An unofficial guide to Yamaguchi Prefecture and its nihonshu
There's a sake trend that I first noticed last year but has become increasingly common, and I'm actually quite unhappy about it. I'm not sure what the real name is, but I'm calling it "faux nama." In other words, there is a move toward sake that is actually pasteurized but retains many of the traits... Continue Reading →
Two more quality josen from Yamaguchi's local sake breweries.
Astonishing. It's been eight months since my last post here! Thank M*sk for waking me up to how much time I've been wasting on Twitter and reminding me that I have other places to put my thoughts down. So, here we are back on the Yamaguchi sake futsushu trail, looking for all the single-serving sized... Continue Reading →
My blog has been quiet for several months. Various things have come and gone, but much of it is due to a general lack of focus and attention span that could as easily be attributed to age as to the pandemic. But I have not been entirely lax in my work. For, in the shadowy... Continue Reading →
I have recently been thinking so much about sake pricing, I almost confuse myself. It's a very big topic, and one that many people in the industry (particularly non-Japanese) seem to have strong opinions about. The primary reason, of course, is that within Japan most sake is very, very cheap, while outside Japan it is... Continue Reading →
It has been a while since I updated my project to catalog, drink, and visit every sakagura in the prefecture. I found that one of the most complicated parts was actually finding out which sake breweries are still running, and which ones are merely dormant. It has also been complicated as some breweries have closed,... Continue Reading →
Junmai sake, made with rice, rice koji, and water alone (except for yeasts, and the added lactic acid for sokujo. Oh, and also some flavor adjusting enzymes in some cases.) is all the rage with sake drinkers both in and out side of Japan. People like it because they feel it has tradition, because it... Continue Reading →
Go To Drink Tokyo, Junmai ginjō (Blend) The coronavirus pandemic has been hard on the world, and this is of course true of the sake world as well. Brewers have seen plummeting sales, which is bad, and also seen stock back up in their warehouses and tanks, which is very bad. If they don't make... Continue Reading →
This season, which has nearly passed us by, is the season of rich food, cool breezes, and the joys of autumn sake: hiyaoroshi. In the simplest explanation, this sake was pressed in the spring, tanked and pasteurized once, then bottled and shipped in autumn without the second pasteurization. In technical terms, this makes it namazume.... Continue Reading →
Things seem to have slipped by unnoticed for a while, haven't they? The age of corona is changing all kinds of things, and my approach to sake is certainly one of them. The complete cancellation of sake events all over Japan and the overall drop in sales has led to all kinds of complications for... Continue Reading →
Yamaguchi Sake 