Kamisuwa drinking tour

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.

Ikioi-Masamune Sake Party

Over three years ago, on May 19 of 2009, there was a sake event named "Nagano Sake Messe in Tokyo" at Grand Prince Hotel Akasaka, where I tasted Ikioi-Masamune (勢正宗) for the first time.

At the booth of Ikioi-Masamune, Mr. Takeya Kodama, a friend of mine, was helping the brewery staff. He let me taste various types of Ikioi-Masamune including namazake (non-pasteurized sake) and hiire sake (pasteurized sake) of the year, namazake and hiire sake after one-year aging, futsushu (regular sake), and 30-year aged sake, and giving me detailed explanation of each sake. At that time, I was impressed with its rich and bold taste.

Later, Mr. Kodama started operation of his sake shop, Jizakeya Kodama, in Minami-otsuka, Toshima-ku. He has frequently been holding sake parties inside Tokyo, and he usually calls brewers from relevant breweries to attend such parties. I have been thinking of attending such a party, but the venues were usually in Otsuka, Yotsuya, or Kanda, which were a little far from my place, and I felt reluctant to attend such a party.

On August 7, he held a sake party of Ikioi-Masamune at izakaya LP2 in Kichijoji. The party was attended by Mr. Yasuhisa Seki, president of Maruse Syuzouten Brewery and Mr. Shinji Seki from the brewery. I thought it was rare that Mr. Kodama held his event in Kichijoji, and actually this was the first time for him to do so. Kichijoji is not very far from my place (50 minutes by train), so I decided to attend this party.

The attendees of the party could enjoy various types of Ikioi-Masamune while listening to interesting talks by President Seki and his son Shinji.

Friendly and likable President Seki quite kindly answered our questions about his sake making and related issues.

To make its sake, Maruse Syuzouten uses the mochigome yodan shikomi method (four-staged fermentation method using glutinous rice), which is a traditional method, and the atsugake yodan shikomi method (four-staged fermentation method using hot steamed glutinous rice), in which they add big balls of hot steamed rice to the fermenting mash. The resultant sake, which is carefully brewed through elaborate handwork, has a gentle sweet taste of glutinous rice.

According to President Seki, they add big balls of hot steamed rice to the fermenting mash at the final stage of the fermentation process of the atsugake yodan shikomi method. As a result, the temperature of the mash is raised from approximately 8 degrees centigrade to approximately 12 degrees. Then, the enzymes and yeast cells that have already almost stopped their activity are re-activated, enhancing the taste of the sake. However, relying excessively on this method is not recommended because it may generate acetic ether and the sake will often smell like an overripe melon.

President Seki seems to be sticking to sake making using glutinous rice. He said he would like to use glutinous rice also for koji rice.

By the way, I guessed that the sakekasu (sake-lees) obtained by pressing the fermenting mash of this sake contained a lot of half-melted grains of glutinous rice, and I asked President Seki whether it tastes nice. He said, "Yes, and narazuke (pickles preserved in sake-lees) using this sakekasu is especially nice."

At the party, the following sakes are served in this order.

1. Daiginjo

2. Tokubetsu Junmai Sake

3. Futsushu Shiboritate Genshu

4. Atsugake Yodan Junmai Nama Genshu

5. Atsugake Yodan Junmai Hiire Genshu

6. One-year aged Daiginjo

7. Two-year aged Daiginjo

8. One-year aged Atsugake Yodan Junmai Nama Genshu

9. Four-year aged Atsugake Yodan Junmai Hiire Genshu

All sakes had elegant sweetness (I felt like the sweetness gently permeated cells of the body) and a bold taste. Especially, Futsushu of No. 3 was very nice. It was so nice that I could hardly believe that this was regular sake.

One-year aged Atsugake Yodan Junmai Nama Genshu of No. 8 was also nice. This bottle had personally been kept for a year by Mr. Kodama in the refrigerator at his shop, and it is sold nowhere. This sake had a rich taste and bitterness, and it was so nice that the inner side of my both cheeks wanted another mouthful after I swallowed down a mouthful. It has a taste somewhat resembling a caramel sauce. A little bitter but sweet.

After drinking different types of Ikioi-Masamune, I thought that this sake tended to become nicer after an aging period of one year or so. Maybe, sake is usually gets better when it is aged for a proper period under proper conditions. I sometimes try to keep my sake in the refrigerator, but however strongly I am determined, I soon bow down to the lure of the sake and soon the bottle becomes empty. This is my problem.

By the way, the izakaya LP2, an underground restaurant, has a bright atmosphere. They say that the interior design is based on the concept of sunlight filtering down through the trees on a comfortable sunny day. On the ceiling and walls embedded are a lot of sliced cedar logs resembling bracket fungi, diffusing the smell of fresh timber. There are several counter seats and a few tables, and especially, the tables are non-linear shaped tables, providing customers with a relaxing mood so that they can feel like they are in a natural environment.

As to their foods, each menu item was made elaborately and was nice.

Today's video: My favorite kandouko sake warmer. I love warmed sake, and I use this device to prepare warmed sake.

Shoot a target and get canned food!

(Sequel to the previous post)

After drinking at Sawanoi-en until early afternoon, we moved to the BBQ facilities Rengado Akatombo.

Rengado Akatombo has a large roofed BBQ site. On this day, it was rainy and food stalls were set up under the roof. A performance stage was also placed under the roof (the stage is set up outside in usual years, but it was a rainy day). On the stage, music, funny dances, Japanese traditional performing arts, and other performances were presented.

However, not being interested in such performances very much this time, we were busy drinking and chatting.

Almost all the seats were occupied at the large roofed BBQ site. However, there was another building across the yard beside the roofed BBQ site. In this cabin-like building, there were a few tables with seats, some of which were still vacant. In this place, visitors could enjoy a shooting game. A player of this game was to mount on a machine horse back like one known as the brand name of Rodeo Boy. This machine, moving up and down, right and left, and back and forth, makes it difficult for a shooter to aim at a target. You can shoot three times for 300 yen. If you hit a target, you will be given a can of food.

By the way, I saw an acquaintance when we left Sawanoi-en, and she recommended wasabi croquette sold at Rengado Akatombo. So, I bought it and ate it.

This croquette was like a usual potato croquette but it included wasabi stems and leaves. In addition, the woman at the shop spread a lot of green wasabi paste on it before giving it to me. The croquette was spicy and tasty.




At the table, while eating the wasabi croquette and drinking Ichiban-gumi Nigori, which was a special version of Ichiban-gumi and sold only at this place, the president of the brewery appeared. Since I often go Sawanoi-en and attend various sake-drinking events held by the brewery, I have acquaintance with him. So, he kindly brought us some delicious gyozas. By the way, these gyozas were sold by a restaurant, which is usually operating near Okutama Terminal Station on JR Ome line. Once, I went to this restaurant, but all the seats were occupied at that time and I couldn't eat any. So, I was happy that I could eat these gyozas this time.

Also, women sitting in the place just beside me kindly gave us a food can, canned mackerel boiled with miso soybean paste. They said they tried a shooting game, successfully hit a target, and won this can. Thanks!





We ate this canned food after boiling it directly with a spirit lamp. Hot boiled mackerel was nice with Sawanoi sake. Maybe, I want to try this style for myself later.

Tokyo Sake Train

The Tama Monorail line, crossing JR Chuo line at right angles near Tachikawa Station, runs north to south. It is quite a short line and, actually, it takes only 36 minutes to travel from Kamikitadai, the north end station, to Tama Center, the south end. The event of "Tokyo Sake Train 2011 Autumn," which chartered a monorail train of this line, was held on October 1. The participants could enjoy the ride of this train while drinking various sakes brewed in Tokyo. I was among the participants on this day, the sake day, a perfect day for enjoying sake!

My friend and I, after going through the acceptance procedure At Kamikitadai Station, got on the train, found our specified seats, and got seated. The cars were just ordinary commuter cars having long benches on which passengers were to be seated their backs facing against the windows. However, this time, tables had been brought in each car, and arranged between the benches. Placed on the tables were bottles of Tokyo sake.

After leaving Kamikitadai Station, the train was to go to Tama Center Station, and it was to turn back and reach Tachikawa Kita Station. Then, the event was to be over. The travel time between Kamikitadai to Tama Cneter is 36 minutes and Tama Center to Tachikawa Kita is 24 minutes. So, actual time of our ride was only 50 minutes. Don't you think this time length is too short to enjoy sake to your heart's content?

Actually, this train had a long stop of 55 minutes at Tama Center. During this stop, the participants could continue drinking at their seats, visit other cars to find any good sake or people to talk with, or get out of the train to move onto the platform. On the platform, a live concert by President Ishikawa of Ishikawa Brewery, the producer of Tamajiman Sake, was being held. So, this event was more enjoyable than I expected. When the train was stopped, we could easily walk around in the cars and had no difficulty to pour sake

After dark, somewhere before Tachikawa Kita, the lights in the train were turned off, and we could enjoy the nightscape from the train running on the raised monorail track. It must be a rare opportunity to look down the nightscape from the inside of a dark train.