Blog » Sake Gumi

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...

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....

Shirataki Shuzo makes sakes that embody the tanrei-karakuchi (light and dry) style of Niigata. You may recognize their Jozen line of sakes by their iconic faceted bottles. They sparkle...

Honeybee on a plum blossom in Oakland on a spring day. Photo by Yoko Some of you may know that I am a beekeeper. I’ve been keeping bees for about 10 years...

Visit the Amabuki Shuzo weekdays 9a-12pm, 1-5pm. Photos courtesy of the brewery. Both bottles this month for Sake Gumi are from Amabuki Shuzo, a brewery in...

Entrance to the brewery in Saga. Photos courtesy of Amabuki Shuzo It’s clear that whenever Amabuki comes...

Sake Gumi is our monthly sake subscription service with 200 members throughout the country. Join today! Natsuzakes (summer sakes) typically get released starting in June, and satisfy thirsty sake lovers through the hottest months in...

Sake Gumi is our monthly sake subscription service with 200 members throughout the country. Join today! These days, there has been a bit of buzz about blending for sake, with the emergence of bottles blended by legends of the wine world in Europe and Canada....

L to R: Troy Nakamatsu and Russell Wolfe of Sawtelle Sake, James Jin of Nova Brewing Co., Brandon Doughan of Brooklyn Kura Sake Gumi is our monthly sake subscription service with 250 members throughout the country. Join today! I am a...

Sake Gumi is our monthly sake subscription service with 250 members throughout the country. Join today! As a beekeeper, I think about female-led organizations often. In particular, I find inspiration in the queen bees of my hives, leading their workers into the seasons. Although she is...

Sake Gumi is our monthly sake subscription service with 250 members throughout the country. Join today! As we celebrate 10 years of Umami Mart, I want to reflect on the notion of 実家 (jikka, or hometown) and pair sakes from my own hometown, with dishes from our...

Sake Gumi is our monthly sake subscription service with 250 members throughout the country. Join today! Organic, biodynamic, slow, and natural – these are buzzwords that are often used when talking about farming or wine. But how do we talk about these methods in sake-making? I've always...

Sake Gumi is our monthly sake subscription service with 250 members throughout the country. Join today! As the bears start getting ready for hibernation, the bees hunker down in their hives to stock up on their stored honey, we start hanging up our hoshigaki and...

Sake Gumi is our monthly sake subscription service with 250 members throughout the country. Join today! This month we bring in exclusive bottles from your favorite brewers! These are sakes from breweries that are consistently best-sellers at Umami Mart since we started selling sake in...

Sake Gumi is our monthly sake subscription service with 250 members throughout the country. Join today! Who doesn’t love bubbles? For the little ones, there are bubble baths, root beer floats, and gleefully blowing and chasing bubbles in the park. For us adults, bubbles are...

Kurabito (worker) at the Akita Seishu Brewery Sake Gumi is our monthly sake subscription service with 250 members throughout the country. Join today! This month, Kayoko and I are collaborating on the theme for Sake and Shochu Gumi, highlighting shuzo (alcohol makers) who make...

Sake Gumi is our monthly sake subscription service with 250 members throughout the country. Join today! It's the summertime, and I always look forward to having grilled foods this time of year. From St. Louis BBQ to yakitori draped in tare (sweet and...