Ian here, and Happy Shochu'sday! 久しぶりですね。 Thanks everyone who's been coming to keep us company at our bar! It's been awesome seeing familiar faces and some new regulars coming in to learn about and enjoy shochu. This post has been a long time coming, as I finally...
Happy Shochu’sday and International Shochu Day!Greetings from Yosemite Valley, where it snowed for the first time this season, which means cozying up to the huge fireplace with a book and some imo shochu. Today I drink Yamaneko by @kurokihonten_osuzuyama , a shochu I’m proud...
Happy Shochu'sday!To get amped for our event tomorrow night with Akita Seishu Brewery, I want to highlight the little known category of kasutori shochu for this segment of Shochu'sday. I featured kasutori shochu for our latest Shochu Gumi selections – one bottle is by Akita...
Happy Shochu'sday! Before the pandemic began, our bar in the back of the shop was a groovy little spot where you could relax and enjoy a variety of sake and the best shochu we have to offer stateside. While our shochu catalog has grown since then to an array of...
Happy Shochu'sday!I'm still riding our birthday wave over here, and with our Anniversary Sale having just ended, I really need a drink!Today I highlight the very special Sennen No Nemuri, barrel aged in oak for several years. I enjoyed this genshu (tank strength)...
To celebrate our 9th anniversary, I wanted to kanpai with y'all with a special bottle. Washi, our dear friend and co-owner of @sobaichi_oakland , recently visited Japan and brought us back a bottle of the very lush and delightful @yamatozakura sweet potato shochu.Yamatozakura is...
Happy Shochu'sday! We made it. As we are featuring groovy, rich, and exciting awamoris all month, it was my pleasure to get to sit down with Sakura Yamakawa, an exquisite and very limited offering from Yamakawa Shuzo in Okinawa. This delicacy of an awamori is a...
Happy Shochu'sday!We're featuring awamori here all month to get us ready for the Awamori Bazaar event with our friend Nick Korn on July 21st. It’s going to be super educational and fun, we hope you can all make it!This week I had a cup of...
Happy Shochu'sday!To get us all in the mood for our upcoming Awamori Bazaar event with our friend Nick Korn on July 21, we are featuring Taragawa Awamori this week. Clocking in at 44% ABV, Taragawa is a robust awamori with notes...
Hello friends! It's been another long week, thus Shochu'sday is upon us. How the time does fly. This week's shochu, Shiroyutaka Hozan, comes to us from Kagoshima's Nishi Shuzo, a distillery well-known to our customers with offerings like Tomino Hozan and Tenshi no Yuwaku....
All hail the captain! This is an mind-blowing bottle that we are just starting to explore after having it on our shelves since the holidays. Aged for 10 years in oak barrels, this genshu (cask strength), 100% barley shochu is limited to only 20,000 bottles a year....
A heartfelt Shochu'sday greeting to you and yours. Ian here! I'm a Certified Shochu Advisor with Sake School of America, and Kayoko's resident shochu nephew here at Umami Mart. I assist Kayoko in keeping our shochu selections current and snazzy and spend a lot of time looking at shochus on...
In honor of the awesome event we are hosting this Thursday with @stgeorgespirits , I want to focus on their California Shochu. It's a kasutori shochu made in Alameda, CA! This means that they distill sake kasu (lees) for the shochu – here, they...
This is one of my favorites on our shelves – Kintaro Barley Shochu is made with roasted barley so it's super nutty and chocolatey. I get a strong kurogoma (black sesame) note. Nishiyoshida is a beloved distillery in Fukuoka, that has been around since 1893....
Happy Shochu'sday!This is a very special shochu by Kagoshima's Komaki Jozo that just hit our shelves. Beni Ikko Sweet Potato Shochu uses 100% imo! This means they inoculated the koji onto the imo, not rice, as they usually do for imo shochus. This creates...
Happy Shochu’sday!Today let’s talk kokuto. Made with black cane sugar, this shochu must be made on the Amami Islands for it to be considered kokuto shochu.We just got this bottle in: Taiko No Kuro Usagi Kokuto Shochu. Made by Yayoi Jozo on Amami Island,...
Happy Shochu'sday! Today I've brought out my Yuki Otoko Rice Shochu.You may have seen this cute snow yeti on a sake bottle label before – it's one of our favorite sakes in the shop! Niigata's Aoki Shuzo, maker of Yuki Otoko sake, collaborated with Nishi...
Happy Shochu'sday! Kayoko here, Co-Founder and Shochu Director of Umami Mart. Every Tuesday, I'll be posting something here about shochu. It may be about a shochu I'm into at the moment, or a distillery I want to highlight, or a new shochu we've just brought to our...
