Tenryo Night at Sakagura
Yummy Tenryo Sakes
Last night was another fun sake tasting event at Sakagura! This time, we were enjoying the sakes from Tenryo Sake Brewery. On hand to introduce the sakes was Mr. Matasuke Uenoda, marketing director of Tenryo Brewery. Tenryo is in Gifu Prefecture – a place I’ve never been and honestly don’t know much about. Uenoda-san brought some brochures showing the beauty of Gifu Prefecture – beautiful landscapes, Japanese hot springs and cultural heritage sites… it all looked very intriguing. I think I have to make a plan to visit Gifu soon!
The Tenryo tasting consisted of 3 sakes:
Tenryo Tasting Set:
Sakagura’s GM Yukie-san with Uenoda-san from Tenryo
Each sake had it’s own unique character. The Tenryo Tobikiri Tokubetsu Junmai doesn’t appear to be sold in the U.S. and uses the special Hidahomare sake rice from Gifu. The second sake, the Tenryo Hidahomare Junmai Ginjo is a beautiful sake that goes well with izakaya food. this sake was so good, I ordered a carafe for myself after my tasting set was long gone. Last but not least I enjoyed the Tenryo Junmai Daiginjo Koshu. This smooth operator of a sake uses pink nadeshiko flower sake yeast and a three year aging process in the bottle in cold temperatures to deepen and round out the flavors. It’s very easy drinking and just plain delicious.
Well, the Olympics may be going on in London right now, but I feel like I won a gold medal in sake appreciation right here in New York City. All those years of training paid off! Thanks to Tenryo and Sakagura for making my Olympic dream come true!
