Blog
Stories from behind the bar: cocktails, ramen, Japanese culture, and life on the Lower East Side.
FoodJun 15, 2026Our Edamame, Three Ways: Boring, Spicy, and Possibly the Best EverOne of our edamame is named after a bad review. One came from a Thai restaurant that closed. And one is the reason people now come here for garlic edamame.ShochuJun 12, 2026FUK: A Whisky Named After an Airport Code, From the Sesame Shochu PeopleFUK is the IATA code for Fukuoka Airport. The whisky is a three-year single grain from Beniotome, the distillery that invented sesame shochu in 1978.ShochuJun 10, 2026Takara Shochu: The Korui Shochu Behind Every Chuhai, ExplainedA continuously distilled shochu blended with barrel-aged spirit. The category dates to 1910 and the brand to 1912.BeerJun 8, 2026Agara Craft: Lychee, Mikan and Sansho Ales From WakayamaThree fruit and pepper ales from Wakayama Brewery, each built on something the prefecture actually grows. Agara means 'ours' in the local dialect.ShochuJun 5, 2026Kumejima's Kumesen: Awamori From a Small Island's Spring WaterA distillery founded in 1949 on Kume Island, named after a legendary hermit, built on spring water from the island's north and bottled stronger than most awamori.ShochuJun 3, 2026Sakura Shiranami: The Imo Shochu Satsuma Shuzo Makes With Yellow KojiFresh sweet potatoes from Minami-Satsuma, fermented with the sake mold rather than the usual black or white koji.SakeJun 1, 2026Mito No Kairakuen Premium 5-Year Umeshu: Aged, Layered, and Built for After DinnerA 5-year aged umeshu from Ibaraki tied to Kairakuen, one of Japan's Three Great Gardens, deeper and more rounded than standard umeshu.ShochuMay 29, 2026Gyokuro Excellent Green: A Shochu Distilled With Japan's Finest Green TeaKitaya in Fukuoka distils gyokuro tea leaves with local rice and yellow koji. It finishes like green tea ice cream, and it isn't sweetened.ShochuMay 27, 2026Kuro Yokaichi: Black Koji, Kyushu Sweet Potatoes, and Blending as a TechniqueTakara Shuzo's imo shochu is built with black koji and blended from several sweet potato shochus with different profiles.WhiskyMay 25, 2026Mars Iwai Sherry Cask: Pedro Ximénez-Finished Japanese WhiskyIwai Tradition finished over eleven months in Pedro Ximénez sherry casks, a limited US release of 540 bottles, and the richest whisky in the Mars Iwai range.SakeMay 20, 2026Nihon Sakari Nama Genshu: Unpasteurized, Undiluted, in a 200ml Bottle CanA Nada brewery with over 110 years behind it puts daiginjo and honjozo nama genshu into aluminum bottle cans, plus a yuzu sake.
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