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SOY…. Borracho

Sake Meetup Crowd at SoyOur Latest wonderful Sake Meetup group was at SOY tonight, and it was a B.Y.O.S. event. (bring your own Sake). It was amazing opportunity to try a wide rage of sakes and meet a wide range of sake lovers. Everyone brought interesting sake and interesting tales to tell. Only 7 of the 28 people who RSVP’d showed up, but we had a blast just the same. All the Sake meetup events have been fun.

here is a rundown of each sake and the person who brought it:

EricEric, our magazine publishing guy from Maine, brought 2 sakes in smaller bottles. the first was Dewazakura Shuzo “Oka” Namazake Junmai Ginjo. This tasted superb and was my favorite of everything I had tonight. The second was koshino tousetsuka junmai ginjo. This means “Winter Snow Flower”. I think it could pass for a daiginjo.

UgenYujin was our friendly web developer who’s been known to outsource! I looked on in awe as he ate a big bowl of fermented soybean something-or-other that he swore tasted like air. As for his Sake pick, Yujin followed the rice trail and picked a sake from his local Brooklyn heights wine shop that used Oseto rice. The sake was Ayakiku Daiginjo. delightful.

MichaelMichael was our L.A. transplant. He was steadfastly Pro-L.A. dispite being surrounded by die-hard New Yorkers. Now that takes guts! Michael brought a super yummy Meibo Yowanotsuki “Midnight Moon” that he first discovered while dining at Bond Street. I found this to taste granny-smith-apple-ly like the Delicious Dewasansan. [Note to Self: book a trip to Bond Street!]

AmandaAmazing Amanda was our resident rocker chick and is the world’s biggest Golden Girls Fan this side of St. Olaf. All I know is that after the Soviets broke up it was a complete Fiasco! Her offering was Kamoizumi Shusen, “Three dots”. It was smart and sturdy but left me searching for that my-pretty-pony something extra. Mind you, this did not stop me from having 2 servings.

SebastienSebastian, our fearless Meetup organizer, is also the resident wine expert. He brought along a Kaguyahime Junmai. To me, this sake was floral, rich and sweet, almost like honeysuckle…. very perfumed. a very full Junmai flavor. I think this bottle wins the prettiest label contest.

LeftyLefty, our Meetup assistant organizer brought the Mizunoshirabe Ginjo that I reviewed on St. Patrick’s Day…. you know, my Chrissy Snow Ginjo! Amanda informed us that Chrissy really stands for “Christmas” Snow. as in, her first name is “Christmas”…. only in 70’s sitcom land. See my review of this sake here.

TimLast but not least, I brought my old fav Mineno Hakubai. Sebastian and I agreed this sake is one smooooth operator. I loved this sake back in December ’05 — you can read my review here. It still is a great, smooth drinking sake. It went well with my Ginger Tofu!

Sake Bottle CapsAll in all, this was a great evening at Soy. We had some superb sakes to try and the food at Soy was delicious, too. I can indeed recommend the Ginger Tofu and 1+ servings of green tea (I can’t believe it’s…) tofu pudding. for real! It was, um, good!

If you’re thinking of attending a sake meetup – you should come! There are always nice people and sake makes everyone friendly! alas, Soy told us that they are legit and getting their liquor license, so our next B.Y.O.S won’t be here. SOY muy triste. 🙁