An unofficial guide to Yamaguchi Prefecture and its nihonshu
The event I talked about last time sold a couple of limited edition sakes. This is one of them! It's a junmai tobingakoi, meaning it was filtered by being hung in cotton bags and funneled directly into a glass tank before it is pumped into the bottles. Harada Toji is filling bottles directly from a... Continue Reading →
Shunan city sake brewery Hatsumomiji Shuzo, makers of popular brand Harada, held a small festival on November 16th and 17th to celebrate their 200th anniversary. Since I'm a fan of not only their sake, but the brewery staff as well (I've toured it twice and have met many of them several times at events), I... Continue Reading →
It makes me sad how difficult it will be to explain the pun behind this sake's name in English. But we'll get to that. No need to cry. Nakasu sake is is from Hatsumomiji, the makers behind Harada sake. It's a local favorite, and a kura I've visited a few times. I like their sake,... Continue Reading →
This sake is one of Hatumomiji's most premium brands. The name is a reference to the Kaiten "manned torpedoes" planned at the end of World War 2, and built and tested at a base on a small island off the coast of Shunan city. It's a sad local story, and one that lingers over the... Continue Reading →
On January 19, I was finally able to get a sake tasting class together, after two failed attempts last fall. 6 drinkers gathered at Kokushu 国酒 in Shunan, Yamaguchi, where we tried a total of for sakes, before going on a tour of nearby Hatsumomiji Shuzo. Kokushu is a sake specialty izakaya with a great... Continue Reading →
Saturday, October 27th was Shunan city's 2nd annual Jizake Yokocho local sake Fair. 16 sakagura from all over Yamagata were there offering their wares, including some rarities I've never seen anywhere locally. A group of friends and I went to give our lovers a workout, and it was pure fun. None of the kura were... Continue Reading →
There is a large hotel not 2 minutes' walk from my house, and their restaurant is what I like to call "Bubble Fancy." It's a remnant of Japan's heady days of high wealth in the 80s and 90s, with furnishings that were once clearly the height of luxury...but now with 30 or so years of... Continue Reading →
If anyone out there is in the eastern Yamaguchi area, I'm having a sake event! I'm hosting a very simple sake label-reading class and tasting at Tokuyama Station Library, and afterward we're going on a short tour of Hatsumomidi kura. You can sign up and get more info here: Facebook link Meetup Link It's free,... Continue Reading →
SO to finish up what I started in my last post, I'll talk this time about the third and final sakagura featured on this tour: Hatsumomiji (self-styled Hatsumimidi). This is a very interesting case, since Hatsumomidi is the only kura in Shunan to brew year-round in the Shikijozo style. The others all brew only in... Continue Reading →
Shunan city, which is just a short drive or train ride from me here, is home to a surprising number of sakagura. The local tourist association has decided to capitalize on that by setting up what they call Takushu: a taxi tour of the three kura closest to Tokuyama station. (The name is a pun... Continue Reading →
Yamaguchi Sake 