John and Etsuko have two sake brewery tours set up for early 2011. I’m telling you – these are not to be missed and they couldn’t be lead by more knowledgeable or nicer people. It’s a rare opportunity to peek inside the closed world of the Sake Brewer and see the delicious day to day live of making the world’s best beverage. Special Note!! Travelers receive 10,000 JPY discount for booking before the 1st of December by using the promotional code “URBSA“. Space is extremely limited so make your booking today! Here are the details:

Sake Brewery Tour of Japan’s Akita Region

Akita

February 21, 2011 (Monday) Yuri Honjo and Yokote, Akita

February 22, 2011 (Tuesday) Yokote, Akita

February 23, 2011 (Wednesday) Daisen, Akita

February 24, 2010 (Thursday) Kakunodate and Nyuto Onsen, Akita

February 25, 2010 (Friday) Nyuto Onsen, Akita to Tokyo

Travelers receive 10,000 JPY discount for booking before the 1st of December by using the promotional code “URBSA“. Space is extremely limited so make your booking today!

Sake Brewery Tour of Japan’s Sanin Region

Sanin Region

March 14, 2011 (Monday) Yonago and Sakaiminato, Tottori

March 15, 2011 (Tuesday) Yasugi and Matsue, Shimane

March 16, 2011 (Wednesday) Matsue, Shimane

March 17, 2011 (Thursday) Izumo and Yunotsu, Shimane

March 18, 2010 (Friday) Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine, Shimane and Hiroshima

Travelers receive 10,000 JPY discount for booking before the 1st of December by using the promotional code “URBSA“. Space is extremely limited so make your booking today!

Via Kyodo News:

Japanese sake makes debut in British parliament

Saura-san

Koichi Saura (L), a board member of the Japan Sake Brewers Association, and Lord Pearson of Rannoch open a sake barrel in front of a picture of the House of Lords during a party at Westminster in London on Nov. 18, 2009. The party, held to commemorate the 150th anniversary of bilateral relations, became the first event at which Japanese rice wine was served in the building. (Kyodo)

John and Etsuko have two sake brewery tours set up for early 2010. I’m telling you – these are not to be missed and they couldn’t be lead by more knowledgeable or nicer people. It’s a rare opportunity to peek inside the closed world of the Sake Brewer and see the delicious day to day live of making the world’s best beverage.

Here are the details:
Sake Brewery Tour of Japan’s Kansai Region

Kansai Region

February 23, 2010 (Tuesday) Kyoto
You will arrive at Karasuma Kyoto Hotel by individually arranged transportation.

February 24, 2010 (Wednesday) Fushimi, Kyoto
The day begins with a half-day lecture by John Gauntner to prepare you for our brewery visits. The collection of brewing tools and bottles spanning all eras of the industry at the Gekkeikan Sake Museum deepens your knowledge. We make our first brewery visit in the scenic and historic Fushimi Ward of Kyoto City, an area that continues to prosper as one of the two brewing capitals in Japan and as the home to more than twenty breweries.
sugidama

February 25, 2010 (Thursday) Kyoto Optional Tour
You may choose to spend the day leisurely exploring Kyoto on your own, or make an optional visit to Tenryuji Zen Monastery in Arashiyama. After wandering among the deep, tranquil bamboo groves, enjoy the stunning view from the impeccably manicured Japanese garden at the private estate of the late silent movie star, Ōkōchi Sansō. Then, we visit Matsuo Taisha, dedicated to the god of sake brewing, which is worshiped and visited by almost every brewer in the nation. A visit to the serene moss garden at Saihō-ji, also known as the Moss Temple, will leave you with peaceful memories of the ancient capital.

February 26, 2010 (Friday) Kobe and Osaka
In the morning, we will visit another brewery in Kobe, the largest brewing center in the country, and continue to Osaka for a castle visit. The final kura tour and dinner at an historic brewery will leave everyone with beautiful memories.

February 27, 2010 (Saturday) Kyoto
On the last day in Kyoto, the morning begins with a walk down the passageways of one of Kyoto’s main fish and vegetable markets, Nishiki Market. There is a wide selection of pickles, specialty local vegetables (Kyo-yasai), bean curd, and traditional Japanese cooking tools to delight any foodie. After an early lunch at the market, a visit to Nijo Castle is the feast for the eyes with sumptuous artwork from the Edo period at the Shogun’s residence and the strolling garden designed by Kobori Enshu.

Sake Brewery Tour of Japan’s Sanin Region

Sanin Region

March 15, 2010 (Monday) Yonago, Tottori
You will arrive at Yonago Airport or JR Yonago station in Tottori individually and transfer to the Hotel.

March 16, 2010 (Tuesday) Yonago and Sakaiminato, Tottori
A half-day lecture by John Gauntner prepares you for our journey. In Sakaiminato, enjoy the first brewery tour and tasting right in the heart of very popular Mizuki Shigeru Road where statues of spooky yet very comical characters welcome visitors. Then, stroll in the beautiful Japanese gardens of the Adachi Museum of Art and enjoy their collection of Japanese paintings by renowned artists, most notably, Yokoyama Taikan.

March 17, 2010 (Wednesday) Matsue, Shimane
Private car takes you to Matsue. This beautiful city surrounded by water is often called “ the Venice of Japan ”. Start the day by visiting a sake brewery. From the brewery, explore the beautiful historical city on foot and on by small boat through the canals surrounding the castle. Savory banquet-style dinner served with local sake at a Japanese-style inn.

March 18, 2010 (Thursday) Izumo and Yunotsu, Shimane
In the morning, visit one more sake brewery. Then, wander the Izumo Grand Shrine, one of Japan’s most ancient and important shrines. A visit to the Shimane Museum of Ancient Izumo to browse through the stunning collection of historical discoveries gives you insights into the pre-historic myth, religion, and history of this old crossroads. In the evening, stay at the quaint, tiny coastal onsen town of Yunotsu and enjoy a quiet, relaxing evening. Banquet style dinner and sake are served at the ryokan.

March 19, 2010 (Friday) Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine, Shimane and Hiroshima
Explore the town of Yunotsu on foot and tramp along a rocky coastal beach or visit a pottery studio where you can see a traditional kiln. Then, visit the most recent World Heritage Site in Japan, Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine, where you explore the old mining town accessible only on foot. A leisurely stroll along the winding creek with blooming spring flowers and the sound of birds creates a timeless moment.
A private car takes you to JR Hiroshima Station, where you can continue your travels or head back to Tokyo or Kansai. Participants will continue with any onward travel plans. Note that Michi Travel can make arrangements for you.

What: Tim Sullivan Samurai Tasting
When: Sat. March 8th, 2-4pm
Where: Sakaya (324 E. 9th Street)
Why: It’s free and fun and delicious! Please stop by if you can to sample some fantastic sakes that have a connection to the Samurai Spirit.

I’ve been invited by Sakaya to host a special sake tasting at their shop and introduce some of my favorite Samurai inspired sake! As a Sake Samurai, I’ve taken an oath to educate about sake and share the beautiful culture of Japan. Here’s a look at the Samurai inspired sake we’ll try:

Sougen Junmai “Pride of the Samurai” (SMV: +3, Acidity: 1.8, Rice: Yamadanishiki, Seimaibuai: 55%, Ishikawa Prefecture) With a name like “Pride of the Samurai” how could I ignore this one? It sure doesn’t hurt that this sake is a perfect junmai, both with and without food. Smooth and quite easy to drink, I recommend this sake to people just starting out with Nihon-shu

Shichi Hon Yari Junmai (”The Seven Spearsmen” ALC 15.5%, SMV +4, Acidity 1.5, Seimaibuai 60%, Shiga Prefecture) Yasuhobu Tomita is a young brewer on a mission. His family Kura was founded by Samurai and Tomita-san tapped this same samurai family spirit to keep the brewery running smoothly and make some great sake. He uses only locally grown Tamazakae sake rice. This sake is fantastic both chilled and heated and offers a robust, truly artisan hand crafted sake experience.

The ‘seven spearsmen’ brand is in fact in honor of 7 samurai warriors who helped secure victory for the famous Japanese War Lord Hideyoshi in 1583.

Tsukasabotan Tokubetsu Junmai Senchu Hassaku (Seimaibuai: 60% ALC: 15.4% SMV: +8 Acidity: 1.48, Kochi Prefecture)
With one of the coolest labels in all of sake-dom, Senchu Hassaku has a unique connection to Samurai history. Ryoma Sakamoto was a samurai warrior who, while on a boat, wrote an 8 point plan for political reform in Japan at the time of the Meiji restoration. “Senchu Hassaku” means “Aboard Ship 8-Point Plan”. This sake is dry with a fantastic, smooth flavor on the palate. Perfect for lovers of robust, dry sake.

Hope to see you on March 8th!!

Chopsticks Magazine, December 2007 issue:
Chopsticks asked for my comments on one of my favorite topics… Dassai 23! See the “Voice from Dassai 23 Enthusiast” sidebar on this full page spread.
>View PDF

Japan-Up! Magazine, January 2008 issue:
Japan Up! Magazine asked me to do a full page interview. It’s called a “Special Interview with a BIG sake lover!”. Here I admit, in print, to my Sake and Turkey Burger fetish.
>View PDF

New York Times, January 9th 2008:
The New York Times Dining Section Calendar featured a blurb on my Sake Class at Astor Center. It is a thrill to see your name in the Times and a relief it’s not in the obituary column or police blotter. Kanpai to that.
>View PDF

The Guardian Online, January 18th 2008:
Blog by Blog Guide to… Tokyo.
Ok, ok, I know that my blog is not directly related to Tokyo, per se, but the folks at the Guardian were kind enough to include my blog in the sake section! The Golden Masu Awards are gaining traction! Move over Oscar!
>View PDF

Thrillist
Being included in the Thrillist was indeed a thrill for me, if not for others. They took note of my Urban Sake Google Map to New York City. I’m happy that they found this map to be useful and I hope to expand the maps more and more as time allows.
>View PDF

In Japanese “sakaya” means sake shop, so this seems the perfect name for a stateside temple to Nihon-shu. This beautiful store is the brainchild of sake-loving couple Hiroko Furukawa and Rick Smith. Hiroko and Rick envisioned a boutique space where sake aficionados could find the best the sake world has to offer and expand their palates as well.

Sakaya is a special place indeed, both inside and out. The interior design of this boutique was crafted by the same talented Japanese architect that designed Momofuku and Kyotofu. It’s beautiful, simple and elegant. The owners even found the perfect window dressing, a beautiful life size Sugidama imported from Japan.

Rick and Hiroko are starting out with about 80 hand selected sakes and will ramp up to sell more brands in the future. Sakes range in size from 300ml to the large 1.8L ishobin size. Some of the brews are even available for “try before you buy” sampling – a rarity in New York.

In addition, they are offering a small selection of sake serving sets, sake books and shochu. BTW… Sake makes the perfect holiday gift… um, especially for me.

All this really is great news for the New York City Sake community. It’s enough to make me want to grab a bell an shout from the roof tops.

Well… at the restaurant, I did ask to see the fugu license of the nice lady cutting up our blowfish, but everyone just laughed. gulp.

The restaurant itself was totally quaint and very much that hidden type of place you would never know about unless you were recommended there by a friend of a friend. Not only to they run a restaurant, they also farm their own Fugu!

Our first course was a heaping plate of Blowfish sashimi. Mr. Sakurai showed me his preferred method of eating it. wrap each slice with a bit of chive and the shredded daikon-carrot like stuff. It was delicious. Since my limbs didn’t begin tingling, I quickly forgot about the possibility of poisoning and began to seriously chow down. The texture was quite firm, almost meaty, yet smooth and silky. Delicious!

Mr. Sakurai brought 2 bottles of Dassai along for our dinner. We had both a Dassai 39 Centrifuge and a Dassai 50 Sparkling Nigori. Both were fantastic. The Centrifuge sake is unique. that final production process adds “a little something extra” to the flavor and texture on the tongue. The Sparkling Nigori is Fantastic – it opens with a POP just like you get from champagne. Very festive and fun – perfect for celebration. The bottle comes with an extra hang tag to alert people to open the bottle like champagne. the stopper will fly out! I’m sure this has surprised a few Dassai Sparkling drinkers in the past – it’s not what you expect from a sake, but it is terrific fun.

Next we each got a plate of deep fried Fugu Tempura. The axiom that everything tastes better deep fried definitely holds true for Blowfish. It was crispy and offered a different angle on the flavor of fugu. The Nigori meshed with the tempura like and hand in glove. my favorite pairing of the night!

The next course was a bit of a “Lost in Translation” moment. We were each served a small square dish with white something or other in there. I asked what it was, and after a little back and forth and some confusion, I finally understood they were male fugu private parts! I actually can’t tell you how they taste. This fear factor moment pushed me to my limit. Fear was a factor for me! as I sat there staring at the fugu reproductive organs, chopsticks in hand… unsure how to proceed… time for another sip of sake.

Luckily, our hostess quickly arrived with a glorious, steaming pot of Fugu and vegetable stew called “Nabe”. This dish came with a bowl for the fugu bones. Nabe is now one of my new favorite things! It was warming and hearty and the fugu added a great depth of flavor to the broth. after all the fugu was fished out and picked clean, the hostess filled the bowl with rice. it was two, two, two dishes in one! and boy was I getting full!

Dessert arrived in the form a cool and refreshing Japanese lime beverage, kinda like a homemade lime-aid. this unexpected treat cleansed the palate and was just about the only thing I had all night that didn’t have Blowfish in it somewhere. Our lovely hostess gave me a fugu tokkuri as a parting gift. I was really touched. On the way out, they also showed me the Fugu tanks and I got to see some live specimens up close and personal. Um, blowfish won’t be winning any beauty pageants. Fugu is kinda Fugly up close, but… it sure does taste good.

My sincere thank you to the delightful Sakurai family for this tremendous and delicious evening. A special “arigatogozaimasu!” to the hostess at the fugu restaurant for cutting up my fish in such a way that I won’t be landing on the Japanese Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry statistics for 2007. Kanpai!

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However… things didn’t go quite as planned on the sake front. Let me start off by saying the sushi was delicious. If anything threw a monkey wrench in my experience at Yasuda, it certainly was not the presentation, quailty or taste of the fish. My first order of business at any Japanese restaurant is to look at the sake menu. To my surprise, I only found 5 or 6 sakes offered cold. huh? …and of those sakes, there were some solid, upstanding choices, but nothing out of the ordinary. What’s going on here? I was looking at Ichinokura, Otokoyama and even domestic Ozeki. Does not compute!

Most of the top tier Japanese restaurants I’ve been to pride themselves on an extensive sake list. Most even have a sake sommelier on staff. At Yasuda, of the few choices I had, I decided to go with the one I knew the least and hope for the best. I ordered myself a serving of the Takenotsuyu Junmai (Yamagata, SMV: +2 , ALC: 14.5%). The Takenotsuyu was served in a beautiful ceramic carafe and I took a sip… Then it hit me like a ton of bricks! finally, it all made sense. This Junmai was mild and unobtrusive, light and drinkable. Yasuda is about the fish, the whole fish and nothing but the fish. The thinking must be that any flashy sakes would upstage or overwhelm the fish. I guess this is kind of along the lines of “never wear white to a wedding” lest you upstage the bride on her special day.

Well, this is Yasuda’s place, so I decided to chill out and let him offer the sakes he thinks thinks place his fish in the best light. The Takenotsuyu was so mild, it worked like a tasty palate cleanser between bites of buttery fish, but really put the fish in the foreground, sake in the background.

The atmosphere at Yasuda was minimalist and quiet. I quickly got the sense that this was a high profile “special occasion” destination restaurant. The clientele seemed less die-hard New York City foodie and more well-to-do tourist or Birthday/Anniversary Couple. Consequently, the service seemed geared for the uninitiated sushi goer. Despite this, and all my other quibbles about the sake list, the experience was authentic and delicious.

In the final analysis, however, given the lack of Sake options at Yasuda, I won’t be chomping at the bit to go back anytime soon. But no worries – there is always a line out the door of folks wanting fish and sake just the way Sushi Yasuda is serving it.

Well, until that day arrives, I have the Mutual Trading Japanese Food and Restaurant show to fall back on. This show is a fantastic event open to the trade that showcases japanese food, restaurant supplies and first and foremost (in my mind) sake. Mutual Trading is a big company and they import some top drawer brands. There were about 15 booths to explore and here are some of the highlights.

My first stop was at the Tamanohikari booth. There I met Mr. Ujita, Tamanohikari President and Mr. Mabuchi, Export General Manager. I’ve had tamanohikari on many occasions and I really enjoy their well regarded daigino. However, something else at their booth caught my attention. It was a sake soft pack – not unlike the juicy-juice pack your mom packed in your school lunch. I’ve never seen anything quite like it up close and in person. Not only would this be great on picnics or in places where glass bottles are not permitted, this pack comes with instructions on making “sake slushies”. According to the directions, just pop this puppy in the freezer for a few hours, pour out and enjoy!

Continuing on the unique packaging theme, my next stop was the Kikusui booth. This is another well regarded brand and they offer one of the best known sakes in a can this side of the pacific. Kikusui in a can is strong stuff – a genshu. But in my opinion, you can’t beat the fun of popping open that can… and truth be told, it really does keep the contents totally shielded from one of sakes big enemies, Light! They also had a unique aged sake or Koshu, also offered in can. In addition, they were offering samples of Kikusui Junmai Ginjo which is a terrific sake with a milder, yet engaging flavor profile.

My next stop was at the Asamai Brewery booth, makers of Amanoto, another well respected brand over here. I met Mr. Kakizaki, President of Asamai Brewery and he enthusiastically introduced me to the latest and greatest Amanoto had to offer. I sampled their terrific Honjozo (seimaibuai: 60%, SMV: +4, Alc: 15.5% ). It was bold with lots of backbone and a pleasant touch of rice in the nose. I was also lucky enough to taste a the terrific Amanoto Daiginjo (Seimaibuai: 38%, SMV: +2, ALC: 16.5%). This sake went above and beyond and really seemed to melt in your mouth. Check them out if you get the chance.

The Mutual Trading Sake day event also had me tasting tremendous sake from other brewers, too. I had Dassai, Nanbubijin, Muromachi and Born to name a few. Tasting these superior sakes had me convinced once and for all – Hallmark had better make room on their shelves for those “Happy Sake Day” greeting cards.