Tokyofoodcast

At the November Mitsuya benkyokai, Takase-sensei tried out a new tasting method on the group. He placed four glasses of sake in front of us and told us to guess what each of these four 720 ml bottles were priced at. Guessing grades is always a fun game, but price? Gee, I don’t know.
All of [...]

[Read more →]

What is the smallest kura I’ve ever had sake from? I was trying to think of all sake I had in the past and their annual brewing production in my mind when I heard Nao-chan from Asahi Wakamatsu say that their annual yield is about 30 koku.
At Takase-sensei’s July benkyokai at Mitsuya, we had a [...]

[Read more →]

Young Inoue toji (Master Brewer) from Sawahime believes in true local sake and having fun. He believes that local sake should be made with local rice and yeast by local brewers to be “true” local sake or jizake. He also thinks sake making should be fun and enjoyable. Thus, that element is bottled up with [...]

[Read more →]

Company Name: Morinokura
Prefecture: Fukuoka
URL: http://www.morinokura.co.jp/(J)

Mizokuchi-san from Morinokura, the guest for Takase-sensei’s February benkyokai at Mitsuya is a true sake geek. We not only enjoyed his sake, but totally geeked out by trying sake and shochu at different temperatures and with different types of cups.
When I checked Morinokura’s
website before, Morinokura appeared quite different from other [...]

[Read more →]

Sorry, it’s been a while since last update at our site, but we have been away for a holiday to tropical islands where it is too hot to enjoy sake. Instead, our daily beer consumption went up during August and September. It is now perfect time of the year to get back into sake, and [...]

[Read more →]

Company Name: Numadate Syuzo
Prefecture: Akita
URL: (Japanese) http://www.tatenoi.co.jp/
(English) http://www.tatenoi.co.jp/kengaku/index2-english.htm

As the young successor to Numadate Syuzo, Mr. Oyagi, searches for how sake should evolve in what he sees as a transitional period. He was at the Mitsuya benkyokai in July. While he admits even in Akita, sake is sort of the [...]

[Read more →]

Company Name: Takahashi Syuzoten
Prefecture: Yamagata
URL: (J) (E) N/A
You can review Tohoku Izumi at Kuniisaketen.
Ms. Takahashi, President of Takahashi Shuzo, appeared very reserved and quiet at the beginning of the monthly benkyokai at Mitsuya in June. We had a chance to taste their signature brand, Tohokizumi, with her. From her talk, it was very obvious the [...]

[Read more →]

During our two and half years at the Mitsuya sake benkyokai hosted by Takase-sensei, January 2006 must have had the highest number of “babes”. The featured kura was Kimura Shuzo with Fukukomachi brand from Akita and I heard Yone-sama from the kura attracted his “fan” club members to this event. So, does Fukukomachi = babes?
Actually, [...]

[Read more →]

Mitsuya in Nishiogikubo is one of THE best sake shops around Tokyo. We really like going to their tasting to learn about sake and kura. Most of the sake we have blogged is available at Mitsuya.
So, wondering what it’s like and how to get there? I picked up some sake we ordered last month [...]

[Read more →]

Tatsuriki
In December, I was at a sake tasting featuring Tatsuriki. What a delightful event it was! Nine kinds of wonderful sake from Tatsuriki is one thing, but Mr. Honda’s passion for the soil and the right kind of rice to make the best sake instantly turned me into a Tatsuriki fan.
Tatsuriki (Dragon’s Might) [...]

[Read more →]