An unofficial guide to Yamaguchi Prefecture and its nihonshu
Suobijin on the Left, Yukionna on the right (junmai, seimaibuai 58%) On February 23rd, we hosted a goodbye party for a friend moving to Fukuoka, and I prepared a whole range of sakes to help celebrate. However, my plan was thrown slightly awry when a friend showed up with a whole isshobin (1.8 liters) of... 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 →
Something that I've been working on sort of unofficially, that I'm actually bringing into the "official" part of work, is an exhaustive index of all of the kura in Yamaguchi prefecture, where I identify and map them, try their sakes, and eventually visit them. The mapping part would be easier if the Hiroshima bureau of... 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 →
Whenever I talk to people about Sake and mention I live in Yamaguchi, the conversation inevitably turns to Dassai. This is understandable, since clearly Dassai is immensely famous (perhaps the single most famous sake in the world?). The brewery, Asahi Shuzo, is on TV, in newspapers, and making huge waves in the brewing world with... Continue Reading →
The sake world in Yamaguchi has been abuzz lately with some new faces. I previously talked a little about Abu no Tsuru, a re-opened kura under the sponsorship of Sumikawa Shuzo of Toyo Bijin fame. Sumikawa is also supporting another renewed kura, Ohmine. Ohmine's website says it was closed for 50 years, and reopened in... Continue Reading →
Yamaguchi Sake 