An unofficial guide to Yamaguchi Prefecture and its nihonshu
New year's in Japan is a big deal, more like Christmas in the USA than anything. Most everyone gets a long holiday, families gather together to celebrate the day, and lots of sake is drunk. Lots and lots of it. This is a time when sake is not only a nice way to lubricate those... 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 →
This rare non-junmai daiginjo from Shimonoseki Shuzo (JP Only) is my first from them, and a truly great introduction indeed! It seems these days that junmai is the word to use for brewers, and I honestly can't remember how many alcohol-added daiginjo I've seen on shelves. The only other one I've drunk is the Tobindori from... Continue Reading →
No, you're not having deja vu. This is one more review of a Kinfundo Daiginjo Tobindori...with a difference! If you read my earlier review a similar sake, you'll have a basic understanding of what Tobindori is. If not, here's a recap: Sake, after fermentation is complete, is pressed in a number of ways. It can... 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 →
This is from yet another of the less common breweries on my list of Yamaguchi kura, Otsu Shurui Jozo (Japanese link to Yamaguchi Brewer's Assocuation page) in Nagato. Misuzu is their major brand, and after tasting it I wish it was more well known! This is another of the vanishing "not junmai" daiginjo styles, made with... Continue Reading →
This is a a very special treat I picked up at my recent visit to the Kinfundo Shuzo brewery in Kudamatsu. Out of all their sakes (about ten varieties, I think?), I only took home two bottles: this one, and the Ginjo version. Why, you might ask? Because I have, as I mentioned before,... Continue Reading →
On Monday, July 16 Japan had a national holiday, Marine (or Sea or Ocean) Day (Umi no Hi). While most people go to the beach to celebrate the day off, my family took the other way, and headed to the mountainous interior of Yamaguchi prefecture to a town/area called Mine. My wife wanted to go... Continue Reading →
Before I begin, I'd like to mention the recent flooding disaster in Western Japan. I live in the midst of one of the worst floods to hit Japan in decades. My family and I are safe and, mostly, unaffected, but the communities around us have been devastated. Dozens of lives have been lost, thousands of... Continue Reading →
In the cup this time is a limited Junmai Daiginjo from Shunan city's own Yamagata Honten. This bottle is named after and dedicated to Yoshida Shoin, a historical figure from Hagi, Yamaguchi, who was somewhat influential in the Meiji Restoration as a teacher of many of the more famous figures. The man himself died young... Continue Reading →
Yamaguchi Sake 