Summer Liqueur Tasting!!!

The spring tasting was a big hit...
So we are back this weekend with a Japanese Liqueur Tasting!
Ume-shu, Yuzu-shu, Natsu-mikan, and much much more!

If you are in town please stop by!

Sendai Summit post coming soon!

Meishu no Yutaka staff

Carlin

2010 Sendai Sake Summit

I will be attending the Sake Summit in Sendai on July 7th.

A gathering of Sake makers and sake stores; the Sake Summit is a great way to get a good look at a wide variety of sake, and to exchange info with other sake stores in Japan.

This will be my second time attending the Sake Summit (the first being last year together with my wife) and my first time there on my own, the only white boy in a sea of Sake experts (^_^;.

The biggest event at the Summit will be a 100+ bottle blind tasting.
I don't know how many people out there have gone up against a 100+ bottle tasting, but it is one heck of a challenge. (Although listening to the stories our company president tells about 300+ bottle tastings, makes the Summit sound like a walk in the park.)

This year they introduced a new section to the summit in which the participants where to pick a bottle of sake (from any maker, participating or not), and write tasting notes for it, and send it in with their registration. I picked Nagano prefecture's, Daishinshu Shuzo's, Restricted lable Kozuki (香月) Junmai Ginjo Naka Gumi. One of my favorites. Daishinshu is not participating in the Summit, and I figured that this was a good opportunity to spread some love for one of my favorite breweries.

If I had taken the time to read the BIG RED fine print that was right under the part that said I was supposed to send in the tasting notes, I wouldn't have been surprised when about a week later I received a phone call asking me to send a bottle of the brew in, so that every one could taste it at the summit. Apparently they decided it would be a good idea to get some outside suggestions, and they liked what the white guy said.

So in celebration of being picked, I bring to you:

Kozuki / 香月

Junmai Ginjou Naka-gumi / 純米吟醸中汲み

Alcohol: 16% / Polish: 50%

SMV: +4

Tasting notes:

On the nose: Big nose with sweet melon and lots of rice. Slightly zesty and very fresh.

On the palate: Medium to full bodied with big rice flavors. Hints of melon continue to a very dry finish. Well balanced with a finish that cuts like a knife (In a very good way).

Other notes:

• The Kozuki label is a very limited release brand, being that not all of the stores that carry the main Daishinshu label, can can sell the Kozuki label.
• This sake comes in a pasteurized and nama version. The Unpasteurized (Nama) version is released around February and ends when it sells out. The pasteurized version is available almost all year. (this post is about the pasteurized version)

I will post more about the Sendai Sake Summit (with pictures) soon.

Cheers,

Meishu no Yutaka staff

Carlin

Spring brews at last!

Spring is finally arriving here in Hokkaido, although we still have about a month left until the cherry blossoms come.
In celebration of the spring season, it's time for some spring sake!

This time I would like to introduce a brewery that you probably have never heard of (although they did enter their sake into the U.S. national sake appraisal in 06, 07, and 08). I know I hadn't before the breweries Toji gave us a call, out of the blue, to let us know he was coming for a visit.  I have to admit that we were a little put off by this first impression (as most of our sake selection is built out of long term relationships and hard work, not sudden phone calls), but the sake we tasted was fantastic, so we decided to give it a go.  We have been carrying this brand for almost a year now and it has created a pretty big fan base. I bring to you:

本洲一 / Honshu-ichi

 春限定 おりがらみ純米酒

Limited Spring release Origarami Junmai-shu

Alcohol: 16-17% / Polish: 65%

SMV: +4

Umeda Shuzo / Hiroshima Prefecture

Tasting notes:

On the nose: Light and slightly sweet, with hints of fruit and flowers over a base of rice and koji. A very inviting nose.

On the palate: Very full bodied with a burst of ricy sweetness from the Ori (Origarami or Ori-zake is kind of like a Nigori, but with less solids. Ori is the solids), followed by strong acidity and a slight astringency, giving it a bit of a sweet and sour tanginess.  Fruity with a quick clean finish.

Other notes:

• Honshu-ichi is a really really really small brewery. With a brewing capacity of a little under 500 Koku (1 koku is roughly equal to 100 Issho-bin or 180L. 500 koku would then be 90,000L or 23,775 Gallons for those of you living in the US), which is or smallest brewery and a small fry in the sake world where most breweries do about 1,000~2,000 Koku or more.
• Origarami is a type of sake very similar to a Nigori. Sometimes you will even hear people refer to it as a Usu-Nigori (thin nigori or only lightly cloudy). What exactly does this mean? This:

The Ori is settled at the bottom of the bottle. A little hard to see but it is a really fine white almost milky substance with very few large pieces.

Here I gave the bottle a little shake so you can see the Ori better. Once thoroughly mixed it looks more or less like a regular Nigori.

• One of the fun things about a Origarami is: you get two sakes in the same bottle. Now don't start thinking "yeah if I mix the two half bottles in my fridge together, I have two sakes in one bottle too!" Although that is technically true, that's not quite what I'm getting to here. More precisely you get two different flavor profiles out of the same sake. By this I send out a challenge: Go out and buy a bottle of Origarami (a good lighter nigori is Probably ok too Usu-nigori better), let the bottle sit until the Ori is all settled at the bottom of the bottle. Without shaking the bottle carefully pour yourself a glass, and taste it.  Then give the bottle a light shake (more like putting the cap back on then tipping it upside down and back slowly) then pour out another glass and compare the two. If you think they taste exactly the same, then I really want to know what you are drinking!

So keep your eyes out for a bottle of Honshu-ichi near you, because it is a sure hit!

More to come!

Cheers

Meishu no Yutaka staff

Carlin

Spring Sake Tasting!

Here is a call going out to anyone following along from the Sapporo area who has been thinking about stopping by, but just hasn't found the right incentive.

Meishu no Yutaka's first (and not the last if I have anything to do with it!) SAKE TASTING!
We will have an arrangement of about 6 spring sakes on taste for free. Just in Time for the Cherry Blossoms!

If any one is interested please stop by.

I will be around pretty much the whole time and would love to talk sake!

Looking forward to seeing you there.

Cheers

Meishu no Yutaka staff

Carlin

New website + Samurai action!!

The new English website for the store is finally up and running!!
Please take a look and let me know what you think!

Coming up in May, Japan has a holiday for boys (Holiday for girls was in Feb. sorry I didn't take any pictures), And it is traditional to put up a display of a samurai warrior (or in some houses just the armor).
We have our display up in the store, so I thought I would write a post about it as an interesting tidbit of Japanese culture (although sake isn't involved).

This is our "Kabuto" or Samurai display:

It is now about 27 years old, although it doesn't look it, And since there aren't any children in the family now, it gets proudly displayed in the store every year. Really intricately hand made, with a real rabbit skin rug for the doll.

Well I will get a some tasting notes up here soon.
We got some new really good spring sake into the store recently, although unfortunately the ones that I really want to post here are ones that I can't even mention on the internet (restricted by the brewery).

New Nama sake from Hiroshima prefecture that I am hoping to taste soon too.

More soon!

Cheers,
Meishu no Yutaka staff
Carlin

4 Months and no posts???

You are probably all wondering where the heck I have been for the past 4 months.
That is if any one out there is still checking in.
I apologize for the lengthy lapse in posting, and hope to get a few new posts in over the next couple of days.

As to the where:
I have been to the depths of webpage building hell, and come back with a fire breathing dragon of a new website for the store http://www.yutaka1.com.
Take a look if you like.
English webpage is still in the works; I hope to have it up and running in the next week.

Thank you to all those who check in periodically, and I shall resume posting very soon.

Cheers,
Meishu no Yutaka staff
Carlin