Umami Mart Gift Guide
Japanify

Sake Kasu Tonjiru

This post is in conjunction with the Sake Gumi December 2021 theme Winter Food Traditions. Sake Gumi is Umami Mart's monthly club celebrating Japan's brewed beverage! Join today to try all three recipes with our club offerings. Although we can not visit Japan again this...

Sake Gumi News

Winter Food Traditions (December 2021)

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...

Event Recap

Iwai 45 Cocktail Party

What better way to kick off the holidays than an intimate cocktail party at our bar? We were jazzed to partner with our favorite bar man Chris Lane, currently the Spirits Specialist for Skurnik Wines West, to bring on a night of cocktails made with Iwai...

Shochu'sday

Cool Mint Green Sweet Potato Shochu

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...

Japanify

How to Hoshigaki

Every year, when I see the hachiya persimmons fruiting on neighbors trees I think to myself, "I should learn how to make hoshigaki." But as soon as I think this, Kayoko and I are already in the throes of the holiday season: building gift sets, receiving a ton of...

Shochu'sday

Yamaneko Sweet Potato Shochu

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...

Sake Gumi News

Sparkling Sake

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...

Shochu'sday

Zenshin Kasutori Shochu

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...

Event Recap

Umami Mart Junmai Sake Launch!

It's been several years now, since we first met Mayuko Kita of Kita Shuzo in Shiga, Japan. I first saw her at a sake show in San Francisco, it must have been in 2016, at the Toto Washlet showroom of all places. From there, we met her...

Shochu'sday

Crio "Frozen Moon" Sweet Potato Shochu

Happy Shochu'sday!There's nothing like a janky meal lazily slapped together that calls for an upscale drink, am I right?! A fancy cocktail or a fine wine can effortlessly turn a drab Monday into a jazzy Friday night. Case in point on a recent evening where...

Shochu'sday

Akazaru Sweet Potato Shochu

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...

Shochu'sday

Rihei Ginger Shochu

  Happy Shochu'sday!We had incredible shochu times last week with @honkakuspirits founder and Japanese drinks expert @christopherpellegrini in the house for our first in-person bar event since the start of the pandemic! Not to mention our first spirits tasting at our bar!!!! Thank...

Shochu Gumi News

Shochu Gumi n.008: Kasutori Shochu

It was only a matter of time for Yoko and me to collaborate on a Shochu/Sake Gumi mash-up theme. For September, we are excited to present shuzo (alcohol makers) that make shochu and sake. So you’ll see bottles by Kitaya and Akita Seishu Brewery in both Sake and Shochu Gumi...

Shochu'sday

Colorful Sweet Potato Shochu

Safe! We made it to another Shochu'sday. It's my privilege this week to talk about Colorful, a new imo shochu to hit the shelves at Umami Mart, and one I've been really taking my time in getting to know. This is a blended shochu comprising of...