October 6,
the sake breweries of Maihime, Reijin, Honkin, Yokobue, and Masumi held a sake
drinking event called "Kamisuwa Kaido Aki no Nomiaruki" (autumn
sake-drinking walk along the Kamisuwa Kaido street). These five breweries are
located along Route 20, close to JR Kamisuwa Station.
Incidentally,
we were a six-people party and the five except me were women, with a high lady
rate of 83%. I don't have so many male acquaintances who love sake, and I think
I drink sake with women more often with men. As to my recent association, I
feel women drink sake more than men.
Well, I get
back to the original topic. Each of us first paid 2000 yen for a tag ticket and
a kikichoko, Hanging the ticket from the neck, we walked along the
street to visit the breweries. At each brewery, we could drink prepared sake as
much as we want using the given kikichoko. There were some food stands
from which we could buy some snacks to pair with sake.
We started walking
from the brewery closest to Kamisuwa Station, in the order of Maihime, Reijin,
and Honkin. Then, we skipped Yokobue (since the brewery was on the opposite
side of the street to the first three breweries) and went to Masumi. On the
return path toward the station, we visited the last brewery of Yokobue.
The
Miyama-nishiki version of Maihime Junmai Ginjo Suiro Namazazke (舞姫純米吟醸翠露生酒) had
a very mild taste, and I liked it. My companions liked the Bizen-omachi version
of this sake, but I feel my preference is leaning toward Miyama-nishiki.
At the Reijin
brewery's shop, they were selling special sake, Matsutake-zake (sake with mushrooms
loved by the Japanese in it) although this was not prepared for drinking in
this event. The bottle of this sake contains some Matsutake mushroom. I dropped
in this shop on my way home next day, and purchased a bottle of the sake. I
want to drink this sake warmed, while grilling the sake-steeped mushroom on
burning charcoal and eating it. The pairing of this sake and grilled mushroom
would be fine.
