The Umami Mart Bottle System Now Online!
It's the moment you've all been waiting for... drum roll please... our Japanese beers and sakes are officially online! This is a project we've been working on here at UMHQ for the last few months and we can't wait to share this with you.
Remember when we opened the Bottle System at Umami Mart in Oakland last year? We are happy to say that we have the largest selection of Japanese beers of any retailer in the United States, with a growing selection of our favorite sakes from all over Japan, and stateside, too.
We have wanted to put our beers and sakes online for a while now, but have grappled with the logistics for the last year. How would they ship? What are the laws? Would people around the country be interested? Well, we've figured it all out, and dammit, you all are interested, right? So we are pulling out all the stops to make our beverages available online, and shipped to your doorstep.*
The beers will be sold in six-packs and the sakes by the bottle. We'll have all your favorite brands available (beers: Hitachino, Yoho, Orion; sake: Dassai, Hakkaisan, Kenbishi), plus more that you may not know about just yet.
What exactly is a Bottle System, you might ask? Well, Yoko and I have systemized our beers and sakes in a way that we hope will encite an A-HA! moment when you are browsing through our site and choosing bottles. Sakes are divided up by type (junmai, ginjo, daiginjo, honjozo, genshu, etc.), as are the beers (lager, IPA, ale, porter, etc.). Taking it a step further, we're including a short description on each product page, as well as recommended serving temperatures, food pairing suggestions, links to recipes on the blog, and glassware ideas for maximum brew enjoyment.
The COOLEST thing that we created for our online Bottle System is the Flavor Profile chart for each of the sakes:
How cool is this?!?!? Yoko and I are pretty darn happy about it. We didn't invent the chart, but think it's time it's on all of our radars for choosing sakes. The chart will give you an idea of how the acidity and sweetness levels interact to make a balanced sake to your liking. You want a sake that is dry, light in mouthfeel and will go well with robust foods? Then the Yuki Otoko is for you!
To celebrate our launch, we’re offering 10% off all sakes and 6-packs of beers online from today, Thursday, June 16 through Sunday, June 26, when customers use the code BOTTLESYSTEM10.
We hope you all enjoy our online Bottle System. It's a way for us to keep sharing with you what we love to do: drink! Sakes and Japanese beers should never be a pretentious affair and we hope we are making it as accessible and fun as possible. Comment below or shoot us an email (shop@umamimart.com) if you have a favorite bottle that you don't see on here!
Kanpai!
*Please note: We are presently only able to deliver alcoholic products to AK, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, IA, ID, KS, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, NC, ND, NH, NV, NM, NY, OR, SC, TN, TX, VA, WA, WI and WY.
