Sake and Shochu Gumi

Yakitori Party Tips + Tricks

Grilling season is here! And in our 15 years of blogging on Umami Mart dot com (formerly umamimart.blogspot.com), we have never had a how-to for making yakitori at home. That's hard to believe considering how easy it actually is. But it is a lot of prep, so...

Shochu'sday

Yamatozakura Sweet Potato Shochu

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...

Sake Gumi News

Yakitori + Sake (August 2021)

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...

Shochu'sday

Selephant Kokuto Shochu

Happy Shochu'sday!We've recently received a shipment of Selephant Kokuto Shochu, imported by our friends Stephen and Christopher of @honkaku.spirits and @japandistilled . This is truly a special kokuto shochu which we can't get enough of here. It is such a rad expression...

Shochu'sday

Zuisen Hakuryu Awamori

Happy Shochu'sday!I've saved the best for last for the finale of this awamori marathon we have been running this past month, to highlight our Awamori Bazaar event tonight with Nick Korn. Zuisen Hakuryu Awamori (featured in March 2020 for Shochu Gumi) is...

Shochu'sday

Sakura Yamakawa Awamori

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...

Shochu'sday

Hanashimauta Awamori

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...

Shochu'sday

Taragawa Awamori

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...

Shochu'sday

Shiroyutaka Hozan Sweet Potato Shochu

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....

Japanese Gin Cocktail Recipes by Chris Lane

Gins from Japan are all the rage at the moment, within the country and abroad. We've lined up a stellar collection of some special gins and are so excited to announce our second Zoom cocktail event, Summer of Japanese Gin, with our great friend Chris Lane,...

Shochu'sday

Amami Kokuto Shochu

Happy Shochu'sday!The other day a customer asked me, "Where's the first place you're gonna go on a plane?" I hesitated for a second because I'm not ready to deal with the airport quite yet – I used to travel a lot to quell my wanderlust,...

Shochu'sday

Capitan Barley Shochu

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....

Sake Gumi News

Sakqueso (June 2021)

Join us June 24, 2021 at 5:30pm on Zoom! Pairing Sake + Cheese with Kevin Corcoran CCP Sake Gumi is our monthly sake subscription service with 250 members throughout the country. Join today! This is our sixth annual Sakqueso! I look forward to this theme...

Join Our Team as a Shop Keeper

Umami Mart seeks a friendly, smart, and take-charge Shop Keeper. We are a small retail shop specializing in Japanese sake + spirits, barware, glassware, and homewares. This position will be at our shop located in Oakland, California and will be for 20 hours per...

Shochu Gumi News

Shochu Gumi n.007: Awamori Bazaar

Welcome to our first Awamori Bazaar! This summer, the awamori will flow through Umami Mart with special events, recipes, and spotlights on our favorite bottles of Okinawa’s beloved beverage. I’m excited to feature two distinctive bottles for this month’s selections that demonstrate the range,...

Shochu'sday

Yamasemi Rice Shochu

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...

Shochu'sday

St. George California Rice Shochu

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...

Shochu'sday

Kintaro Barley Shochu

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....