As a journey blogger, just a few of the ceaselessly requested questions I obtain is, “What’s your favourite journey spot?” And for a very very very long time, I had hassle deciding on my extreme three areas. After my two-week journey to Japan in 2019, answering that query acquired an entire lot simpler. Japan is a novel mixture of completely overseas and wholly welcoming. Fabulously futuristic and totally normal. I cherished the contradictions and thrived on discovering the distinctive desserts in Toyko, making character bento packing containers, and discovering off-the-beaten-path areas most vacationers miss, like Ibaraki and Gunma.
I fell in love with meals I’d by no means even heard of, like okonomiyaki, wagashi, and burnt ramen. And naturally, I wished to strive Japan’s nationwide drink–sake.
It may very well be troublesome to look out distinctive, native sights (that aren’t overrun by vacationers), since most web sites and promotional gives are solely in Japanese. Until you’ve acquired a Japanese good good pal, there’s a wonderful likelihood you’ll miss out on some true native gems.
Take into consideration Sake Voyage as your Japanese BFF. This model new website online highlights 4 distinctive sake breweries and two very express sake pairing dinners only a few hours north of Tokyo– a brilliant weekend getaway! Plus, they’ve chosen breweries that present excursions and gives in English, so that you just simply gained’t miss a component!
Uncover: This put up is sponsored by Sake Voyage and can embody affiliate hyperlinks. All images belong to Sake Voyage and are used with permission. As frequently, all opinions are my very private and I’ll by no means advocate one factor to you that’s not superior!
The 4 sake breweries of Sake Voyage
Tonoike Sake Brewery
Situated in Mashiko, a metropolis acknowledged for its pottery, Tonoike Sake Brewery is crafting a selected sort of legacy. Though the brewery was opened in 1937, founder Itsugoro Tonoike’s household has been brewing sake since 1829!
Tonoike Sake Brewery
With just about 200 years of brewing sake, the Tonoike household created a sake that’s earned them a fourth-place spot contained in the World Sake Brewery Rankings. Go to their brewery, the place chances are high you will go to a small museum and be taught concerning the brewery’s historic earlier whereas dealing with basic sake gadgets!
Tonoike Brewery
Watanabesahei Sake Brewery
You’ll uncover the nation Watanabesahei Sake Brewery nestled on the foot of the Nikko mountains. Primarily based in 1842, the brewery is run by the seventh-generation of the household. It’s not merely their age or location that fashions this brewery aside– for the sooner 50 years, the Watanabesahei Sake Brewery has centered on making Junmai-shupure rice sake with no distilled alcohol. Are you able to vogue the umami fashion of the native rice used to make this sake?
Watanabesahei Sake Brewery
Katayama Sake Brewery
Making sake is a labor of affection and family-owned Katayama Sake Brewery places their hearts (and their muscle mass!) into each drop. Most breweries use automated instruments to press the rice, nonetheless Katayama Sake Brewery does all of it by hand. It’s not a fast course of– in reality, the tactic takes place over the span of three days! Primarily based in 1879, the seventh-generation proprietor brews the sake himself each winter.
Katayama Sake Brewery
For many who need to really admire the unadulterated simplicity of sake, their Genshu (unfiltered, unpasteurized, and undiluted sake) is a must-try.
Love New Zealand? The brewery is the official producer of the All Blacks official sake!
Shimazaki Sake Brewery
Though its official title is Shimazaki Sake Breweryyou’ll seemingly hear this brewery typically generally known as The Cave Brewery. Their IWC Trophy award-winning sake, Uroko, is aged in a cave that was dug by hand all by means of WWII to supply fight autos.
Shimazaki Sake Brewery
The brewery, based in 1849, makes use of groundwater from the Nakagawa River, which flows from Mount Nasu, to supply candy sake that ages appropriately.
Take a tour of the cave and check out their Azumai Rikishi, which suggests “Sumo of the East.” Named by the second experience brewer, the title and motto caught: “Azuma Rikishi, a well-known sake that’s unbeaten in a wrestle.” After your tour, you should positively take a look at the store, the place you’ll uncover brewery-exclusive sakes.
Two sake pairing dinners
Inside the event you’re a foodie like me, pairing a wide range of sakes with distinctive consuming experiences is one issue for the bucket itemizing! Sake Voyage has enlisted two world-renowned cooks to create multi-course pairing dinners that options sakes from the 4 breweries above!
Otowa Restaurant
The Knightly Order of Agricultural Profit-awarded chef Kazunori Otowa combines haute French delicacies with updated, farmed, and foraged native elements to create an sudden 7-course fine-dining expertise at Otowa Restaurant. The Relais & Châteaux restaurant rigorously selects handcrafted native sakes to pair with abalone pie, foie gras terrine, and Waygu beef. Afterward, end with one issue candy! Dessert pairs candy native strawberries and sake ice cream!
Otowa Restaurant
Ryo-kan
Ryo-kan created a particular Japanese Kaiseki, a typical multi-course meal, only for Sake Voyage. Handcrafted sakes are chosen to enrich updated native greens and fish from the Gotō Islands or Waygu beef from Tochigi. Inside the event you’re looking for normal flavors in a updated setting, info their 9-course tasting menu!
Ryo-kan
Being caught inside this yr has given me quite a few time to ponder my subsequent journey journey spot. Will I am going someplace new and distinctive? Or revisit an earlier favourite? After discovering out about the complete sake experiences I missed, Japan is close to the perfect of my post-COVID journey bucket itemizing!
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