually sake made from yeast that was blasted into orbit. Houston, do we [...]
Sake Bloggers of the World Unite!
Question: What would you get if all the sake bloggers in the world had a tasting of the same sakes on the same night?
Answer: Why, you’d get the World’s First Cyber Sake Tasting, that’s what!
Working with my sake blogging friends Valerie of The Sake Diaries in Minneapolis, Melinda of Tokyo Through the Drinking glass and [...]
Suspicious Minds
Recently, Scott invited me to travel with him to Minnesota for his college reunion. I know… Minnesota is out there, but I knew deep down there would be some sake adventure somewhere to be had, so off I went – and I’m glad I did. After a little research and a few emails with our [...]
Naka Naka, Who’s There?
After reading about the homestyle japanese cooking at the new japanese place Naka Naka (458 W 17th St. New York, NY 10011), Scott concluded we had been working hard and deserved a treat.We made a reservation for early on a saturday night and off we went. Let me start off by saying that the food [...]
Back to Bozu
When you’re a Manhattan-loving, Brooklyn-fearing snob like me, it’s not often that you get on the train and head off to Brooklyn for the whole day on purpose. However, I see now that Scott really knows what he’s doing. To entice me to go with him to a Brooklyn event, he promised me [...]
April ’06 Sake Meetup
The Sake Meetup group, well, ‘met up’ last night at Landmark for a private tasting. It was quite fun as usual. This night was a study in old friends and new friends… this goes for both the sake AND the people!
I knew two of the sakes that were served on sight. [...]
Think Pink!
Ok, class is in session. To fully appreciate this blog entry, there are a few key words of Japanese you need to learn:
Sakura = Cherry Blossom
Matsuri = Festival
Sakura Matsuri = Cherry Blossom Festival!
Scott and I had our own delightful Sake-infused Sakura Matsuri last Sunday. The festivities started with a trip to the Brooklyn Botanical [...]
Chrissy Snow Ginjo
Growing up with Three’s Company I identified much more with sensible Janet, but I always had a spot in my heart for that wacky Chrissy Snow. Such unassuming beauty… and yet so naive and uncomplicated. The image of Chrissy Snow leapt to mind with my first sip of MizuNoShirabe Ginjo. [...]
Diplomacy at Ambassador Wines
I had my very first trip to Ambassador Wines on the Upper east side recently. This is one of the most well known sake stores in the city. Now, normally I don’t run to the liquor store on my lunch hour to stock up on sake, but… this was an exception. I was [...]
Ice Ice Baby!
I tried an interesting “Igloo” sake that I had heard about called Taisetsu from Takasago Brewery on Hokkaido Island. you can learn more about this brewery here. It’s a Junmai Ginjo with an ALC content of 16%, Nihonshu-Do of +3 and made with Ginpu sake Rice that I picked up at Landmark. [...]
Beware the Velvet Hammer
I realized the other day, I love my new hobby as a sake appreciator, but you know what my hobby really is?…. DRINKING! Obviously, I was never a frat boy and don’t really have a past history of drinking games and waking up outside on the lawn wearing someone else’s pants. I’ve never done a [...]
Mystery Sake Revealed..
I got my chance to return to the city’s number 1 japanese restaurant, Tomoe, and finally – once and for all- find out the name of that proto-sake I tasted there. That was the first premium I have ever had. It was delicious enough, especially with tomoe sushi, to get me really interested in premium [...]
Show me the Momoya!
We have all been there…Whether it’s being passed over for that promotion, getting splashed by a cab on a rainy day or finding that one-of-a-kind prized collectible you got on Ebay was smashed to bits by the post office, life can suck sometimes. Lucky for me, i’ve found that a few sips of sake is [...]
Blue bottles and sticky tables
Scott took me to a great place tonight: Poke! We ventured to this sushi place on the upper east side because there were high marks for the sushi in zagats. the other exciting thing was that that they don’t have their liquor license so they have a B.Y.O.S. policy. bring your own [...]
How does rice impersonate grapes- Welch’s Sake?
Ok, never ever ever ever buy sake based on low price alone. I made this mistake this past weekend. I was at my favorite Sake shop Landmark with S. on sunday and I picked up a Nigori for thanksgiving. I wanted something else to sip on during the week after [...]
