Sake brewed in the United Sates Part 1, アメリカで醸造されているお酒

On a recent visit to the Maryland County Liquor store I was surprised to see a selection of Sakes. While I was familiar with most of them, I had not tasted some of them for many years and decided to have a small sake tasting with our house sake "Mu" as a reference (the rightmost in the picture below).

There are a small number of companies brewing sake in the United States; and they generally do not produce premium sake. The most, however, do produce "Ginjou" level sake. According to the "Insider guide of sake", there used to be six (6) sake breweries in the U.S.  (listed below the picture) but now there are only 4. It is not clear what types of rice they use except that it is "high-quality" rice from the Sacrament valley in California. Japanese short grain rice including Akita komachi and Koshi Hikari are grown there. These rices are good for eating but not for sake making.  It appears that Calrose rice (85% of California short/medium grain rice being produced) is used for sake brewing in the U.S., for sure, by SakeOne. In terms of water, all the California manufacturers said they used water from Sierra Nevada mountains snow melt or in the case of the Oregon manufacturer, water from the aquifer at the edge of the Oregon forest (SakeOne).

1.Hakusan 白山 in Napa, California: This was the U.S. only brand and no Japanese sake with this name. It was owned and operated by a Japanese company that did not produce sake in Japan. We actually visited the brewery on a wine tasting trip to Napa soon after it opened and took a tour of the facility. We have fond memories of the experience. Unfortunately, it closed a few years ago. After moving to the east, we never saw this brand of sake for sale here. We still have a decorative mini-komokaburi container (empty) from our visit to Hakusan.

2. Hakushika 黒松白鹿 in Colorado: In 1992, they opened a sake brewery in Colorado but it was closed in 2000 and all sake production was moved back to Rokko brewery 六光蔵, Japan. We only bought and tasted regular "honjouzou" class sake over the years (I am not sure it was actually brewed in the U.S.--probably it was). We used it mostly as cooking sake.

3. Gekkeikan 月桂冠 in Folsom, California: Currently, our cooking sake is Gekkeikan. As a regular sake, it is not too bad and widely available. If you drink sake warm, this is certainly drinkable. Gekkeikan also makes semi-premium sake; "Haiku" 俳句, Silver, and "Black and Gold". Haiku is the "Tokubetsu Junmai" class and drinkable. It is brewed specifically to be consumed cold.  "Black and Gold" is on order, when it arrives, we will have a tasting.

4. Takara 宝 in Berkley, California: The Japanese parent company is located in Kyoto 伏見, 京都. The majority of Shochikubai 松竹梅 sake sold here appears to be U.S. brewed. They also make "Junmai", "Tokubetsu junmai (to 60% polished)" and "Junmai Ginjo" (to 50% polished). Again, the "Junmai" variety is OK to drink warm and good for cooking. We have not tried others. They also produce sweet cooking wine "Takara mirin".

5. SakeOne  in Forest grove, Oregon: This is a very interesting company and probably, at this point, the sole American brewery committed to making only premium sake. Although this is an American company and Momokawa 桃川 in Aomori 青森 has a partnership with it--providing the technical know-how (I suppose) and their brand name "Momokawa". The sake makers appear to be non-Japanese. Under the Momokawa name, they make four Ginjou sakes; Diamond, Silver, Ruby and Pearl. We tried these quite some years ago and did not like any of them. I decided to taste a few (Diamond and Silver) hoping the more recent brew may be different. The recent brews appear to be better than before but still not great. They also make fruit infused sake under the "Moonstone" label but I am a bit of a purist when it comes to sake and did not try them. Apparently they started making their top of the line "G joy" or "G sake". I found a place to buy this sake and will taste it when it arrives. 

6. Ozeki 大関 Hollister in California: Ozeki is the oldest brewery of sake in the U.S. The parent company, Ozeki 大関,  is located in Nada 灘. If I remember correctly, they started in an old dairy processing plant in US. Again, the regular sake they produce is just OK to drink warm or for cooking. Besides the regular brews, they produce Ginjo but I have not tried it. They also produce "special dry" and nigorizake.

Warm sake 燗酒

We rarely drink warm sake but we are in the middle of a very cold spell and the temperature did not go above freezing for almost a week. For a few days, the temperature was in the single digits (Fahrenheit). So, in these frigid conditions, a cold drink was not particularly attractive. We made a nice fire in the fireplace and decided to go with warm sake. My wife found some long forgotten Hagi-ware 萩焼き sake bottles (ochoushi お銚子) . I warmed up the sake the traditional way as seen below.

 

The sake we had was "Gekeikan Black and Gold" 月桂冠 ブッラクアンドゴールド. This is a U.S. brewed sake. Although the details are difficult to come by, the sake was a mixture of sake brewed from rice milled to 60 and 70%. The exact kind of sake rice is not clear. By the degree of milling, this sake would be "Ginjou 吟醸酒" class but they classify this as "Junmai 純米酒" class.


How much to heat up the sake depends on the kind of sake and your preferences but, in general, “Honjouzou  本醸造” and “Junmai” 純米酒 are best suited for drinking warm. I think among the U.S. brewed sake, this one is best for drinking warm. The list below shows the different temperatures and corresponding names for various sakes.

“Jouon” 常温, room temperature 20℃ (68F)
”Hinata kan” 日向燗 sunny side 30℃ (86F)
”Hitohada kan” 人肌燗 skin temperature 35℃ (95F)
”Nuru kan” ぬる燗 luke warm 40℃ (104F)
”Jou kan” 上燗 warm 45℃ (113F)
”Atsu kan” 熱燗 hot 50℃ (122F)

I went for “Atsu kan” at 50C (using a instant read digital thermometer). Since the temperature drops quite quickly, I used a soup bowl filled with boiling water to maintain the temperature which worked well.


These were all leftover from the new year’s dishes I made. I stuffed white and red fish cakes 紅白かまぼこ with tobiko and ikura salmon roe and poured on some wasabi soy sauce. Below the fish cake are kelp salmon rolls, to the right are chicken squares with pine nuts and walnuts. Below that are simmered kabocha pumpkin, in the front on the left is Kimpira burdock root and boiled octopus leg seasoned with wasabi soy sauce.

Warm sake was really nice on this bitter cold evening and warmed us up quickly. The black and gold is a nice gentle sake and perfect for drinking warm.

Of course “Oden” is perfect for warm sake and cold night.

This night, we had an egg, kon-nyaku コンニャク, mochi in a pouch (mochi-kin 餅巾着), carrot 人参, daikon 大根, gobo-ten*ゴボテン and tofu 豆腐 garnished with chopped chives with Japanese hot mustard. All went well with warm sake.

* deep fried fish cake with center of burdock root or "satsuma"age with burdock root ゴボウ入りさつま揚げ.

Sake brewed in the United Sates Part 2, 続アメリカで醸造されているお酒

Finally we came across an excellent Junmai Gingo Genshu called "G sake"!

Over the years, the number of sakes brewed in the U.S. has been mostly non-premium sake. We tasted a fair number of them and until recently, none of them has been really remarkable. Gekkeikan Haiku was our favorite for a while basically by default--it was the best of the bunch. After our recent trips to Japan, we realized the extent to which domestic (US) sakes fell short of the level of premium Japanese brewed sake (although many Japanese brewed sake are not that good either). We finally found a sake which is on a par with top ranking sake brewed in Japan. This one is called "G sake" from SakeOne. This is a Junmai Ginjou Genshu 純米吟醸原酒. Three selected batches were blended and aged for 10 months (I assume this is a cold aging process). 

The nose has a nice floral with mineral note, very pleasant. The mouth feel, when first in your mouth, is nicely smooth, silky and slightly viscous. Very clean taste and nice honeysuckle flavor lingers in mid palate with slight hint of sweetness and ending into long finish with some hint of spices. Despite its high alcohol content of 18%, no appreciable boozy taste (although we felt it afterwards). We tasted this chilled and we may taste it again at room temperature but this should not be drunk warm. Even other sakes from SakeOne have improved and we hope, for the next and future brew years, they will deliver this level of quality or better. Brew year is denoted with prefix "BY" followed by a number which represents the year of the present emperors reign i.e "Heisei" 平成 year. For example "BY20" means the brew year was the 20th year of the present emperor's "heisei" reign. For those who tend not to think in terms of heisei years, that would be 2008, since the Heisei emperor's reign started in 1989. (Now wasn't that straight forward?). I assume the one we tasted was BY21 or could be BY20.

Compared to Japan, the sake available in the U.S. is limited and good ones imported from Japan are expensive. Now, there are quite a few sake specialized stores including some on the internet. Regular on-line or brick-and-mortar wine stores do carry some sake but the choices are very limited. Most of the sake imported from Japan is relatively large scale production with few exceptions. Among the sakes brewed in Japan and imported to the U.S. which we tasted over the years, we like "Mu" 無 junmai dai-ginjou 純米大吟醸 from Yaegaki 八重垣 Brewery in Hyougo 兵庫, Japan. In terms of cost performance and clean taste, we thought, it was the best available. We could often find "Mu" at the nearby Japanese grocery store, however, markup in price was quite substantial. We now order it through the internet from New York/New Jersey. More recently, one of the local liquor stores start carrying "Mu" (we special ordered this once before from this place. It may be that after our special order they started stocking "Mu" regularly). After the discovery of "G sake", we now have two house sakes, "Mu" and "G sake".  The characteristics of both sakes are quite different and we now have two nice choices; one brewed in the U.S.!

Dassai 45 and Dassai blue comparison 獺祭45とDassai Blue 50 の飲み比べ

“Dassai” 獺祭 is a well known and popular sake in Japan and US. We like it for its very clean, fruity flavors. We used to get  “Dassai 50” daiginjo 獺祭50大吟醸. But the Dassai 50 is not sold any more. It was replaced by “Dassai 45” in 2019 (In Dassai 50, the sake rice is polished to 50% of the original volume, in Dassai 45, it is polished to 45%).  We learned that Dassai (brewed by Asahi Sake Brewery 朝日酒造 in Yamaguchi 山口県) established a sake brewery in Hyde Park, NY some years ago. However, this is the first time we obtained several bottles of  the NY-brewed sake “Dassai Blue 50”.  Interestingly, Dassai Blue is labeled as “Type 50”. I assume that indicates 50% polish like the old Dassai 50. My understanding based on an article I read,  was that they used imported Japanese “Yamada Nishiki” 山田錦 sake rice. But another source of information (again, not their website) indicated the rice is grown in Arkansas. (Further more, I would have to wonder what water source* they are using in the brewing; NY tap water, Hudson river water, or Hyde Park artesian well water???) In any case, one evening we compared Dassai blue and Dassai 45 (picture #1).

*One on-line store website indicates the sauce of the water is a “local well”. But again, this is unofficial information.

The Dassai Blue, when first tasted, has a definitive tingling/prickly sensation on the tip of the tongue. It is like very lightly effervescent. Then comes a very subtly sweet and Dassai signature fruity taste.  As it sits in the glass, the tingling character diminishes indicating indeed this might be the effervescence. The “Dassai Blue” label indicated “keep refrigerated”. I wonder if the label “keep refrigerated” means, “Blue”may be  “Nama” sake 生酒** or not heat-treated and slight fermentation happened in the bottle producing the effervescence. (Again no details are available from the brewery and these are all our conjuncture).

**Another unofficial information indicated “Blue” only had one “hi-ire” 火入れ heat-treatment instead of  usual  two (after pressing and bottling).

The Dassai 45 is a classic Dassai, clean, fruity and smooth in the mouth—no effervescence or tingly sensation.

Which one do we like better? It is hard to say. Dassai Blue’s tingling sensation is not unpleasant (we had similar effervescence in other “non-sparkling” sake). According to the label (picture #2), they are aiming to surpass Dassai brewed in Japan but not just to reproduce it. We can certainly enjoy either Dassai.

To enjoy sake, we need some “otsumami” おつまみ appetizers. For Dassai tasting, I served warm chawam-mushi with ginko nuts, shrimp, shiiitake mushroom and the garnish was our home grown fresh “mitsuba” 三つ葉 which added a nice unique flavor (left in picture #3). The center is eggplant, shiitake and wood ear mushroom brased in oyster sauce and ginger 茄子と椎茸のオイスターソース炒め. The right is garlic chive “ohitashi” ニラのお浸し topped with golded thread omelet.

In the past we tried a few US brewed sake and Dassai Blue in definitely one of the best. Only one which is in the same class is “Sho-Chiku-Bai” daiginjou 松竹梅大吟醸 brewed from California-grown “Yamada Nishiki” sake rice. But these two cannot be compared in the same way. Sho-Chiku-Bai was produced in very limited quantity, is not readily available and has a much higher price point. On the other hand, the Dassai Blue 50 is very reasonably priced and relatively widely available.

G-sake Fifty and G-sake

A few years ago, we came across a good US brewed sake called G-sake "Joy" from SakeOne. Some time later we tasted a new batch of  "Momokawa" Silver and Diamond sake also from SakeOne. Recently we came across a new variation of G-sake called "G-sake fifty", so we had a mini tasting to compare G-Sake fifty with regular G-sake (they have apparently dropped "Joy" from the name).

To start the sake tasting, we needed "Otoushi" お通し. I could not come up with 6 otoushi like Suiko  酔香 or Shuhai 酒杯 so I settled for three (see below).

From left to right; Kinpira gobou きんぴらごぼう, Pork belly "Kakuni" 豚の角煮 and Chicken skin, pickled myouga and cucumber in Ponzu 雛皮，蛇腹胡瓜，茗荷のポン酢和え.

Here is a picture of the two G-sakes. Left is the original G-sake（yellow "G") and the right is G-sake fifty (Green "G").

The picture below shows what is written on the back of the of the G-sake Fifty bottle.

Again, what kind of rice they are using is a bit of a mystery but if I had to hazard a guess I would say that they must be using a combination of imported "Saka-mai" 酒米 from Japan and probably  "CalRose" rice from California. Since it has an affiliation with Momokawa shuzou 桃川酒造, it is possible the imported rice may be from Aomori prefecture 青森県.

We were quite excited about this tasting. We poured both G-sakes into clear glass sake cups (to see the colors of sake better); surprisingly G-sake was slightly turbid (see below right). (Yes the sake cup was clean so the turbidity is indeed the sake not the cup).  The G-sake fifty, as you can see in the picture was clear (below left). Both had a very similar flavor profile which is not unlike Momokawa Diamond but not as sweet and a bit more refined, especially "Fifty". It is a more savory sake with a slight sweetness In contrast the regular G-Sake was a bit sweeter.

Being "Genshu" 原酒 (or undiluted sake), the alcohol content was 18% which, (believe it or not) we felt, was a bit too high for our tastes. So, in conclusion, we were not as impressed as before when we tasted G-Sake "joy" 2 years ago. Of the two we tasted we liked G-Sake Fifty better but if you like this flavor profile, Momokawa Diamond is more readily available and less expensive, albeit sweeter.

Of course, more food is needed when tasting sake. Again, we had sashimi from Catalina Offshore. This batch was quite good. Especially the blue fin tuna; very nice "Chu-toro" 中トロ (left lower) and "Ko-toro" 小トロ (upper center). Hamachi ハマチ could have had more fat (Center lower) but had a nice texture and Uni ウニ was superb.

Since, as usual, I removed the almost pure fat layer which was closest to the skin, I made a dish which is a cross between "Negi-toro" ネギトロ and ”Namerou" なめろう (Dressed in Karashi-sumiso からし酢味噌 and finely chopped scallion) preparation. I used a small container we newly acquired from the pottery store in Nishiki Market.

Although both G-Sakes are quite drinkable, we still prefer "fruity" and "clean" as oppose to "savory" and "sweet" tastes in sake. We  still prefer our house-sake "Mu" over either G-Sake.

Monkfish liver "Ankimo" with Ponzu and grated daikon 鮟肝とポン酢紅葉おろし

When we received the shipment from Catalina, we did not eat the ankimo 鮟肝 immediately since it was frozen and can keep for some time. Now, having polished off all the sashimi items, we decided to hit the ankimo. This time I served it in a more traditional style with grated daikon mixed with red pepper flakes called "momiji oroshi" 紅葉おろし (meaning "red maple leaf" grated daikon), with ponzu ポン酢 instead of the orange marmalade soy sauce. I also added "nagaimo" 長芋, which was cut into match stick-sized julienne dressed with sushi vinegar and garnished with "aonori" 青のり.

The traditional way to prepare "momiji oroshi" is to make a small hole in the middle of the daikon and insert a dried whole red pepper and then grate the daikon and pepper as one. I simply added Japanese red pepper flakes from the bottle 七味 or 一味唐辛子 and mixed it with grated daikon then poured ponzu shouyu (from the bottle) over it. The grated daikon cuts the heat of the red pepper and also the fattiness of the ankimo.

After I made (or arranged) this dish, we realized our house sake, Yaegaki "Mu" Junmai daiginjou 八重垣 "無" was all gone but, for ankimo, we need sake. We did have several bottles of the US brewed sake called "Haiku" 俳句 (we keep it for emergencies), which is brewed from Californian rice and Sierra water in California by Ozeki 大関酒造.  It is not too bad (in an emergency), and is a type of "Tokubetsu junmai" 特別純米酒 but it is a bit yeasty for our taste and we liked to have a better sake with ankimo. Then, we found the last bottle of "Nanawarai" daiginjou 七笑大吟醸 from Kiso  木曽 in our refrigerator, which we hand carried home last year from Japan.

This was good; a very gentle sake without assertive flavors. It reminded us of Dassai 23 獺祭 23. For a more clean fruity taste, we favor our house sake but this sake tasted better than I remembered it. I am not sure if I can get this sake here in the U.S. anyway. In any case, ankimo and cold sake went so well together.

Izakaya in Kyoto; Kurakura 蔵倉、京都

We got back to the hotel after an afternoon of sight seeing and shopping ready for a power nap. For the evening activity, I made the executive decision that, instead of rushing around to get to our favorite Izakaya Akagakiya 赤垣屋 when it opened at 5:00pm and take a chance we could sit at the counter, we would just go to Kurakura 蔵倉 which was within walking distance just around the corner. Although we always have been able to sit at the counter at KuraKura without making a reservation, I did not take a chance and booked our place at the counter.

When we arrived, it was almost empty. We have found from the experience of previous years that it pays to be selective about what we order. For example, one time we ordered avocado tempura. To our surprise we got the entire avocado, sliced—deep fried! We can appreciate a good avocado with the best of them, but you really have to be into avocado to eat a whole one, fried, in a single sitting. They must be renowned for their sumptuous serving sizes. That said, with some judicious selections we had a great meal. The interaction with the chefs was also nice. The good thing is that they also have a good selection of sake.

Soon after we were seated, the head honcho (chef and owner, we assume) came out and helped us pick some sake. With his help, I picked ”Summer" Ichino-kura , 夏の一ノ蔵特別純米生原酒 from Miyagi 宮城県 made from 100% "Kura-no-hana" 蔵の華 sake rice as our first sake. It was good choice, not too dry and not too sweet.

As usual, we first ordered a combination sashimi including Hokkaido uni and amaebi 北海道産うにと甘エビ.  The sashimi was all great and the amount was just right for the two of us.

We then ordered fava beans or soramame そらまめ.  The assistant chef asked if we would like soramame grilled or boiled. We said, without hesitation, grilled.





We also had half a simmered fish (Kinmedai 金目鯛の煮付けor fantastic alfonso). The assistant chef again asked our preference, head or tail? I said,  "Of course, head". My wife immediately said she would give me the "eye". The fish was not pre-cooked and just sitting there waiting to be reheated when an order came in. Instead the chef started cooking it after we placed our order. Blue flame suddenly erupted from behind the counter in front of where we sat. While my wife prepared to evacuate the chef reassured us it was just the alcohol from the sake used in the sauce being burned off while making our dish. Thanks to my wife’s generous offer, I enjoyed the gelatinous part behind the eye.

We were ready to order another sake. I went to the glass front cold case where they kept the sake bottles. A woman appeared and she seemed to be in charge of that part of the establishment. (We assumed, she must be the chef/owner's wife and was the sake sommelier). I discussed the various selections on display in the cold case with her, then I spotted "Icebreaker" sake behind the glass door.

Although I never tasted this sake, I remember reading about it on the Internet. I remember reading that it was brewed by the first and only foreigner (British) sake master Philp Harper at Kinoshita Shuzou 玉川木下酒造 in Kyoto. Seeing the distinctive blue label with the Penguin on it, I had to taste this one as the next sake. The sommelier/wife (?) commented  "Oh, you like summer sake". This is junmai ginjou genshu, non-filtered 純米吟醸無濾過生原酒 made from Nihonbare 日本晴 sake rice.  I think this was a new sake just released. We tried it first like regular cold sake. It was OK but not great.  Then I remembered that the idea behind this sake is that it can be drunk on the rocks which would be particularly refreshing in the hot Kyoto summer. Since it is genshu (not diluted and of high alcohol content), it would withstand the ice.  (And how could anyone be hot after seeing that label?) My wife provided some ice cubes from her oolong tea to test my theory. We thought it actually tasted much better so we requested more ice and drank it frosty cold. This was a rather clean sake and we did not notice the high alcohol.

Meanwhile, for the new sake, we had several more dishes including shiokara of “hoya”  ほやの塩辛,  (Hoya is similar to sea anemone and also called sea pineaple) which was not too salty or fishy and had nice texture. We needed some starch and fried food to absorb the alcohol so the next dish was potato croquets, which was nicely hot and somehow very comforting.

The last sake was recommended by the sommelier/wife (?) was another "summer sake". This is called ”Cool summer Gassan",  junmai ginjou 涼夏月山純米吟醸 by Yoshida sake brewery 吉田酒造 from Shimane prefecture 島根県. This is specifically brewed as a "summer" sake but the approach is a bit different from Ice Breaker. This is a very gentle and fresh tasting sake. It was brewed with very soft water and "Sakanishiki" sake rice 左香錦.

At this point, we had more than enough sake. Although the potato croquettes were good and quite filling, we finished with grilled rice balls. I asked if they were big and the young chef at the grill said no they were small and one order had two. So I asked for one order. Turns out they were BIG. They were filled with cod roe and the saltiness of the roe was perfect with the rice. I’m glad I asked for only one order. We only just managed to finish one each.

The sommelier/wife (?) was also the cashier. We paid the bill. I am not sure what the final sum was but I don’t think it was very high. We slowly walked back to our hotel. We are getting more and more fond of this place. Nice sake selection, interaction with chefs and the discussions about sake with the sommelier/wife (?)/cashier, were all educational and a major part of Izakaya experience we particularly like. With some judicious selection, the food is quite good. We were totally satisfied with this evening.

Ice Breaker “Summer” Sake 玉川アイスブレイカー酒

Some days ago when we did our usual take-out sashimi and sushi from Tako Grill, I spotted a sake called “Ice Breaker”. I immediately recognized the distinct blue label with the penguins on it. This is the sake we had at Kyoto Izakaya “Kura-Kura” 蔵倉 in 2015. At that time, this is what we posted:

“ Although I never tasted this sake, I remember reading about it on the Internet. I remember reading that it was brewed by the first and only foreigner (British) sake master Philp Harper at Kinoshita Shuzou 玉川木下酒造 in Kyoto. Seeing the distinctive blue label with the Penguin on it, I had to taste this one as the next sake. The sommelier/wife (?) commented "Oh, you like summer sake". This is junmai ginjou genshu, non-filtered 純米吟醸無濾過生原酒 made from Nihonbare 日本晴 sake rice. I think this was a new sake just released. We tried it first like regular cold sake. It was OK but not great. Then I remembered that the idea behind this sake is that it can be drunk on the rocks which would be particularly refreshing in the hot Kyoto summer. Since it is genshu (not diluted and of high alcohol content), it would withstand the ice. (And how could anyone be hot after seeing that label?) My wife provided some ice cubes from her oolong tea to test my theory. We thought it actually tasted much better so we requested more ice and drank it frosty cold. This was a rather clean sake and we did not notice the high alcohol.”

Since the weather was getting a bit warmer I decided the time had come to open the bottle. Out of curiosity I went to the Japanese Tamagawa brewery web site which interestingly is in English (which makes sense given the brew master is British). I noticed several differences between the description on the web site and the bottle I had in the refridgerator. According to the website the sake is available in both the 500 ML and the usual 1.6L size (1 shou-bin 一升瓶) bottles in Japan. As far as I know, only the 500ml size is available in the U.S. which is a rather unusual size (usual size is 720ml). In addition, while the sake in the fridge and described on the web site were both summer sakes; available between May and August, the brew years were different. The brew year for the sake sold in Japan was advertised as 2023 which means it was brewed from the winter of 2023 to spring 2024 making it a newly released sake. In contrast, the brew year for the bottle we had was listed as 2022 meaning it was brewed from winter 2022 to spring 2023 making it one year older than the ones advertised on the Japanese web site (see addendum below).  I do not know how this sake was aged; whether cold aged like “Hiyaoroshi” ひやおろし or room temperature aged. However it was aged, when we opened the year old bottle, the sake was clear and very fresh tasting (Not like “ko-shu” 古酒 which can be darker colored and funky tasting). We had it first chilled and then on-the-rocks. Chilled it tasted dry but not bone dry. It had nice assertive flavors but was not yeasty or too fruity. On-the-rocks, many of the assertive forward flavors became muted but interestingly more flavors appeared to emerge making the overall flavor much more complex. This characteristic moved this sake straight to the top of our list of favorite sakes. This is the sake we will serve for those “special occasions” which require something extra. Ice cold sake is perfect for hot humid summer (we have our share of those kind of days in Washington DC area but nothing comparable to a Kyoto summer.) In any case, we really enjoyed this sake.

The night we tasted the sake we had a small amount of toro トロ and tai 鯛 (sea bream) sashimi. I also served Russian marinate salmon ロシア漬け and salmon kelp roll 鮭の昆布巻き along with pickled daikon, cucumber and blanched sugar snap.

The next time, I went to Tako Grill, this sake was not available any longer. It was available from our trusty “Tippsy sake” so we ordered a few bottles for coming summer.

Addendum: While I was looking at Japanese food blogs, I came across the description and picture of “Ice Breaker” sake. The picture clearly shows “2022BY” in the label (the blog post is dated as “5/18/2024). So, it is likely that all Ice Breaker sake, either in Japan and US, available this year is “2022BY”. One year aging may be attributable for the flavors of this sake.

Tokyo Izakaya Part 2 東京の居酒屋 パート２

Honoka, Musashi Koyama 穂のか、武蔵小山

Before we visited Japan, we consulted the preeminent Izakaya expert, Jon of EOITWJ, and this was one of his recommendations. In addition, Rebecca of “Ichi for the Michi” has more than one extensive and detailed discussion of this place. This post is just to preserve our own “sake pickled” memories of the evening we spent there.

I called Musashi Koyama from the U.S. to make a reservation. I had to call early in the morning my time aiming at just before opening at 6pm Japan time. I was not sure if the master indeed recognized this reservation was made from the U.S. Nevertheless, on the second night in Tokyo with some jet lag lingering, we ventured out to Musashi Koyama 武蔵小山. You have seen the front of Honoka before in the aforementioned blogs but this is a must-have shot. I think we tasted a few from the list in the front of the store which appears to be updated frequently.

“Try not to be late” (in our case we had three transfers of metro and train lines from Ginza) but it is difficult pinpointing “on time”, as must happen to many people who don’t actually live in the neighborhood, we arrived early. After confirming the location of our destination and taking a picture of the store front, we killed time by wandering around the downtown (or main street) of Musashi Koyma until the opening time. It is a very quaint suburb and it was kind of nostalgic (for me) and interesting (for both of us).
Of course, we noticed the port hole building as soon as we came out of the narrow alleyway where Honoka is located and snapped the obligatory picture of “the house of the twenty port holes”.

Although, we knew by the description we read that this place was small, it was smaller than we expected. The  L-shaped counter will sit two at the shorter end and 5 or 6 at the longer end. The toilet was clean and functional but the door is multi-segmented to accommodate the tight space. The master, his assistant  (wife?) and young “arubaito girl” アルバイトの女の子 or “arbeiten Mädchen” (meaning part time help) appeared to be the complete complement of staff.

Although the izakaya was not full, we were somewhat disappointed to find our assigned seats at the shorter end of the counter behind the “frying” or “grilling” station. The partition protecting patrons from accidental splashes from the fryer served as a very effective barrier isolating us from the rest of the counter and any communication with the master (albeit the upper half was transparent plastic). I had been looking forward to interacting with him but all communications went through the “arubaito” girl or “assistant”. This included some chiding “If you wanted to order more sashimi you should have kept your soy sauce plates”. There were only 3 other customers and one left fairly early so the long counter in front of the master remained completely vacant while we were delegated to huddle behind the fryolator. This is not to say, we did not enjoy the sake and food. There is no question, the master knows his sake. The food he prepared was excellent. Here is our account of what we enjoyed.

The followings are the sakes we enjoyed from the amazing collection of sake available. One thing that impressed us (and we also found at other sake-oriented Izakayas in Japan) is that there were so many good sakes in hon-jouzou 本醸造, tokubetsu junmai 特別純米酒, junmai 純米酒 and jumnai ginjou 純米吟醸酒 classes, particularly if you know how to identify these good ones. Dry or savory, all the sake we tasted were good and I am not capable of describing them in detail (please refer to two posts of Honoka which contains an extensive description of the sake she tasted at Honoka;  some overlapping with what we tasted).

We started out with flights of dry and sweet sakes.

This is the line up of “dry” sake.(from left to right)
1. 三千盛　純米　超特　極め辛口, 岐阜県　Michi-sakari Junmai cho-toku extreme dry、Gifu prefecture
2. 白瀑　純米　ど辛＋１５, 秋田県　Shirataki Junmai do-kara (extreme dry), Akita prefecture
3. 山形正宗　辛口純米 Yamagata Masamune Kara-kuchi (dry) Junmai, Yamagata prefecture.

We liked all of dry sake here.

This is the line of “sweet” or non-dry sake (from left to right)

1. あぶくま純米吟醸雄町、福井県　“Abukuma” junmai ginjou Omachi, Fuku-i prefecture
2. 鍋島三十六万石　中汲み無濾過純米吟醸、佐賀県　Nabeshima naka-kumi, mu-roka (middle press, non-filtered) Junmai Ginjo
3. 鳳凰美田　Wine-Cell ワイン酵母仕込　純米吟醸　山田錦米 2012, 栃木県　Junmai Ginjo Fermented with Wine yeast, Yamada-nishiki, Tochigi prefecture.

Again, all were good. As to #3 sake, my understanding is that this is Houou Biden fermented using wine yeast. The portion we were served was turbid or “nigori” but other description of this sake appears to refer to clear sake. This one, to me, was too sweet. It needed more acidity to counteract.

(From left to right)

1. 純米天狗舞原酒, 石川県　Tengumai, Junmai Genshu, Ishikawa Prefecture
2. 磯自慢　特選　特別本醸造、静岡県　Isojiman toukusen tokubetsu honjouzou, Shizuoka prefecture
3. ソガペールエフィス Numero Six 純米吟醸 生原酒,  長野県 Sogga Pere et Fils “Numero Six” Junmai-ginjou Nama Genshu (Miyama Nishiki)、Nagano prefecture.

The last one here was brewed in Obuse Winery 小布施  using wine yeast. This one was called “Numero Six”, so possibly seventh batch of the year if the “Neuf” was not counted as “Numero One”. This was a just last dreg left in the bottle and may not be representative. Fairly subtle mild favor with some acidity reminiscent of Sauvignon blanc.


(Left)

田酒　特別純米酒、青森県、Denshu Tokubetsu Junnmai, Aomori prefecture.

We must have asked for an another round of Izojiman since the bottle appeared again. We must have really liked this Tokubetsu honjouzou Isojiman. This really tells you the depth of sake in Japan. Surely Izojiman Daiginjo is nice any time any where but even this “lower” class Isojiman, it held its own and we really enjoyed it.

As to the food, it was also superb. Here is the assorted sashimi.. Tuna and shime saba しめ鯖 were especially good.

I am sure we are missing few items since I am not as a good picture taker as other bloggers. It was my impression that when at Honoka, this is the must-order item; assorted flavor grilled miso. These are perfect small nibbles between sips of sake. We particularly liked the walnut miso (Since my gig is to make Izakaya dishes, this will be reproduced soon). We expected the “Uni” one to be better.

I am sure we had one serving of this dish before the miso; Sea urchin from Hokkaido. But it was so good we ordered another. This definitely was not previously processed but removed from the shell by the master himself.

After we ordered “Squid Okizuke”, the master recommended (through intermediary) this dish; shark cartilage dressed in salted plum さめの軟骨の梅和え. This was with  nice crunch but quite salty.

We could not pass genuine Hokkaido shishamo  北海道本シシャモ.

The check, at least by our standards, seemed reasonable after the extravagant feast and sake tasting. If we did the equivalent of this evening (although it is just not possible anyway) in the U.S., the bill would have been three or four times larger.

We staggered to Musashi Koyama station. I thought I had it all figured out how to back track the way we had come. We took the train to Meguro 目黒. From Meguro we were to take the Mita line  三田線 to Mita and change to Higashi-ginza line 東銀座線, sounds easy. After taking the subway from Meguro, however, I noticed that the first two stations were correct but the 3rd and 4th were not. So we got off hastily at Roppongi 1-chome (In retrospect, we took Nan-Poku line 南北線 instead of Mita line). We emerged to the surface in a very high end residential neighborhood with lush greenery and big mansions. It was fairly dark with a blustery tropical wind blowing. This did not look like in the middle of Tokyo. We were not entirely sure where we were. In addition to absence of neon lights was an absence of taxis. After some effort, we finally found one and the ride to our hotel was, fortunately, fairly short.

Tippsy sake; Best sake website

Buying Japanese sake has not been easy in the U.S., that was, however, until recently. Surely any wine/liquor store, either brick-and-mortar or on-line, carries some sake but if you are looking for a certain sake, you will not find it most of the time. Since turnover is usually low in regular liquor or wine  stores, your chances of getting old sake is high. Our Japanese grocery store carries a better collection of sake which is still limited and the prices tend to be on the high side. I regularly get cooking sake (Ozeki brewed in California) at a near-by liquor store but that is about it. Our house sake has been "Mu" daiginjo sake ”無” 大吟醸. To get a case of "Mu" on line or from brick-and-mortar stores required some efforts and wait time.  When we added  "Tengumai" daiginjo 天狗舞 大吟醸 to our house sake, it was more difficult still.

This was all solved when I came across the "Tippsy sake"  website last March (disclaimer: I am not associated with or getting any benefits from them except that I can now buy the sake I want on line). I guess when you get "tipsy", your finger hits "p" twice. I have bought 5-6 cases by now and I am happy to tell you that I am very satisfied with their selections, services and prices.

The below is the "sake shop" page. It has excellent collections of sake although some "cult" breweries are missing (which is not a negative by any means especially since these almost never get out of Japan and if they did probably would not be worth the price). You can search and filter the results in many ways. The below is "junmai" sake listed from low to high price.  The lowest price sake happens to be my go-to sake when we want warm sake; "Hakutsuru" junmai 白鶴純米.

The below is daiginjo listed from low to high price. I think the frist three are good ones with high CP (cost/performance) ratio. Tengumai "50" and Yaegaki "Mu" are, as I mentioned, our house cold sakes. Actually Nihon Sakari 日本盛 大吟醸,  which is the lowest priced daigiinjo, is not bad at all. Mu and Nihon Sakari are similar; very  clean, fruity but a bit on the  simple side, Tengumai has more complex flavor. Of course, Dassai "45" 獺祭４５ is a classic very fruity and popular daiginjo.

When choosing a particular sake,  one advantage of the web site is the detailed information concerning the sake that is available, such as the information shown below. I think this is for "Tengumai 50". Beside the flavor profile, you get more technical information like %alcohol, RPR (Rice  polishing ratio or "seimai-do" 精米度, for example daiginjo has to be more than 50%), SMV (Sake Meter value or "Nihonshu-do" 日本酒度 , +3 is neutral, the larger the number drier) etc. Appropriate serving temperatures and food pairing are also listed.

I am also impressed with their service. The sake is shipped from California, and took more than one week in the beginning but their processing has been getting better and takes 5-6 days to the East coast. During the summer months, they are careful to make sure the sake is handled appropriately and does not undergo a "hot soak" in the summer heat while being shipped cross country.  They ship it in a refrigerated truck/train to somewhere in NJ and then ship it to the customer using FedEx ground which is same as over-night shipping. This adds a few more days and the FedEx notification gets a bit screwed up but once the sake arrives in NJ, the notification is accurate. With all this service, shipping is free if you buy half a case or more. One time, the package was damage during shipping on the day it was supposedly to be delivered. I got a notification from FedEx that they were shipping it back to the sender. I contacted (emailed)  "Tippsy" and the customer service was wonderful  and re-shipped the order.

For me, this is the best place to buy sake. I recommend this site for anybody interested in buying sake. They also has the "sake box" subscription which I have not tried. Hope they will continued to be successful.

Salmon "Ishikari-nabe" hotpot 石狩鍋

Ishikari 石狩 was a small coastal town which is located near Sapporo 札幌 where I grew up. Ishikari river 石狩川 drains into Ishikari bay 石狩湾 and to Sea of Japan 日本海 after winding down the ishikari plain. The river flooded often and meandered around. In the interest of efficiency, human intervention made shortcuts and straightened the water ways. As a result scimitar shaped lakes called "Mikazuki-ko" 三日月湖 were left behind. These lakes are mostly located in the area called "Barato" 茨戸, which is between Sapporo and Ishikari. They were separated from the main river but provided good fishing. Over the years Barato has become a suburbs of Sapporo 札幌. It is well developed but some pockets of wilderness remain.

Although Barato is now within commuting distance of Sapporo when my late brother and I were in grade school (9 and 6 respectively) getting there to go fishing was a great adventure--we had to take a bus, which ran infrequently from downtown Sapporo. On one such adventure we were supposed to meet a friend of my father's to go fishing at one of the lakes. He was supposed to wait for us at the designated bus stop in Barato but we somehow missed the stop and ended up at the beach of Ishikari, the terminus of the bus line.  The kindly female conductor (this was a time when all buses had conductors) took pity on us and promised to get us to the right bus stop on the return run to Sapporo. Unfortunately, as I mentioned, the bus ran only infrequently and the return trip did not occur until that afternoon. So there we were, two waifs, stranded at the desolate Ishikari beach for several hours getting hungry. The kind conductor once again took pity and bought us a bowl of Ishikari-nabe, for which the city is known, from the near-by eatery where she and the driver were eating lunch. I cannot tell you how great it tasted. The dish I made today was Ishikai-nabe. Making it, smelling it and eating it brought back the long ago memory and evoked this long preamble. 

Ishikari nabe was originally a simple fisherman's stew cooked on the beach using salmon caught in the mouth of the Ishikari river. In the past, salmon were extremely abundant and ran up the ishikari river. The salmon fishery declined drastically for some time but it is making a big come-back because of the continuos release of the hatchlings over many years and improved river management.

There are many variations of this dish but, the original form is very simple; put whatever ingredients are available (you must have salmon, though) in a pot. The broth is ususally seasoned with kelp broth and miso. The secret of making a good Ishikari nabe is to put the miso seasoning in after the vegetables are cooked. The other secret is not to cook the salmon too long.

The above picture of Ishikai-nabe is in a small one person pot (8 inch wide), which my wife and I shared. This time I used, daikon (2 inch long, peeled cut thinly in half moon shape), carrot (one medium, cut thicker than daikon in half moon shape), potato (one medium, cut into half inch thick half moon shape) and cabbage (3 leaves, hard veins removed and roughly chopped). In addition, I used fresh shiitake mushrooms (2), shirataki (1/3, parboiled) and scallion (3, cut in a slant) and salmon fillet (whatever amount you like). I thought of adding tofu but the pot was full and I decided not to use tofu this time. You could add other vegetables, sea food, fish cakes etc if you like. 

I started by soaking kelp (4-5 inch long) in about 3 cups of water for 30 minutes or longer or until it gets hydrated and soft. I put the pot on a medium flame and when the water started to boil turned down the heat and took out the kelp. I put the vegetables which takes a long time to cook in the pot first (cabbage, potato, daikon and carrot) and cooked them for 20-30 minutes on a low flame.

Preparation of the salmon: I had one medium size fillet of salmon (1 lb). After washing and removing any scales and bones if present, I removed the thin fatty belly part or "harashu" ハラス for another dish. I cut the remaining fillet into one inch wide strips and then cut the strips in half to make good sized rectangles. In order to reduce the strong or gamey taste of the salmon, I parboiled it in boiling water with a small amount of sake for just 10-20 seconds. Then I washed the pieces in cold running water and set aside.

Seasoning mixture: I disolved miso (3 tbs) in sake (1 cup) and mirin (3 tbs) in a measuring cup and set aside. You could adjust the sweetness by increasing or decreasing the amount of mirin.

When the vegetables were done, I added shirataki and shiitake. After few minutes of cooking (with lid on), I added the seasoning mixture above. After coming back to a simmer, I added the salmon and scallion and cooked it until salmon was just done (3-4 minutes). Some people add butter or milk at the end but I did not.

We enjoyed this with sprinkles of 7 flavored Japanese red pepper flakes and warmed sake. We have not had warmed sake for ages but I just wanted to try it again. I thought Gekkeikan "Black and Gold" (US brewed) is perfect for drinking warm since it is very gentle sake. It took some effort to find the "ochoushi" お銚子 flask for waming the sake. My wife finally found one (Hagi ware 萩焼) in the back of the cupboard. I gently warmed the flask in a hot water to 118 F (I measured the temperature using a digital instant meat thermometer). Guinomi ぐいのみ is made by an American artist Peggy Loudon, which my wife acquired at one of the Smithonian craft shows held at the building museum in Washington, DC. The warm sake was perfect with this nabe on this cold night--especially since we were anticipating a big snow storm which luckily just missed the Washington area by a hair. We probably will go back to drinking cold sake...warm sake is good on certain occasions but in general we prefer cold sake.

P.S.  This recipe was featured in "The Jerusalem post" by Johanna Bailey.

Hiyaoroshi sake ひやおろし

When we traveled to Japan, we ususally chose late spring early summer to avoid the rainy 梅雨 and typhoon 台風 seasons.  We could not handle the heat and humidity of summer months.  Over the years, we made some exceptions. We visited Japan once in winter to attend New Year with my family and twice in late September and October just barly evading typhoons (in 2013 and 2017). It is nice to visit Japan in fall, since it is the harvest season with great produce especially fruits and vegetables. Seeing golden rice paddies at sunset from the Shikansen is something to remember.  In addition, we could enjoy seasonal sake only available in the fall which is the main point of  this post.

In 2013, we visted “Tako Grill” in Kuroishi 黒石, Aomori 青森. Chef Kudo 工藤 opened this Japanese Tako Grill after he left “Tako Grill” in Bethesda and went back to his home town in Japan. When we visited, he served us local Kuroishi sake  “Kikunoi Akiagari”  菊乃井　秋あがり. We really liked this sake.  We liked it so much Chef Kudo had to send a waitress out to get more from the brewery since we drank what he had at hand. 

The “Hiyaoroshi” 冷やおろし or “Akiagari” 秋あがり is a seasonal sake and is only available in the fall. My undestanding is that the sake is brewed during the winter and bottled in the spring. It is pasturized or “hi-ire” 火入 and then stored in a cold environment until fall when outside temperatures get cold.  Up until now we thought the only way we could enjoy “hiyaoroshi” was to go back to  Japan in the fall. Now, we discovered we can get “hiyaoroshi” sake in the U.S. from  Tippsy sake.  Recently we got two hiyaoroshi from them; one is “Otokoyama” from Asahikawa, Hokkaido 男山、旭川 (right) and Koshi-no-homare from Niigata 越の誉, 新潟 (left). Both are junmai class sake.

We first tasted "otokoyama" (meaning "manly mountain") . The label shows what looks like baby seals drinking sake. (We momentarily contemplated whether this image suggested under-age drinking…by seals)? This is a very nice sake. Although it is "tokubetsu junmai",  it does not have any yeasty smell/taste but is rather dry with rich complex flavor and some fruitiness up-front. We had this with imitation negitoro and it went very well.

The next evening, we had "Koshi-no-homare" (meaning "pride of Echigo 越後" - old name for Niigata). Reportedly, this sake was buried under snow for 250 days. A snow crystal is the only image on the label. This sake tasted a bit lighter up-front than the "otokoyama". It has nice after-taste flavors. We had this with an assortment of drinking snacks.

Although we tend to favor "Otokoyama" (and that is not just because I am from Hokkaido), we are very happy with either one. It is so nice that Tippsy sake brought "hiyaoroshi" sake to U.S.

Watari bune Daiginjo 渡船純米大吟醸

This sake “Watari bune, junmai daiginjo” 渡船純米大吟醸 was a gift from a friend for a recent occasion. This is a really great sake with a slightly effervescent feel and fruity, crisp but very complex flavors. This should definitely be drunk cold. This sake is brewed by “Fuchu-homare” 府中誉 which is located in Ibaragi prefecture 茨城県. The sake rice or “sakamai”  酒米 used for this sake is also called “Watari bune” which is supposedly a very rare near-extinct sake rice which relatively recently has been revived. The famous and most popular sake rice “Yamada nishiki” 山田錦 is reportedly a descendant of this rice. Also the name “Watari bune”  渡船, which means a  “ferry” or “ferryboat”, is very fitting for sake from Ibaragi which is known for Tone river 利根川 and its estuaries criss crossing the flat delta before pouring into the Pacific ocean.This area also contains large lakes. (Such areas rich in water ways and lakes are called “Suigou”  水郷). Such topography would require use of ferries i.e. “Watari bune” to navigate the water ways.

In any case, a great sake calls for great “Tsumami” ツマミ or small sake snacks. We were lucky to get fresh unprocessed fresh “uni” sea urchin in salted water from Maruhide 丸秀 called “Ensui uni” 塩水ウニ. We also recently got frozen blocks of Bluefin tuna from Great-Alaska-Seafood. We served these items on recently acquired Japanese plates. The soy sauce in the small round plate is also a special “sashimi” soy sauce.   

I made the tuna three ways (two shown directly below. One came later). The first was straight sashimi (upper left in picture). The second was “Negi-toro” ネギトロ with slices of cucumber (lower left in picture). We enjoyed this negi-toro as a kind-of hand roll on a small sheet of nori (not shown) with the cucumber slices (shown).

This uni from Maruhide (shown upper right in the picture) is not processed with the usual “alum” and only soaked in salt water with salinity consistent with seawater. As far as I can tell, Maruhide is only source in the U.S. where we can get this. As an aside: my wife can sometimes taste the alum on uni. She immediately passes her portion to me when this happens. Not exactly a hardship for me, since I can’t taste alum. (She can also detect the alum used in some brands of baking powder).  The consistency of the uni in salt water is slightly softer than alum processed ones but it is absolute pure fresh uni. With just a little bit of wasabi and soy sauce and a sip of the sake, you cannot get anything better.

We needed a few more “Tsumami” to go with this sake. We had more tuna, this time “zuke” tuna 漬けマグロ, in which tuna slices are marinated in x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce for few hours so.  I served it with wakame and cucumber dressed in sumiso sauce 胡瓜とわかめの酢味噌あえ (left). Since my wife made blini a few days ago and we had Keta salmon ikura roe thawed, we made our usual “blini topped with cream cheese, smoked salmon and ikura” (right).

All these items are again perfect accompaniment for this wonderful sake.