October 1 2011: Celebrate National Sake Day

Celebrate Sake day: try a Nigori or less filtered sake

In honor of National Sake Day, a reminder to try a new kind of sake. Above is Tozai Snow Maiden, which I tasted at the LA's Nisei Week sake tasting, a lively event. (I won a bag of premium Moatsuri rice!) Snow Maiden is sold in slender pink bottles, and is quite vibrant and not too sweet --unusual for a nigori.

Also check it out: a new kura in the U.S.. Today, the Texas Sake Company opened in Austin, Texas. (Thanks to HomeBrewSake.com for the tip).  While Texas might seem an unusual location, it is a great rice growing state and the rice used is organic and Texas grown.  Looks like they are releasing a nigori (Rising Star) and Whooping Crane, their Tokubetsu junmai sake. Would love to hear how they taste.  Good luck Texas Sake Company, Kampai!

And here's a link to my post on the Top 5 thing to know about sake for National Sake Day for LA Weekly's Squid Ink.

Two cool weekend sake tastings: Nisei Week sake tasting and Learn about Wine

"Lolitas" at L.A.'s 2011 Nisei week parade

Little Tokyo came alive with the sound of pounding Taiko drums during the 71st Annual Nisei week parade on August 21st.  Streets were lined with happy parade fans including costumed parade watchers who celebrated Japanese pop culture in their own colorful way.  Capping the festivities will be a sake tasting on Saturday August 20 at the Kyoto Grand Hotel. Sponsored by the Social Sake  Club, more than 50 kinds of Japanese sake will be poured.

Japanese fan dancers

Parade fans with dinos

 

 

Some of the sake available at Toranoko in Little Tokyo

For a sure to be well informed and guided sake tasting seminar, Sunday August 21, Learn about Wine presents a delightful afternoon at Toranoko.  The restaurant's in-house sake expert Kurtis Wells will lead the presentation and introduce the eight sakes from a nama (draft) genshu to daiginjo.

Sake Tastings: Drink:Eat:Play's Sake social at Gonpachi 9/26

$30 for unlimited samplings of 75 sakes--that's Drink:Eat:Play's program for Saturday night at Gonpachi. A little overkill perhaps--but certainly the way to learn what sake to try later. I'm a fan of Gonpachi--the restaurant was built at great expense, with many of the building materials imported from Japan as were the craftsmen who built it. A lovely chisen kaiyu shiki (loosely translated "water scrolling")--a Japanese garden complete with koi pond and maple trees--is at the entrance. There are many other authentic details from the Japanese cedar beams to the Shoji screens to the dramatic sumiyaki bar. House made soba noodles and the extensive sake list--including a house sake--are worth a look. Go soon as the restaurant is reportedly on the market.

Sake Tastings: Whole Foods' showcases Japanese sake

Because Whole Foods Beverly Hills does not have a liquor license, the popular store schedules their wine tastings down the street on the pleasant patio of the Crescent Hotel. This week the store sponsored a sunset hour sake tasting. Five sakes were poured and Melissa of the Japanese food and beverage distributor Mutual Trading Co., led a lively session on the basics of sake. I was most impressed with the Kikusui organic junmai ginjo (18.99 @ Whole Foods; Locali on Franklin Ave. also has it). Kikusui means chrysanthemum mist, which doesn't tell you much about its flavor, but is certainly poetic. From Niigata, known as the rice capital of Japan, I found it very light with a slight aroma of bananas. Melissa suggested drinking it early in a meal as it pairs well with appetizers. USDA certified, it is the first organic sake available for import (although many sakes do not have preservatives, this sake is made from pesticide free rice). The Shirakabegura (white wall) Tokubetsu junami can be drunk hot or cold and is well-balanced and can pair with heavier dishes. This sake comes from Takara, which also has a brewery in Berkeley. Our final sake was a nigori or coarsely filtered SCB creme de sake domestically brewed from Takara. Definitely on the sweet side, my fellow tasters thought it should be a desert sake and its ricey-ness conjured up a funny "rice-a-roni" comment. Hey, it was sake number five--people get a bit giddy.

There's a grand sake tasting after the Sushi Masters professional sushi competition this Sunday in Little Tokyo at the Aratani/Japan America Theatre. Sponsors include the California Rice Commission. California short grain rice is main ingredient in all U.S.-brewed sake!

Los Angeles sake tastings @ Itacho and Silver Lake Wine

A good weekend for sake tastings in L.A. On Saturday (9/12), there's an afternoon tasting at Itacho on Beverly Blvd. I haven't been to the restaurant lately (it's under new management and now serves sushi) but the Itacho of old was my favorite restaurant when it was on Highland Ave. and Santa Monica Blvd. in a very grungy mini-mall. I first tasted "Golden Dream" cold sake there with gold flakes in a box (masu). Now the Beverly Blvd. restaurant has six hot sakes and 13 cold sakes by the glass on its menu. Saturday's tasting will feature 35 different sakes from several distributors and is designed as an introduction to sake. Appetizers will also be passed.

Order tickets through Goldstar.com (I'm a member and previously attended a Learn About Wine sake tasting through the site); I first heard about the tasting from Drink:Eat: Play Los Angeles--that group is organizing a 70-sake tasting September 26 at Gonpachi.

Sunday is a five sake tasting paired with dishes from catering company Heirloom LA at Silver Lake Wine. Two are from Kasumi Tsuru, one is an extra dry Kimoto, the other a namazake, which is unpasteurized draft sake--super fresh, usually very light and drinkable and must always be kept cold. From Niigata, there will be a Ichishima Honojozo (70% or less of the rice grain remains). Ichishima Brewery has been around since the 1700s so expect a very well balanced sake.