Happy Shochu'sday!The other day a customer asked me, "Where's the first place you're gonna go on a plane?" I hesitated for a second because I'm not ready to deal with the airport quite yet – I used to travel a lot to quell my wanderlust,...
All hail the captain! This is an mind-blowing bottle that we are just starting to explore after having it on our shelves since the holidays. Aged for 10 years in oak barrels, this genshu (cask strength), 100% barley shochu is limited to only 20,000 bottles a year....
Join us June 24, 2021 at 5:30pm on Zoom! Pairing Sake + Cheese with Kevin Corcoran CCP Sake Gumi is our monthly sake subscription service with 250 members throughout the country. Join today! This is our sixth annual Sakqueso! I look forward to this theme...
Umami Mart seeks a friendly, responsible, and take-charge Shop Keeper. We are a small, but growing team specializing in Japanese sake + spirits, barware, glassware, and homewares. This position will be at our shop located in Oakland, California and will be for 20 hours...
Welcome to our first Awamori Bazaar! This summer, the awamori will flow through Umami Mart with special events, recipes, and spotlights on our favorite bottles of Okinawa’s beloved beverage. I’m excited to feature two distinctive bottles for this month’s selections that demonstrate the range,...
A heartfelt Shochu'sday greeting to you and yours. Ian here! I'm a Certified Shochu Advisor with Sake School of America, and Kayoko's resident shochu nephew here at Umami Mart. I assist Kayoko in keeping our shochu selections current and snazzy and spend a lot of time looking at shochus on...
Good evening, everyone! It's been a lot of fun having the store open and seeing everyone's faces (or the top third-portion) in person for the first time in a long time. I love getting to make recommendations and seeing what you are all excited about eating and drinking; it...
In honor of the awesome event we are hosting this Thursday with @stgeorgespirits , I want to focus on their California Shochu. It's a kasutori shochu made in Alameda, CA! This means that they distill sake kasu (lees) for the shochu – here, they...
This is one of my favorites on our shelves – Kintaro Barley Shochu is made with roasted barley so it's super nutty and chocolatey. I get a strong kurogoma (black sesame) note. Nishiyoshida is a beloved distillery in Fukuoka, that has been around since 1893....
Sake Gumi is our monthly sake subscription service with 250 members throughout the country. Join today! As a bartender for several years, the most common response when I would ask, “What kind of wine would you like?” would indubitably be, “Something dry.” We get this at our...
Happy Shochu'sday!This is a very special shochu by Kagoshima's Komaki Jozo that just hit our shelves. Beni Ikko Sweet Potato Shochu uses 100% imo! This means they inoculated the koji onto the imo, not rice, as they usually do for imo shochus. This creates...
Happy Shochu’sday!Today let’s talk kokuto. Made with black cane sugar, this shochu must be made on the Amami Islands for it to be considered kokuto shochu.We just got this bottle in: Taiko No Kuro Usagi Kokuto Shochu. Made by Yayoi Jozo on Amami Island,...
Happy Shochu'sday! Today I've brought out my Yuki Otoko Rice Shochu.You may have seen this cute snow yeti on a sake bottle label before – it's one of our favorite sakes in the shop! Niigata's Aoki Shuzo, maker of Yuki Otoko sake, collaborated with Nishi...
For every batch that Den Sake Brewery releases, we always try to secure all of the Ori that comes along with the release. Ori, in Japanese, means sediment. In the context of sake, ori sake (also known as orizake) is a style...
Happy Shochu'sday! Kayoko here, Co-Founder and Shochu Director of Umami Mart. Every Tuesday, I'll be posting something here about shochu. It may be about a shochu I'm into at the moment, or a distillery I want to highlight, or a new shochu we've just brought to our...
I love salads, but I don't love how they don't keep very well as leftovers. As the weather warms up, I wanted to make something cooling that would last over several days. That's where I got the idea to make...
Sake Gumi is our monthly sake subscription service with 250 members throughout California. Join today! Happy NamaFest! Coming out of the long brewing season that starts when rice is harvested in the fall, brewers typically release namazakes (unpasteurized sakes) in early spring. These...
With warm weather ahead, and the pandemic nearly behind us (ain't it though?!?!), we are excited for the prospect of barbecues in the sun with our friends and family. After a year of being cooped up at home with no end in sight, I'd say...
My baba-chan in Tokyo always has a package of Mitarashi Dango on her dining table by her Zojirushi. I look back fondly on those afternoons when I'd sit around and eat dango with her while Richard Clayderman streamed out of her tape player. Mitarashi Dango are rice dumplings draped in...
PREFACE Yamahomo vs. Ladurée (Part 1 & 2) Yamahomo vs. Ladurée (The Battle Continues) Yamahomo vs. Ladurée (Trial 4, 5 & 6) Since winning my Ladurée Battle at Trial #6 two years ago, I haven't made macaron for a while....
