When we pulled up to Ikehara Shuzo this past February, I would have never guessed that the building housed an awamori distillery. Situated in a residential neighborhood with no interior space to waste, the pint-sized distillery and tasting room is extremely organized, well-planned,...
Visiting President Chobei Yamamoto at Yucho Shuzo in Gose City was one of the most educational brewery visits I’ve ever experienced. He invited me into his meeting room, where he had piles of very old books on Nara’s...
After my visit to Nishiyoshida Shuzo in Chikugo, Fukuoka back in January, I had the distinct pleasure to tour Ikekame Shuzo in nearby Kurume. We first featured Ikekame Shuzo in February 2021 for Sake Gumi's theme Experimentations in Koji –...
I'm not sure if it was the pandemic, or having a child, but everything I do these days is last minute. I don't really like making commitments or plans for anything – doctors, dinners, trips – and instead my friends will get regular texts asking if they want to meet...
Walking into a sake brewery is like walking into someone's home. In the old days, it was customary that the kurabito (brewery workers) all stayed in shared housing at the brewery during the brewing season – people traveled from far and wide from their hometowns...
Yuichiro Kawahito, president of Kawatsuru Brewery in Kagawa, is the epitome of the word genki – he is full of energy and life. He took on the brewery in 2004 after his father, making him the 6th generation owner. I visited Kawatsuru Brewery on a sunny day...
At the beginning of September of 2022, I had the opportunity to visit a number of shochu distilleries in Kagoshima and Miyazaki prefectures. For the Kagoshima portion, president and toji (master distiller) of Yamatozakura Shuzo Tekkan Wakamatsu was kind enough to take me in his car to some unmissable...
In September 2022, I had the pleasure of visiting a number of shochu distilleries in Kagoshima and Miyazaki. When I was in Kagoshima, Yamatozakura Shuzo's own Tekkan Wakamatsu took me around by car to three can't-miss handmade shochu distilleries. The last leg of the day was...
My first brewery visit in Kochi this past month was at Mutemuka Shuzo. The next morning I went to Kameizumi Shuzo. I first learned about Mutemuka in 2018 through Floating World. I fell in love with the their Mutemuka Muroka Nama Genshu. It was lactic, mushroomy,...
After visiting Kameizumi Shuzo in the morning, we were off to Suigei Brewing Co.'s Tosa facility that was about 20 minutes away. It was a relief to have such a short commute between destinations for a change. When I set up all of these brewery...
Kameizumi Shuzo was my second brewery visit during my Kochi Prefecture tour this past month. The day before, I had visited Mutemuko Shuzo in Shimanto City. After Mutemuka Shuzo, we made our way to Kochi City (about 90 minutes away) and had a very authentic Kochi night...
On my trip to Kyushu last month, Tekkan-san of Yamatozakura was gracious enough to drive around me and my partner around to all of the shochu distilleries we could squeeze in on a Sunday, as many were closed. We were lucky enough to have the first of these be...
Shochu fans and our customers alike (the intersection is a big one) will have no difficulty recognizing the products of Miyazaki's Kuroki Honten. For us at the shop and bar, Naka Naka is an almost perfect introduction to the style - its richness and buttery body paired with...
Last month, I visited Japan for the first time in three years. I did not realize how much I missed it until I touched down. I am not one to be very emotional, but I felt overjoyed, relieved, and at peace when I was finally riding...
Me and Mr. Inaba outside of Inaba Shuzo that he runs with Toji Nobuko Inaba (his wife). After visiting Toshimaya Shuzo, the second brewery I went to during my trip to Japan was Inaba Shuzo. It is accessible by the...
In the fall of 2018, I visited Hawaiian Shochu Company (HSC) in the little town of Haleiwa on the North Shore of Oahu. This was one of the many trips I took while I was pregnant, and I checked things off the bucket list here like...
The impetus for our Brooklyn trip was this: a brewery tour and tasting at Brooklyn Kura, a featured sake maker in our ABS (American Born Sake) Sake Gumi theme in April. Both Yoko and I had visited the brewery over the last few years (it only...
Brooklyn is hot for sake. During our first visit to New York since the pandemic, Kayoko and I visited two breweries, two bottle shops specializing in Japanese drinks, and several Japanese bars and izakayas – all in Brooklyn. High on my list of places to visit this time...
Photos by Kelly Ishikawa It's been 10 years since Yoko and I went to Japan for the Open Harvest project. We spent three jam-packed weeks with our pals from Ramen Shop, Rintaro, Kronner Burger, and The Perish Trust, visiting farms, markets, wineries,...
As soon as we got our beer and wine license in 2015, we stocked our shelves with Ichinokura's Mukansa, one of the first dry sakes to hit the sake market in Japan - back in the 1970s. It remains an Umami Mart staff...
