After my visit to Komasa Jyozo in February, we got into a car and went about a mile down the road to Kanosuke Distillery. Komasa is a shochu brewery with a nearly 150 year history on the seaside of Kagoshima's Hioki City and its newest...
This quarter, we’re featuring two shochus that are brand new to the U.S., one that is even new in Japan. The other is not new at all: famed Mellowed Kozuru was created in 1957 in Kagoshima and was the first shochu ever to be barrel-aged! So...
Arriving at Heiwa Shuzo as the sun was setting Before visiting Wakayama last August, the only concrete thing I seemed to know about it was that they were famous for their ume. In...
President Toshimitsu Saika of Kokonoe Saika All members of Sake Gumi this month are getting Kokonoe Saika Sake Brewery’s Yamada Nishiki Junmai Daiginjo. Toshimitsu Saika, the president of Kokonoe Shuzo visited us back in 2023, and he took the time...
NamaFest 2025 was a bona-fide festival! It was twice the size of last year's event, filled with sake lovers from Oakland and beyond to celebrate spring with fresh-pressed, unpasteurized sakes. Ranging from vibrant and lively to earthy and tart, thirteen vendors representing over...
Arkansas rice being harvested. Photo courtesy of Dassai USA. Ever since 2010, when I was working at Takara Sake’s tasting counter, I’d been hearing about Arkansas sake rice. My supervisor, Izumi Motai, was telling me that Takara had been...
Before meeting Justin Potts, Director of Brewing Relations at Origami Sake Brewery, I heard him on the podcast Sake on Air. I learned a lot about the discussions he participated in. He had lived in Japan for nearly 20...
While Dassai has been a household name in Japan for decades, it's just the beginning of their notoriety in the U.S. Their junmai daiginjos are elegant and iconic, making it one of the few sakes that people actually remember and ask for by name at...
L-R: Me, Miho Imada and Kayoko at the shop in summer of 2024 Miho Imada has been brewing sake at Imada Shuzo since 1994 after taking a crash course in sake brewing at the National Research Institute of Brewing of Japan....
Umami Mart seeks a friendly and punctual team member to personalized customer service. This will be at our shop located at 4027 Broadway in Oakland. This position will be for Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays with opportunity to pick up extra shifts. We are a small, hard-working team...
During our last Japan visit, I made a quick detour down to Kagoshima to visit shochu distilleries. As shochu director of the shop, I've gotta keep up with what's going on in Kyushu! Yoko and I went to Kagoshima nearly 10 years ago and while I...
I’m back from two days in Kagoshima and supremely pumped for shochu –particularly of the imo variety. It is in Kagoshima where the Satsuma Shochu designation is honored, where the sweet potatoes and water must be produced in the region. Additionally, only rice or imo koji may be used.
This month’s selections L-R: Narutotai LED Junmai Ginjo + Hanabusa Yamahai Junmai It delights me that every year I hear about a new woman sake maker. Since I started featuring Female Frontrunners in 2017, I feel a glimmer of...
Find Fifth Taste sakes on our shelves all year long. From funky and complex kimotos and bodaimotos to fruity and powerful MNGs (muroka nama genshus), Jesse’s portfolio is never boring. That’s why whenever he’s got another one to...
This month’s bottles from the Fifth Taste portfolio: Chochin 5055 Muroka Nama Genshu Junmai Ginjo + Asahi Mai Junmai Daiginjo Genshu It’s always heartwarming to reminisce on a first meeting you remember of a long time friend. For Kayoko and me, I...
Two years ago, when I woke up on New Year's day at an onsen in Kurokawa, otoso was served alongside an elaborate osechi spread. Otoso is a bitter, sweet, and medicinal spiced sake for New Year’s, said to chase away sickness for...
Me and Kayoko on Gumi Appreciation Night. Photos by Sachi Happy 2025! I am still glowing from the Gumi Appreciation Night we held on December 7th. It was an extravaganza where members from all walks of...
Last Saturday marked our first Gumi Appreciation Night! After nearly 10 years of Sake Gumi, 5 years of Shochu Gumi, and 1 year of Whisky Gumi, it was high time that we got all you crazy Gumi nuggets in here at the same time to party like its 1999. And...
Just down the road from Ikehara Shuzo on Ishigaki Island is Seifuku, renowned awamori and liqueur maker. President Kenryu Kanna graciously met with a group with us to talk about his range of bottles, which runs the gamut from awamori and rum and sweet...
It’s hard to believe it’s been five years since Shochu Gumi was born, in December2019. This was huge year for me – I bought a house and had a baby (yes, she’s 5now too!); Yoko and I moved our shop from downtown Oakland to the...
