In case you were wondering, we of course settled on a Japanese theme and booked a room for 75 of our closest existing and soon-to-be clients.   My most-excellent business development manager Carissa Pompei took care of the food and it was down to me to take care of the saké.  I’d read True Saké’s blog and heard that they were a pretty good shop, but in the dictionary next to over-delivering is a picture of their store.  Absolutely blown away.

I reached out to True Saké by email and let them know I was hosting an informal saké tasting  for 50-75 people and wanted their help in setting up a selection.   I made an appointment to meet the day before our event and walked there from my hotel.  San Francisco is one of my favorite cities and I really enjoyed the walk over.

The True Saké staff came up with a great selection of sakés.  We started with a Suigei “Drunken Whale”.  This is brewed in the Kochi Prefecture and is a Tokubetsu Junmai, SMV +7 so it’s definitely on the dry side.  It’s said to be brewed for the whales that reside off the pacific coast of Kochi.  The nose is a collection of rose, wood, and grape scents.  The brewery advises that this Junmai is “for the serious saké drinker” and while none of us were serious, we were all drinking saké and the first course was a big hit.  I tested the attendees to see what they could could taste and a few people came up with strawberry which is one of the elements that the guide suggested.

Course number two was a Dassal 50 “Otter Festival”, a Junmai Daiginjo from the Yamaguchi Prefecture, SMV +3.  According to the review “This uber Ginjo has a full-figured flavor that rushes chewy fruit tones to all corners of your mouth.”  A few drinkers noticed lemonade.

Just about everyone made it to the 3rd course which was a Kokuryu “Black Dragon” from the Fukui Prefecture.  Black Dragon is a Junmai Ginjo, SMV +3 with hints of roasted coffee, mint, salt water taffee, topical flowers, grapes, and honey.  A lot going on in this one and at this point in the evening it was getting pretty loud and boisterous.  The German contingent was really enjoying themselves and led the charge to the 4th course.

We ended with a really nice unfiltered saké, an Ichinokura Nama Genshu Nigori, “Ace Brewery” from the Miyagi Prefecture, SMV +/- 0.  Very fruity with apple, melon, and lemon aroma.

After two hours of great saké our guests began heading out for dinner meetings around the city.  My colleagues and I decided to stay at our suite and finish the appetizers.   Within a couple of hours I started receiving text messages and sure enough the room filled up again later that evening to polish off the rest of the saké!

More on True Saké which was founded by Beau Timken.  Beau often jokes that over 300 years ago he worked as a kurabito (saké brewery employee) in a remote village in Japan making superb saké on cold winter mornings. Instead, he was born in Canton, Ohio and didn’t taste his first premium ginjo until he was 28-years-old. That as he says is his greatest selling point, “If a guy from Ohio can open the first truly dedicated saké store outside of Japan, then anybody can learn to appreciate this wonderful libation.”

Whilst living and obtaining an M.B.A in the mid 90′s in Cape Town South Africa, Timken met a group of Japanese fishermen who were drinking their own premium saké that they had brought into the local sushi restaurant. In broken English these fisherman explained that the Benihana-style piping hot saké that Timken was used to consuming was in fact inferior saké. That day represented the official “First Day of my passion and obsession for learning all things saké.”

Beau Timken prides himself on being a self-taught sake aficionado. “I read every book and article ever written in English about saké, and then started writing the writers of these pieces,” he explained. “They soon discovered that my interest in understanding the essence of saké was almost fanatical, but I could not get enough.”

All the while Timken would visit various retail shops and markets in San Francisco’s Japan Town to buy saké that as he states, ” I knew nothing about.” “I would take chance after chance, I would buy bottle after various bottle, trying to disseminate what saké was about.” During this time Timken jokes, “I drank a lot of bad saké so that my customers don’t have to.”

During his exploratory self-taught research Timken started a saké journal that now numbers over 500 sakés listed in great detail. As he doesn’t read or speak Japanese Timken relied heavily on his own creativity to break saké down into layman terms that today when shown to saké masters amazes them in its complexity and sincere understanding.

Having learned all that he could without instruction Timken joined fellow Ohio-native and saké aficionado John Gaunter in Osaka Japan for an in depth professional saké tasting course. This trip represented Timken’s first time in Japan, and as Beau stated, “My future became abundantly more evident.”

It was during this trip to Japan deep in the warm depths of a koji room in a brewery in Kobe that Timken realized his eminent destiny, “I knew then that I wanted to open the first saké shrine/school/store outside of Japan.”

Two professional saké-tasting licenses and a master saké sommelier license later, Timken opened True Saké in San Francisco on August 7th 2003. “I chose the name True Saké because it represents the fact that most Americans have never been exposed to real or true premium saké,” Timken explained. “I then wanted to disarm saké and make a shopping experience that rewarded those who wanted to learn more about this outstanding beverage.”

Timken quickly reminds people that they receive little to no education or guidance when shopping in the vast markets in Japan Town, and he quickly points out that liquor stores or wine shops that carry limited sakés also provide little insight to the essence of saké. “I specialize in saké – all things saké – because it is unlike any beverage in the history of alcoholic beverages, and as such it deserves its own temple and place of appreciation.”

Along with True Saké, Beau Timken consults to the restaurant and bar industry and does an array of saké tasting events through the store and for private/corporate clients. True Saké hosts a monthly saké tasting and food-pairing event that focuses on the education and enjoyment of saké. Timken also is soon to publish a book on sake for Chronicle Books.

If you’re in San Francisco and looking for a nice bottle of saké, I’d strongly recommend True Saké, without question the best sake store I’ve ever been in.

True Sake

560 Hayes Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 355-9555
www.truesake.com

Recently I made plans to meet old friend Jeff Laughlin for dinner at New Ginza.  Jeff’s actually not that old, but he was moving a little more slowly than usual due to a broken arm from a heavy bag punching session.  Jeff and I knew each other from our competitive days when Jeff went to UMass Amherst and competed against my team at UMass Lowell.  Jeff’s teams were never able to prevail against the fearsome group from U Lowell and I think it pains him to this day as when I bring it up that tic comes back to his left eye which reminds me to circle to his left where he was always vulnerable, especially to a high section right counterpunch.  When he’s not beating up people or inanimate objects Jeff’s a high-tech entrepreneur having successfully built and sold multiple companies.  Jeff and I brainstormed over one of his more recent ideas over sushi and saké.  As always it was fascinating, combining areas of his experience in a way that seems unique and potentially explosive.

As in the past we kept it simple and ordered a boat of sushi and left it to the chefs to put together.  They did not disappoint.  The eel is my favorite there and it was done to perfection, just the right temperature and the sauce was sweet enough to complement the taste of the eel without overpowering it.  The portions were generous and by the end we were challenged to put the final pieces away, as good as they were.

Unlike many other sushi places in the suburbs, the saké list at New Ginza is quite good.  The menu starts with the usual Hakushika and Momokawa entry-level brands, good value, consistent and drinkable, and some others that are not so common.  We started with a Setsugetsu Bijin Ginjo.  I found this to be a very interesting Saké, very earthy and quite different from so many other sakés that go for a crisper taste.  I’ve put this on my list of Sakés to Drink with Cigars as it has the kind of boldness that could hold up to a good robusto.  Setsugetsu Bijin is actaully a Junmai Ginjo from the Oimatsu Brewery in the Oita Prefecture, 14.5% alcohol, SMV +3.  My research revealed a negative review on one prominent saké blog which I felt was unfair, perhaps this brand might not appeal to saké snobs.  Other blogs had it mis-categorized and didn’t even mention the earthy tones, can’t imagine the reviewer could have possible tried it.  Advice to readers is to give this one a chance.

We then moved on to a Mouriko Dai Ginjo.  The Mouriko is a mild, slightly dry Sake with refreshing aroma and a hint of mint flavor.  SMV of +4, alcohol 14%. The Mouriko was clean and transitioned well from sushi to the green tea ice cream served with whipped cream and a cherry.  Our server was Rita who was friendly and knew her way around the menu.  Of course one of the best things about New Ginza is the lack of sticker shock when the check comes.  I’ll certainly be back there again.

I was back in Beijing for a conference in early December staying at the Shangri-La China World Summit Wing Hotel.  At 81 floors it’s the tallest hotel in Beijing with spectacular views of the city.  From my room I could see the Olympic Stadium in the distance and right next door was the iconic China Central Television Headquarters.   In most areas the service is impeccable, in the lobby and on the 64th floor residents lounge there are staff everywhere looking to help.  The gym is near the top floor with wall to wall windows and fully decked with the latest equipment.

Given the overwhelmingly great service I had experienced since checking in, I was expecting the same from the concierge.  I had plans to meet a customer for dinner and asked the concierge for a place that was good, casual, not too expensive, with a decent sake menu.  He pointed me to Inagiku.  Perhaps something was lost in the translation?  My criteria included casual – according to CityWeekend Inagiku is a “sprawing, swanky Japanese chain”.  My other request was inexpensive, again according to CityWeekend “The food on the whole is very impressive, but be prepared to spend a lot to really enjoy a meal here.”  According to TimeOutBeijing.com “Michael Chin, the gregarious owner…. is proud of Inagiku’s decadence along with the high-grade beef, which he pushes with fierce determination. At 650RMB/100g ($100 USD), you’ll decide your own resistance level.”

Not exactly what I was looking for.  Fortunately I had purchased a data plan for China and a little searching on my new iPhone 4S pointed me to Sake Manzo, according to the Beijinger.com “Part sake bar, part restaurant, this Izakaya comes highly recommended for its surefire combination of authenticity, intimate cool, extensive menu of both food and drinks. The menu impresses and informs with chef’s recommendations, instructions on how to get the most out of selected dishes and an idiot-proof guide to ordering sake.”  BINGO.  I called my useless concierge back and had him cancel Inagiku and book a table at Sake Manzo.

One thing that surprised me about Beijing this trip was just how hard it was to get around without Chinese.  In previous visits I’d always been with hosts so this was the first time I did any travel within the city alone and since most taxi drivers don’t speak or read English it’s essential to have your destination written in Chinese characters.  The other thing that surprised me was how quick they are to turn the meter off when you arrive at your destination and if you’re not paying attention they round up a few RMB.  Or they don’t turn the meter on at all and suddenly what should have been a 15 or 20 RMB trip ($3-$4 USD) turns into a 70 RMB trip.  It’s not a lot of money but after a week of multiple taxi rides per day it adds up.  The on-line travel sites recommend no tipping in China but my taxi from the airport asked for 100 RMB when the meter said 78.

I met my customer and good guy Peter Do from the Internet domain registar Dynadot at his hotel and we shared a cab to the restaurant.  Sake Manzo is very much out of the way on a quiet side street in a mixed retail and residential area.  We

Chef's Selection at Sake Manzo

elected to sit at the sushi bar, the service was fast and our server who’s English name was to our delight “Porsche” was knowledgable and very helpful.  The sake menu is divided in sections, super premium, fragrant, dry, and fruity.  We started with a Kubota Senju Daiginjo from the super premium section.   Slightly dry, food-friendly taste, perfect to start off the meal.

We ordered the chef’s selection sushi plate and some shared plates like chicken meatballs.  We could tell from the food preparation that the owner is Japanese, sushi was fresh, meticulously prepared, and excellent.  We also ordered some Japanese tapas, the chicken meatballs were superb.

With Porsche’s guidance we moved on to a Born Ginsen for our second sake.  Very fragrant, a new one for me and it was a great complement to the meal.  Our third sake was a Kubota Manju, junmai ginjo, SMV +2.  This sake is slightly aged and has a truly elegant flavor.

We were surprised when after our plates were cleared the restaurant manager came over with a special sake for us to try.  He poured us two glasses of Born Daiginjo sake from the Katokichibee Shoten brewery in the Fukui region of Japan.  Extraordinary sake, I had chills running down my spine.

All good things must come to an end so we paid our bill, 800 RMB or $123 dollars, slightly more than one plate of beef at Inagiku.  I’m sure we made the right choice and next time I’m in Beijing I will be visiting Sake Manzo again.

It was a busy week but I did arrange to visit the Temple of Heaven during my few hours of free time. The Temple of Heaven, literally the Altar of Heaven is a complex of Taoist buildings situated in the southeastern part of central Beijing. The complex was visited by the Emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties for annual ceremonies of prayer to Heaven for good harvest. It is regarded as a Taoist temple, although Chinese Heaven worship, especially by the reigning monarch of the day, pre-dates Taoism.

The temple complex was constructed from 1406 to 1420 during the reign of the Yongle Emperor, who was also responsible for the construction of the Forbidden City in Beijing. The complex was extended and renamed Temple of Heaven during the reign of the Jiajing Emperor in the 16th century. The Jiajing Emperor also built three other prominent temples in Beijing, the Temple of Sun in the east , the Temple of Earth in the north , and the Temple of Moon in the west . The Temple of Heaven was renovated in the 18th century under the Qianlong Emperor. Due to the deterioration of state budget, this became the last large-scale renovation of the temple complex in the imperial time.

The temple grounds cover almost 3 square kilometers and contain beautiful examples of Chinese architecture and diverse parkland.  In one area you are in a pine forest, in others you’re on a vast

Peter Do, "Porsche", and Bob Mtn at Sake Manzo

terrace, or an ancient courtyard, or a raised walkway traversing the park from north to south.  And all for about $5.00 USD, if you can avoid the peddlers out front who for some reason all want to sell you large furry Russian hats.  My entrance was a little sobering as I arrived at the wrong gate and tried to take a shortcut to the correct one and cut down an alleyway.  The walkway just outside the park was lined with tiny huts where people lived, most smaller than your average Toyota minivan.  I think they were as surprised to see me as I was to see that lifestyle.  Really makes you appreciate what you have.

My only other experience this trip outside of the hotel-restaurant-conference center-airports quadfecta was Yashow for some shopping.  The last time I was in Beijing I visited there, a multi story building with hundreds of stalls selling everything from clothing to consumer electronics to exotic tea’s.  Last time the bargains were beyond belief so imagine my surprise when at my first stop to buy shirts the vendor tried to sell me a Polo Ralph Loren cotton button down shirt for 1,090 RMB.  That’s about $170USD, for a shirt I could get at $30 at Marshall’s in Boston.  Took a little doing but I negotiated a good deal but of course the owner made it seem like I was stealing food from his family.  Trick there is to make an absurdly lowball offer and when they counter, just throw up your hands and walk away.  If they chase you and give your price, you have a deal.  If not, go to another stall selling the same goods, and increase your offer a little.  Works wonders.

Another change from my last trip was the area immediately outside of Yashow, called Sanlitun Village it seems like Bourbon Street meets Freeport Maine.  Outlet mall style stores, live music, and lots of offers from people wanting to spend time with you.  The live music was a riot, I stopped in a couple of places and each one had a keyboardist playing a little but more syncing digital tracks for one of three singers standing on the stage.  Each took turns singing and when it wasn’t their turn they would surf their iPhone waiting for their time to sing.  I couldn’t understand why they wouldn’t sing backup or do some harmonies but I was impressed with their talent, they could all really sing and while I didn’t recognize the songs, they were catchy and well arranged.  The keyboardists when they did play were excellent.  Very fun.

All in all, a very enjoyable visit to Beijing, good business, interesting sights, and excellent sake.  My idea of a great trip.  Now if I could have gotten that concierge in line it would have been perfect.

Sake MANZO
Tuanjiehu 团结湖
7A Tuanjiehu Beisantiao, Chaoyang District
朝阳区团结湖北三条甲7号
010-6436-1608
www.manzo-dining.com

I was staying in the 17th arrondissement which is in the northwest corner of the city and not too far from the Arc de Triumph.  One important rule to remember about Paris is that if you can see a monument from where you are eating, the food will be orders of magnitude more expensive than a place with a less impressive view  (I still have my receipt somewhere for a $28 USD bagel and café au lait with a perfect view of Sacre Coer)  I kept checking out the neighborhood places that I would come across on my way to and from meetings, and getting increasingly depressed by the options.  None were authentically Japanese, the saké lists usually consisted of two lines “Japanese Saké Hot” and “Japanese Saké Cold”, and they were all expensive.  It wasn’t looking good.

Google wasn’t real helpful either and things were looking grim until as a last resort I checked with my hotel concierge.  Since I was a way for a while had I decided to keep expenses down and stayed at a real budget hotel so the concierge was also the bell captain, and from what I could tell, the breakfast chef.  My expectations were low but he was quite confident in his response, Le Place d’Opera was the place for Japanese food in Paris.

After work I jumped on the metro, which is awesome, the French really know how to do public transportation, and met old friend Doug at the Metro Pyramides, near the Place d’Opera.  Rue Sainte-Anne was right around the corner, and we immediately realized that we had found ground zero for Japanese food in Paris.  We cruised the street checking out window menus and I was amazed.  This was exactly what I was looking for.  Great menus, some with full page saké lists.  We selected “You”, it looked good, and was full of Asians, a good indictor of quality.  Oddly we were seated at a table for four next to a couple who looked a little surprised to have us plopped down next to them but we all laughed about it and they went on with their date and Doug and I caught up.

Doug and I knew each other from Toastmasters International.  Toastmasters is a club dedicated to the improvement of public speaking.  When I first moved to Paris in 1994 I joined a local club in the heart of the city.  French toastmasters meetings are pretty special.  Unlike US meetings which are usually at lunch hour in a conference room in a company, Parisian Toastmasters meetings are in the evening in a private room in a restaurant and the meeting involves a multi-course meal.  Wine is served (naturally) and the meetings take on an entirely different tone from any that I’d experienced in the US.  In Toastmasters you are given assignments from a manual and your speeches are evaluated by another member and a (supportive) critique is given after your speech.  It was great fun and a wonderful way to start building a base in a new city.

The sushi menu at You was excellent, very traditional Japanese and went on for pages and pages.  The wait staff was all Japanese and with a line out the door they kept things moving but it was in typical French good humor and we never felt rushed.  I chose the chef’s sushi and sashimi selection which was superb.  Service was quick and the sushi was the best I’d had in Paris, ever.

The saké menu was a full page and very reasonably priced, even considering it was in Euros.  We chose a Hinodesakari which is brewed by the Matsumoto Saké Brewing Co.  The saké was quite good, medium dry, a hint of citrus.  I’ve not had this saké in the states and it was tough to find information about it on-line but if you ever come across it I’d recommend it.  It’s brewed in Fushimi Japan which is near Kyoto and very famous for its saké breweries.  Matsumoto was established in 1791 and has been producing saké continuously for over 200 years.

All in all a delightful surprise.  If you’re ever in Paris looking for great Japanese food and an excellent saké menu, head to rue Sainte-Anne in the 1st Arrondissement, you won’t be disappointed.

Restaurant Japonais
YOU
11 rue Sainte-Anne
75001 Paris, France
+33 01 42 60 55 50

Le Samourai Restaurant, Brussels Belgium

posting to Sake World with work being exceptionally crazy so I wanted to make sure to find and write about a memorable sake experience this trip.  My hotel concierge came up with an excellent location and I think as a result he’s going to be a honorary member of the Sake World Hall of Fame when I create it (email me to pre-order your T-Shirts).

ICANN is the organization that administers the Internet and as my company’s representative I have the good fortune to travel to some interesting places and spend time with customers and other industry types.  The ICANN organization itself has to cover a lot of ground so as a result much of the work is done by people in the industry who volunteer on working groups.  These groups meet via conference weekly throughout the year, working on their respective projects.  The ICANN meetings are a culmination of these working groups where after months of preparation, decisions are made (or not) and everyone gets to burn the candle on both ends and the middle for a week.

The spring ICANN meeting was in Nairobi and unfortunately my company took the bomb threats seriously and nixed my attendance.  I was disappointed as I’ve avoided bombs so far and couldn’t really see the problem but I guess insurance rates could have been an issue.  Last fall’s meeting was in Seoul which is not exactly a sake mecca and I never really got anything worth writing about.  It was mandatory that this trip be different.

I had dinner plans with Michele Neylon and Adam Eisner, two close friends and customers who weren’t big on fish so I needed to find a place that would cater to the non-sushi crowd.  Our Most Excellent Concierge recommended Le Samourai, high-end but not absurdly priced (added benefit I now know how to spell Samurai in French).  He agreed to book a table for me when Samourai opened and I went to meet my friends at Le Grand Place in the heart of Brussels.

Le Grand Place is truly one of the most impressive town plazas I’ve ever experienced.  It measures 360 by 223 feet and is surrounded by massive gothic buildings that house their city hall, several enormous guild halls,

Le Grand Place, Brussels Belgium

and the Bread House.  The origins of Le Grand Place date back to the end of the 11th century when an open air marketplace was set up there.  The market was well situated along the Steenweg (Dutch: Causeway), an important commercial road which connected the prosperous regions of the Rhineland and the County of Flanders.  The Brussels City Hall was built on the south side of the square in stages between 1401 and 1455, and made the Grand Place the seat of municipal power. It towers 96 metres (315 ft) high, and is capped by a 3 metre (12 ft) statue of Saint Michael slaying a demon.

On August 13, 1695, a 70,000-strong French army under Marshal François de Neufville, duc de Villeroi began a bombardment of Brussels in an effort to draw the League of Augsburg’s forces away from their siege on French-held Namur in what is now southern Belgium. The French launched a massive bombardment of the mostly defenseless city centre with cannons and mortars, setting it on fire and flattening the majority of the Grand Place and the surrounding city. Only the stone shell of the town hall and a few fragments of other buildings remained standing. That the town hall survived at all is ironic, as it was the principal target of the artillery fire.  The square was rebuilt in the following four years by the city’s guilds. Their efforts were regulated by the city councillors and the Governor of Brussels, who required that their plans be submitted to the authorities for their approval. This helped to deliver a remarkably harmonious layout for the rebuilt Grand Place, despite the ostensibly clashing combination of Gothic, Baroque and Louis XIV styles.

Tucked in and around the larger buildings are pubs and restaurants that do a booming business.  We stopped at Le Roy d’Espagne for a couple of excellent Belgian beers and really interesting people watching before dinner.  Like most pubs in the area, Le Roy served several hundred beers and I tried a white beer which was absolutely superb.    I don’t think during the entire week that I was there that I drank the same beer twice and I don’t recall being disappointed with any of them.  Brussels is a town that knows it’s beer.

We eventually pulled ourselves away from Le Roy and walked a few blocks to Le Samourai.  Fortunately our our trusty concierge had come through for us and our table was ready.  We sat down and immediately I knew I was in trouble.  I don’t know any Japanese and my French vocabulary for Japanese restaurants is pretty limited.  We somehow managed to get the gist of things from our waiter and Adam and Michele ordered a couple of beef dishes.  I ordered the chefs sashimi selection.  When I lived in France I found the sushi to be very different than what I was used to in the states and I wasn’t always crazy about it.  I wasn’t sure what to expect but the sashimi was quite good and I was not disappointed.  Definitely not at the level of some of the better NY sushi places like Blue Ribbon but the value for money was right up there.

Le Samourai, Chef's Selection, Sashimi

My dinner guests hadn’t tried fine chilled sake so I was hoping to make their first experience a good one.  Michele and Adam are that rare combination of exceptionally smart and fun and to order a dog of a sake definitely would have been a let down.  I wasn’t familiar with any of the sakes on the menu so I took our waiters recommendation and ordered a bottle of Kubota Manju, and it was fantastic.  Smooth, crisp, and served at just the right temperature.  One of the nicest sakes I’ve ever experienced.  We couldn’t have picked a better one and I’ve since been told that Adam and Michele are starting sake blogs of their own!

We finished the meal with green tea ice cream and then left to meet other conference attendees at our official workgroup pub, Delirium, with over 2,500 beers on the menu.  I had a feeling that it was going to be an exhausting week.

Upon returning home I did some research on Kubota Manju.  Apparently the brewers do not designate the level of this sake but it’s technically a junmai daiginjo since the rice is milled down to 28% of it’s original size.  Significantly more pure than most daiginjos which are milled to 40 or 50%.  Kubota is produced by Asahi Shuzo in te Nigata province of Japan.  Surprisingly Asahi Shuzo is one of the largest sake breweries in the world and they use a completely unique designation for their sale.  There are a couple of excellent posts I found on-line that talk about this sake, one is TrueSake.com where the Sake Guy John Gaunter talks at length about this phenomenal brewery.

“Few sake brands in Japan can equal the combination of ruthless branding power and true quality of Kubota. Perhaps the quintessential representative of Niigata sake, their reputation is all but unparalleled in the world of sake.

The brand name Kubota was actually only created in 1985, with the original brand name being Asahiyama, and Kubota being a “yago” or nickname for the company used by locals around the time of its inception back in 1830. Their timing was good, as at that time (in the early to mid 80s), a combination of the “ginjo boom” and a nationwide frenzy over Niigata sake were both taking root. Kubota rode this, fueled no doubt with diligent marketing efforts coupled with pristine quality, so that within a scant ten years, Kubota grew to unprecedented heights of popularity that it still enjoys today.

The company (Asahi Shuzo) is the largest in Niigata, which is the third largest sake-producing region in Japan, and one of the largest kura in all of eastern Japan. They have long been innovative, and were one of

Adam Eisner (left) of Tucows and Michele Neylon of Blacknight Solutions

the first kura to commit to going from wooden tanks to ceramic lined steel tanks back in 1929, way ahead of the national curve. This doubtlessly helped create the light, dry, very refined style that is Kubota, if not Niigata sake in general.

And it is not as if their success or penchant for quality is something new, either. In 1932 and 1933, they won first place among all sake in the country in the national new sake tasting competition; then in 1938 they won both first place *and* second place in the same vaunted competition. Few kura in the country can claim a feat equaling this.

Back in October of 2004, a brutal earthquake hit Niigata, and Kubota was one of 40 breweries hit hard. Tens of thousands of full bottles awaiting shipment were lost or damaged. “I can’t imagine the total damage,” said a company rep in a newspaper article. “It’s no exaggeration to say this is our company’s biggest crisis since its foundation in 1830. We’re going to do our best to overcome this difficult situation.” But overcome it they did, even employing some clever marketing like a “muroka nama genshu” (unpasteurized, unfiltered, undiluted) sake. Such a product had never been offered by the company, and was hailed as being in honor of 20 years of Kubota. Needless to say, it sold out in a jiffy (it was good, that’s for sure), providing much-needed revenues and stability, I imagine. But it was wonderfully indicative of the great leadership that has obviously always been behind that company.

There are about six grades of Kubota, depending on the season. Rather than go by simply the grade, such as ginjo-shu or daiginjo- shu, they all have a product name that is somewhat indicative of the level – assuming that is you can speak and read the language.

The three most well distributed and representative of Kubota are Hyaku-ju, Sen-ju and Man-ju. The “-ju” in these three means “congratulatory” or “long life,” and is the same character as the su- of sushi, for what it’s worth. Hyaku means 100, Sen means 1000, and Man means 10,000. Put them together and you can see how they are fairly easy to figure out. For the record, Hyakuju is a honjozo, Senju is a Tokubetsu Honjozo, and Manju is a junmai daiginjo.

By far the most popular of these is Kubota Manju. It has come to represent fine sake for so many Japanese everywhere. If you know nothing about sake, order the Kubota Manju. You will be safe, and no one will smirk or giggle. That is what it seems so many people are doing. But in truth, you will never go wrong with this product, so that conventional thinking holds up well.

Kubota Manju is incredibly clean, crisp, and elegant. It is indeed light and refined, but not at the expense of either flavor or aroma. Not by any stretch. Distribution is tightly controlled and it is not cheap, but what it is and what it represents almost dictates it must be tried”

http://www.truesake.com/newsletters/2007-01.php

Another excellent post on Kubota Manju can be found on vinography.com:

http://www.vinography.com/archives/2009/01/kubota_manju_junmai_daiginjo_n.html

Information on Le Grand Place from Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Place

I knew we were in for a good time when we walked in the door and were greeted with a shout by the cooks and wait staff (I assume everyone gets that treatment).  We sat at the counter which I strongly recommend.  The counter surrounds the cooking area and you get to watch all the food preparation action which is fascinating.

Robataya emulates the simple beachfront restaurants in Japan where fish is cooked over an open fire using an oar as the only cooking implement.  At Robataya your meals are grilled behind the counter and then passed to you on a large oar-like paddle.  When the cook passed my first course to us I wasn’t sure what quite to do with it and after he had been holding the 8 foot paddle out for a while he started pleading with me to take it as it was apparently getting heavy.

The grilled vegetables are superb at Robataya.  We particularly liked their mushrooms.  We also tried fish, chicken and beef dishes and they were uniformly excellent.  Portions are designed small enough so you can enjoy a range of dishes but large enough to share.

The sake menu is quite good with a range of sakes from affordable to super-premium.  We started with a Housui “Old Mountain” Junmai which is produced in the Tokushima prefecture located on the offshore island of Shikoku. Tokushima has a unique culture distinct from the mainland of Japan. Over 3/4 of Tokushima is covered by forests and the prefecture is also famous for its clear seas and abundant water. Yamahi Old Mountain Sake is cold brewed. Cold brewing is a process that is done in the winter time. Snow is collected in a kettle and the kettle is added to the brew, lowering the temperature and causing the brewing process to be slower and longer. The result is a sake that is darker in color and bit aged Riesling like in flavor. It has a delightful aroma of super dry, yeast mash sourness, which becomes even more pleasant and mildly sweet after it is allowed to breathe.

We followed with a Takatenjin “Shrine of the Village” Junmai Ginjo.  This sake is made by Doi Shuzo in the Shizuoka Prefecture of Japan. it’s brewed in small batches with Yamada Nishiki rice grown in the brewer’s own fields. A clean and dry sake with a bit of richness in the recesses and a quick finish.  This was a much more subtle sake than the Housui and if I had it to do over again I probably would have switched the order.

Robataya is on an extremely cool street, across from Decibel, with lots of Japanese establishments in the area.  Decibel is a basement-level sake bar that is very popular with the purple-hair crowd but makes for great people watching and a great spot for an after-dinner sake if you’re in the area.  Stay tuned for an upcoming post about it.

Robataya
231 East 9th St. (East Village between Stuyvesant and 2nd Ave)
NY, NY 10003
212-979-9674

Housui “Old Mountain” Junmai
Alcohol: 15.3%
Seimaibuai: 55% (rice is milled to 50% of its originally size)

Takatenjin “Shrine of the Village” Junmai Ginjo
SMV:  +5
Alcohol:  16.8%
Seimaibuai:  50%
Acidity:  1.4
Rice:  Yamada Nishiki
Yeast:  Shizuoka

Roppongi Restaurant, La Jolla

It’s had to believe that it’s 2010 and that I haven’t made a post in Sake World since before Thanksgiving!  The combination of the holidays, some crazy travel, and an insane year-end at work has unfortunately kept me away from the blog, but the good news is I’ve had several great sake experiences and thus have some good material to write about.

Just before Thanksgiving I had the pleasure of visiting my clients, the good guys from TierraNet, in San Diego.  San Diego is a pain to get in and out of, non-stop flights are scarce from Boston, but once you’re there it’s a different world.  While everyone talks about the weather, to me the biggest difference is the stress level which is noticeably lower than back east.  The other big difference is the price of hotels.  I got a sweet room in the Sheraton overlooking the San Diego marina with a balcony for under $100 a night.  I pride myself in being able to find cheap rooms anywhere but this was way beyond my expectations.  And having brought a few Correnti Cigars with me, I was in heaven on my smoking balcony each night.

My first full day there I spent the morning on conference calls at my hotel, gazing longingly out the window at the beautiful harbor – I think if I lived in San Diego I’d work a lot less.  Then spent the afternoon with John Matthews and Brian Scott from TierraNet.  Brian and a few friends started TierraNet as a hosting company while in their dorm room in college and now it’s one of the 50 biggest Internet domain registrars in the world.  TierraNet has been a long-time partner with my company NameMedia and our businesses are closely integrated.  We had a very productive afternoon and then headed out for dinner.  John had the challenge of finding a Japanese place worthy of a post in SakeWorld.com and he didn’t disappoint.

We headed up to La Jolla which is a beautiful town on the coast about a half hour north of San Diego.  I’d only been through La Jolla once before and that was 20 years ago so I was quite taken aback by how pretty the town is, especially entering the holiday season with all the lights.  We entered Rappongi which is a good sized, modern restaurant with indoor and outdoor seating.  The menu includes sushi, asian tapas, entree salads, and entrees such as Mongolian grilled shrimp, Hoisin Barbecue Roast Quail stuffed with shrimp and lobster, and pan-seared local halibut.  We started with a selection of tapas which were all excellent and also had what was probably my favorite sushi of the decade, the Kobe Roll which included lobster, crab, asparagus, white truffle aioli, and yes , KOBE BEEF.  I’ve never had sushi with red meat on it and it was inspiring.

As good as the kobe beef sushi was, the saké was event better.  Brian’s choice was the Nigori Genshu saké from the Murai Family.  Nigori means “cloudy” and Nigori saké is unfiltered leaving the rice sediment in the bottle.  This gives the saké its cloudy look.  Nigori is also the sweetest of all sakés with a fruity nose and a mild flavor, making a great drink to complement spicy foods or as a dessert wine. Before serving, the bottle must be shaken properly to mix the sediments with the sake, to obtain the full range of flavor and its “signature look”. It is advised that it be served well-chilled, storing it in an ice bucket to keep it from warming up between servings. It is also recommended, as with most sakes, to consume the entire bottle once opened as it begins to oxidize, altering its flavor.  Genshu means undiluted and unlike most sakés, there is no water added at the end to reduce the alcohol content.

The Murai family has been brewing saké for almost 200 years, and have won 57 consecutive gold medals for saké brewing excellent, a Japanese record.  Their sakémaster Yoshio Koizumi has been awarded the lifetime achievement award by Japan’s leading association of industry, government,  and consumer groups and is considered one of the top five saké brewers in Japan.

I’ve never been a huge Nigori fan but after this I was converted.  The sensation I had when drinking the Murai Nigori was Pina Colada.  It had a rich creamy texture with a hint of coconut.  I felt like I could have put an umbrella in the top and drunk it with a straw on the beach up the street.  Other Nigori’s that I have had have had the sediment swirling around but were flaky and thin.  The texture of this saké is what really made it work for me.  We liked it so much, we ordered a second bottle between the three of us.

All in all a great saké experience and one I hope to return to soon.

Rappongi Restaurant and Sushi Bar
875 Prospect St.
La Jolla, CA
+1 858-551-5252

http://www.roppongiusa.com

Murai Family
Nigori Genshu  Saké
SMV:  -22
Alcohol 19.9%
Rice Milling 75%
Rice:  Mutsuhomare

Sakagura Restuarant and Sake Bar

Sakagura restaurant is the reason I love saké.  This past week while attending the Ad Tech conference in New York I had a chance to take a couple of clients there.  Sakagura is located in midtown East in Manhattan and has over 500 sakés on the menu.  I’ve been going there for over five years and I have yet to be disappointed.  The saké is always mind blowing, the food superb, and the atmosphere feels like you’re in Tokyo.

Sakagura is the kind of place that you would never get to unless you knew about it.  On 43rd St between 2nd and 3rd there are nondescript office buildings, car rental agencies, parking lots and other typical mid-town Manhattan haunts.  In a town that has character in spades, midtown east is the exception, a culture vacuum.  In front of one of these apartment buildings is a little sign “Sakagura”.  You walk past a security guard who is usually asleep and wearing a dreaded Yankees hat.  I’ve always been tempted to switch with a Red Sox hat but never have one with me….  You go down a flight of stairs to the basement and down a corridor, and you get the feeling that you’re making a mistake.  It’s kind of dark and you begin to wonder if you’re going to leave with your watch and wallet.  Then you find the door and enter the restaurant, and it’s like an oasis.  Japanese perfection throughout, not a thing out of place from the woodwork to the plants.  Reservations are essential and even with one you usually have a wait as Sakagura is one of the best known high-end Japanese restaurants in the northeast.

The sommeillier for Sakagura is Ayuchi Momose and she knows her saké.  Momo tours Japan twice a year and visits select breweries to pick the sakés that Sakagura will stock that season.  Since I’ve been coming to Sakagura for many years Momo usually does a small tasting for me and my guests and we get to choose from her latest selections.  It’s a treat that I really look forward to.  Momo was leaving for Japan the next day for her fall tour but made time to run a mini-tasting for us.

Chicken Meatballs, Yumm.

The food is consistently good at Sakagura.  Sort of Japanese tapas if there is such a thing.  We started with the seaweed salad with is a melange of four types of seaweed with a soy dressing served on a bed of lettuce.  We also had the chicken meatballs, cod with soy, and shrimp balls covered with almonds.  I’m told this is very typical Japanese pub food but I’ve never had anything like it in Tokyo.

Momo started us out with a Urakasumi Hiyaoroshi.  The Urakasumi saké brewery was established over 280 years ago.  It is based in Shiogama, near the beautiful Matushima Bay in northeastern Japan. Urakasumi’s history dates back to the feudal lords of Japan who ordered its sacred saké to be offered to the gods of Shiogama Shrine in the feudal era. Hiyaoroshi is sake that is brewed during the coldest months of the year, usually February or early March.  Brewers feel this gives them the most control over the saké brewing process. Hiyaroshi saké is not pasturized at the time of bottling, and is shipped in September.  This roughly six month storage period over the summer allows the saké to mature moderately and develop a smooth and rounded balance.  Because they’re not pasteurized at bottling, Hiyaoroshi must be stored and shipped chilled.

Our Urakasumi Hiyaoroshi was extremely good.  The SMV was around +1.6 which is normally a bit sweeter than I normally prefer but this sake pulled it off.  On the palate it had a hint of sweetness but was very rich, you could taste the rice coming out with hints of caramel.  It’s a full bodied saké with nice balance.  For pairings it would go very well with grilled oily fish or hamachi or other sushi white fish.

The second saké was a Masumi Yumedono Daiginjo.  Miyasaka Brewery was founded in 1662 by Ihei Arimasa Miyasaka, the twelfth head of the Miyasaka family, who started a brewery at city of Kamisuwa, Nagano, Japan. The next 300 years were spent perfecting the refined saké “Masumi,” which today is highly regarded for its aroma, body, and rich taste. Miyasaka is one of the few breweries to have developed its own strain of high-quality yeast.

Translated, Miyasaka Masumi Yumedono means “Mansion of Dreams”, and it was a very enjoyable saké.  We tasted peach, melon and anise and it had a tremendous amount of depth.  This was an exceptional saké and went perfectly with our last course which was grilled chicken.

All in all a fantastic meal with some extraordinary saké.

Sakagura
211 East 43rd Street
(Between 2nd & 3rd Ave)
NY NY 10017
+1-212-953-7253

Best Sushi in Canada – believe it or not….

When I scheduled a dinner meeting with friend and client Bill Sweetman in Toronto two weeks ago, I knew the restaurant would be a good one.  To call Bill a “foodie would be a complete understatement.  Bill prides himself in being up on the best restaurants in Toronto and in a city with so many to choose from, he has a fun job.

When the taxi dropped us off at the restaurant, I immediately thought that Bill’s streak was over.  Sushi Kaji is on the Queensway in Etobicoke, part of greater Toronto.  The strip mall setting is about as ugly as that style of retail gets and the surrounding eateries include a Baskin Robbins and a Burger King, not the type of place to build you confidence about the meal your going to eat, especially raw seafood.

The interior of Kaji is basic Japanese, clean and minimalist.  It’s a fairly small place holding only 30 people and reservations are strongly recommended.  We were there on a Tuesday night and within minutes of our arrival the place was packed.  The majority of the clientele was Asian which is always a good sign with sushi.

The first thing that struck me was the menu.  There are three different dinner menus and each one looked excellent.  I chose the Takumi option which included grilled chicken, grilled conch, deep fried burdock cake, sushimi, a mushroom soup, bulb cake stuffed with sea urchin, grilled black cod, sushi, and green tea ice cream for desert.  I’ve had a lot of great Japanese food but this was right up there with anything I’ve ever experienced.  Each course was prepared to perfection and the presentation was a thing of beauty.  Interestingly Kaji imports all their fish and vegetables from Japan and they must use fast transit because everything was fresh and amazing.  The coup de grace was the gold leaf on the sushi which I’ve never had before.

More impressive than the food though was the sake.  The sake list was impressive with a number that I hadn’t had before.  We started with an Otokoyama Junmai from the Hokkaido region of Japan.  The sake was server in a chilled green porcelain bamboo container with matching glasses, a nice touch and I’m definitely going to try to find a set like that for home.

There is some darn fine sake being made on the island of Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost island. Here the snows blow in from the Sea of Japan, and fall heavy and deep after a short, brilliant Autumn. Temperatures regularly drop below zero, and like many places in the extreme north, the seas often freeze solid for extended periods of time. Hokkaido also has rugged, mountainous terrain springing up inland from its coastal plains which captures and holds the snowfall, channeling it deep underground where it is naturally filtered, and from where it often emerges as natural mountain springs.

One of the most famous of these springs is the Shikomimizo spring that emerges from Mt. Taisetsu near the town of Asahikawa. And from this spring water, a sake brewery named Otokoyama (literally translated as “Man’s Mountain”) has been making sake for more than 340 years. Apparently it was the drink of choice for the Shoguns of the Tokugawa family in Japan’s Edo period. It is certainly old enough and famous enough to have been featured in several of the ancient woodblock paintings by artist Utamaro who showed a dual affinity for beautiful women and alcoholic beverages, especially sake.

Otokoyama is now one of Japan’s largest sake producers, and like many of the other larger breweries, they offer a a dizzyingly complex array of products, very few of which ever make it to the US. I believe Otokoyama exports five sakes, of which this is their finest. It is made from Yamada Nishiki rice, the favored sake rice grown in the Hyogo prefecture which for all intents and purposes is the heartland of sake production in Japan. The Hyogo town of Itami was the most famous sake town in Japan’s history and many sake making dynasties, including Otokoyama’s had their origins in Itami.

Tasting Notes:
Completely colorless in the glass this sake has a classically daiginjo floral nose with hints of jasmine tea and just the tiniest hints of fresh pink bubblegum. In the mouth it is smooth and extremely silky in texture with lovely acidity and a floral, rainwater quality that makes for an incredibly clean experience on the palate. Effortless and ethereal are two words that come to mind.

Food Pairing:
With a sake this delicate, it is easy to overwhelm it with strong flavors. I recommend it either sipped on its own, or paired with light dishes such as seaweed salad or cold tofu with ginger and soy sauce.

We then switched to a Tamanohikari Omachi Junmai Daiginjo from Kyoto Japan.  This sake is produced by the Tamanohikari Shuzo brewery in Kyoto Japan.  It uses the Bizen Omachi rice which is an ancient and uncommon strain and gives it a unique and delicate flavor.  Bill and I were both floored by this sake.  The sake meter value is +3.5 and it tasted dry but not overly so.  A very pleasant experience.  I actually couldn’t find a lot about this brewery on-line other than translated, it means “Brilliant Jade”.  This sake is going on my favorites list though

Sushi Kaji Restaurant

http://www.sushikaji.com
860 The Queensway
Etobicoke, Ontario M8Z 1N7
TEL:416-252-2166

Sake review on Otokoyama by Vinography.com, http://www.vinography.com/archives/2006/08/otokoyama_daiginjo_sake_hokkai.html

Hakutaka, “White Falcon,” Brewery founded in 1862

Fall in New England is my favorite time of year.  The temperature is perfect for outdoor activities like hiking and mountain biking, soccer season starts and I can watch my kids remember how to kick the ball again after a crazed summer of trips and vacation, but most of all I love fall because it’s the beginning of the sake brewing season.

Seasonal events involving alcohol are a cause for celebration around the world.  I’ve experienced this in Munich with Octoberfest, joining tens of thousands of Germans in huge tents drinking enormous steins of beer (worst hangover of my life the next day).  In the Burgundy region of France I spent an amazing weekend drinking some of the best wine I’ve ever had while the area came alive with the excitement of the harvesting of the grapes (second-worst hangover of my life).  Unlike Bordeaux where the vineyards are huge, in Burgundy grapevines are crammed into every nook and cranny and you’ll see backyards with grapevines set up to exploit every square foot of available space.  The harvest there takes on a special feeling as the activity is occurring literally in and around the houses as well as the vineyards.  My friend Rick of Swedish descent regails us all with tales of Glug, some kind of concoction from the northern climes that is extremely popular in Scandinavian homes during Christmas.

In Japan the saké brewing season begins in October.  While a few of the larger breweries produce sake all year, most shut down for the spring and summer and the fall is a time to begin the process again.  Saké is best produced in cooler temperatures and since most brewers don’t have the equipment to manage this in the hotter summer months, they make their saké from October to April.

This is a tradition that has been going on for hundreds of years.  In feudal Japan the shogun issued an edict that saké could only be brewed after the autumn equinox.  Since rice was used as a form of currency, after the harvest farmers would pay their taxes to the shogun in rice.  Rice farmers would then take what was left over and use their non-farming down-time months to brew saké.  In the spring they would go back to farming and the breweries would shut down until the following October when the cycle would begin again.  This same dynamic exists today where most of the workers involved in the saké brewing process are farmers who need work during the off-season.

Saké breweries today are going through an interesting change as a newer generation has entered the workforce and is learning the art.  These new workers are mostly locals who, unlike the migrant farmers, can go home after work and sleep in their own beds.  Saké brewing is hard work and the old guard believes in paying your dues and they make it hard on the newer workers.  Additionally more and more women are entering the field which has increased the pressure by the older more established brewers.  There are many cases of newer workers quitting in frustration over the working conditions but the ownership of these breweries is also turning over to the next generation of 30-something western-educated managers who understand the need for a change.

The kickoff of the season begins with cleanup of the facilities and complete sanitization of the equipment.  If you’ve ever been to Japan you can only imagine how maniacal this process must be.  Then the rice is polished, and finally the first batches of saké are produced.  Brewers generally start with the lower grade sakés and switch to gradually higher grades as the temperature drops.  By January or February the producers are brewing their ultra-premium Junmai sakés.

The native religion of Japan is Shinto and you can see the extent by which saké is ingrained in the national psyche when each October a Shinto priest is invited to the shrine that exists at each saké brewery.  The entire company gathers for a ceremony to pray for the upcoming saké season.

I chose to celebrate the opening of saké season with a delightful, full-bodied Junmai Ginjo.   Ichishima Junmai Ginjo is a dry saké (SMV +4) that like their Genshu opens a bit on the rough side but smooths out quickly and opens up with complex floral notes and gives way to a creamy, light body.  I could see this going with Asian cuisine such as sushi or pad thai, or even turkey or a cheese course.  Naturally it was a Friday night so my pairing was pizza and I must say it was an excellent combination.  The saké improved as it opened and when I finished the evening with a cigar all was good with the world.

Ichishima Junmai Ginjo
Brewery:  Ichishima Shuzo
Region:  Nigaa, Japan
Rice:  Gohyakumangoku
Rice Milling Rate:  50%
SMV:  +4
Alcohol:  15%
$34.99 at Fresh Pond Liquors, Cambridge Massachusetts