Event Recap: Mad About Genshu, Our First Sake Gumi Social!

Photos by Daniel Metcalf

We had our very first Sake Gumi Social last weekend -- it was a BLAST! This event was exclusive to Sake Gumi members, held at Ramen Shop's new bar annex. Yoko and I wanted the event to be informative and lively, letting all the local Sake Gumi members meet and get to know each other. We only just launched Sake Gumi in August, and we already have over 80 members across the U.S.! We've been having so much fun with the club and wanted to get to know our members at this event.





And boy, did the members come out! We had nearly 50 people attend the Social, and we all managed to pile into Ramen Shop's awesome new bar. It's such a raw and intimate space -- the perfect setting for our event.



The focus of this afternoon was genshu, a type of sake that is "tank-strength" meaning it is bottled straight out of the sake tanks. Sake is usually diluted with water before bottling to bring the ABV down to anywhere around 9-16%. With genshu, you'll get an ABV around 18-20%, which lends itself to bolder, more robust flavors, that truly shine in cocktails.

While waiting for everyone to arrive, we served a welcome cocktail -- a simple drink with genshu, lime and sugar. My version of a Gimlet.



Everyone was real cozy by the time we gave a quick introduction to everyone and a bit about the genshus.

Ramen Shop bar manager Chris Lane


Yoko

We were so lucky to have Jake Myrick in the house, founder of Sequoia Sake.


That's Jake in the middle

Jake started his company in San Francisco just earlier this year, specializing in nama (umpasteurized) sake and nama genshu. Sequoia Genshu is fresh, fruity and bold; I enjoy creating cocktails with this immensely but it is fantastic on its own on the rocks too! We quickly started the tasting portion of our event, where Jake poured his nama genshu, and Yoko poured Narutotai ginjo nama genshu. This sake is from Tokushima prefecture in Japan, and is quite dry, especially compared to Sequoia.



House made snacks were served. The picked green strawberries were a hit.



The room was packed with sake lovers and Jake and Yoko were on deck answering questions and pouring for the rest of the event.





Everyone was into it! Members asked a lot of great questions and were getting to know one another. Success!



Towards the end, I started to make a cocktail, using Sequoia genshu. It's called The Western, created by our friends Martha and Micah Chong. It has a little bit of Rye and Genepy in it for a boozy treat that will warm the spirits for the holidays.



THANK YOU to Chris, The Ramen Shop, Jake and all our Sake Gumi members for coming out and being a part of our first Social.





We hope you all had as much fun as we did! Stay tuned for more events like this, and brewery tours in the new year. If you haven't joined yet but want to learn more, click here!