Back in May, we succeeded in enticing our long-time friends, Colleen and Steve, to visit us in Tokyo from the US. They have been talking about it for some time, but when we visited them in Seattle in March, we were able to push them a little further.
So, all of a sudden, Et-chan put her tour guide hat on (or rather, had a tour guide flag around) and planned activities for Colleen and Steve with some typical tours such as Tsukiji, Asakusa, or Hakone. One, only one request from Colleen during the visit was to go to see a sake brewery. Being wine connoisseurs, they were both new to sake but were curious about it. (Having had to give up his wish to visit the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum for the day, Steve, complained that they had ample opportunities to visit Hakusan to “find out how sake is made” when they were living in Napa, but they never did.) After some research, we decided to take them to Sawanoi near Ome, because that seems to be the closest kura which offers scheduled tour of the kura.
Sawanoi is located in Sawai on the JR Ome Line, approximately 45 minutes from Tachikawa. The kura is right by the river and has three restaurants and a tasting room.
We arrived one hour early before the tour and headed straight to the tasting room. It was fun to see how Colleen and Steve liked and disliked some sake because most of the time, we all agreed. Here’s the list of the tasting menu. We tried 8 out of 11.
Per staff recommendation, we tasted in the following order:
4. Junmai Karakuchi: kan seemed better
5. Honjizake: ???
2. Ginnomai Junmai Daiginjo: We all liked this one except Te-chan.
3. Daiginjo: Te-chan’s pick.
11. Shokanosake Honjozo: Recommended by the kura, but we all did not care for this one.
9. Ginjonama: OK.
6. Iroha (taruzake) stored in wooden barrel: Not for Colleen and Steve.
7. Genroku-made with 300 years old sake making method: Not for Colleen and Steve either.
The tour of the kura is about 1 hour, including some lectures on sake. They take you through three kura areas, including the building from a couple of hundred years ago. You will see tanks, press, and storing area, as well as their natural well.
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