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Kudoki Jozu: A Brewery That Makes Sake Good Enough to Win Over Both Dry and Sweet Sake Drinkers The movie Crazy, Stupid, Love has two main characters. One is Ryan Gosling, and the other is Steve Carell. Steve Carell’s character is served divorce papers by his wife—the woman who was both his first love and […]

Kubota has far more varieties than you might expect. If I had to pick the two sake brands that represent luxury among the sake most widely known in Korea, DASSAI 23 and Kubota Manju would immediately come to mind. I’ve already covered DASSAI before, so today I’d like to talk about Kubota. Kubota is produced

Abe (あべ): One of the Very Few Sake Brands You Can Read with Only Hiragana Knowledge. Most sake labels are written in kanji, and many use uncommon characters or unusual pronunciations. As a result, even native Japanese speakers sometimes struggle to read them. But the sake I want to introduce today is different. Even someone

The world is too small to hold this sake. Dassai. The sake that got me hooked on nihonshu — the first one I ever drank properly — and yet I’m only introducing it now, far too late.  The world is too small to hold this sake.  The one that has even pushed into fermenting in

Who can be against Cup Sake – they’re strongest. (菊水) Soju — Korea’s representative drink. It’s the most popular alcohol that virtually every Korean has tried at least once. If a Korean says “I only drink Chamisul,” nobody around them finds it strange. But there’s a magic phrase that makes someone sound like an alcoholic:

Jikon: The Sake Inspired by Juyondai That Became Mie Prefecture’s Finest History Kiyasho Shuzo (木屋正酒造), established in 1818 in Nabari City, Mie Prefecture. Before “Jikon” was born, the brewery had been producing a sake called “Takasago (高砂).” For approximately 200 years, it was a brewery that traded only within the prefecture — largely unknown to

The Most Traditional, Yet the Most Trendy Sake — The Aramasa(新政) History Aramasa Shuzo, founded in 1852 along the coastal area of Akita City, Akita Prefecture. Today, the brewery is led by Yusuke Sato, the eighth-generation kuramoto to carry on the family tradition. A yeast discovered inside a brewery approximately 100 years ago was adopted

Big Poppa of Rare sake, Juyondai(十四代) History The brewery behind Juyondai, Takagi Shuzo, was founded in Yamagata Prefecture in 1615. Juyondai was created in 1994 by Akitsuna Takagi, who inherited the brewery as its 15th-generation master — more than 300 years after its founding. Although he was the 15th generation, the sake was named after