Sake in NYC, Bottle by Bottle
Almost everything on a sake label comes down to how much of each rice grain was polished away. Junmai has no rule about it, ginjo takes at least forty percent off, daiginjo at least half. Less grain left means cleaner and more aromatic, not better, and a rough junmai can beat a delicate daiginjo depending on what you are eating. These are the bottles we pour and the breweries behind them.
30 posts
- Aug 26, 2026Koikawa: The Yamagata Brewery That Brought Kame no O BackA new ultra-dry junmai on the list, from a 300-year-old brewery run by a former wine sommelier who led the revival of a rice everyone else had given up on.
- Aug 15, 2026Ayakiku Sanuki Olive: Sake Brewed With a Yeast Found in OlivesKagawa spent four years isolating a brewing yeast from its own olives. The sake does not taste of olives, and the reason why is the interesting part.
- Aug 10, 2026What Is a Matcha Sake Bomb? Juraku's Signature Drinking RitualA shot of matcha sake, a cold Asahi, and a chant the whole table has to learn. Half of it is the drink. The other half is what happens before you drink it.
- Jun 22, 2026Kaika Sanomaru: A Tokubetsu Junmai Cup Sake With a Mascot on the FrontA 350-year-old Tochigi brewery put its tokubetsu junmai in a cup and put the city's mascot character on it. It's better sake than the packaging suggests.
- Jun 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.
- May 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.
- May 13, 2026Dassai Blue Nigori and Nigori Sparkling: The First American Sparkling NigoriYamada Nishiki polished to 50%, coarsely strained, and refermented in the bottle like champagne, with no added sugar.
- May 11, 2026Dassai & Dassai Blue: From Japan to New York, and Why Freshness MattersThe story of Dassai's focus on Junmai Daiginjo, and why Juraku pours Dassai Blue, brewed in Hyde Park, New York, for freshness.
- May 8, 2026Mio Sparkling and Shirakabegura Tokubetsu Junmai: Two From NadaShirakabegura is Takara's brewery in Nada, Kobe. One of these is the world's best-selling sparkling sake at 5% ABV. The other is a straight-down-the-middle tokubetsu junmai.
- May 6, 2026SummerFall: A Sparkling Sake Made in the US From California RiceTakuma Inagawa's American sake uses locally grown California rice and borrows from wine fermentation. It comes in a can.
- Apr 29, 2026Sho Chiku Bai Ocean View, Skyline and Rei Nigori: Sake Brewed in BerkeleyTakara Sake USA has brewed in Berkeley since 1983, and Ocean View is made with white koji, the mold normally reserved for shochu.
- Apr 22, 2026Shirayuki: Japan's Oldest Surviving Sake Brand Name, From 1550 in ItamiKonishi began as a medicine merchant in 1550 and moved into sake around 1612. The Shirayuki name dates to about 1635.
- Apr 15, 2026Rihaku Wandering Poet: Named After a Poet Who Drank Before WritingA Shimane junmai ginjo made from Yamada Nishiki polished to 55%, named for Li Bai, the Tang dynasty poet the Japanese call Rihaku.
- Apr 8, 2026Nobunaga Junmai Ginjo Muroka Nama Genshu: Three Words That Mean Nothing Was Done to ItA Gifu sake at 17 to 18% ABV, unfiltered, unpasteurized and undiluted, made from Hida Homare rice polished to 60%.
- Apr 3, 2026One Ten Black: A Junmai Daiginjo Named After a Kabuki ActorHyakujuro from Hayashi Honten in Gifu, exported as One Ten. The label is kabuki stage makeup, the name is an actor who planted 1,200 cherry trees, and it took gold in 2014.
- Apr 1, 2026Mantensei Star-Filled Sky: A Tottori Junmai Ginjo Matured Three Years in TankFrom Japan's least populated prefecture, a brewery that makes only junmai, where the company president is also the toji.
- Mar 24, 2026Kizakura Junmai Daiginjo and Perle: Fushimi Water, and a Sake Made With Wine YeastOne is Yamada Nishiki polished to 50% and fermented cold for weeks. The other is brewed with wine yeast and named after a pearl.
- Mar 16, 2026Kaika Noodle Sake: A Cup Sake Designed Specifically for RamenDaiichi Shuzo in Sano, Tochigi, makes what it calls Japan's first sake built for eating ramen with. It is a junmai ginjo at 14%.
- Mar 13, 2026Hizo Otokoyama Tokubetsu Junmai: A Dry Fukuoka Sake, Not the Hokkaido OneA bold, rice-forward, seriously dry tokubetsu junmai from Kitaya in Fukuoka, brewed with Fukuoka-grown Hinohikari and Yumetsukushi rice.
- Mar 9, 2026Hakutsuru Superior Junmai Ginjo: Nada Since 1743, and the Water That Made ItA 60% polished junmai ginjo brewed with Miyamizu, the hard spring water that turned one Kobe district into Japan's sake capital.
- Mar 2, 2026Hyakunen Kijoshu: A Sake Being Brewed on a Hundred-Year RelayNiida Honke brews each year's kijoshu using the previous year's kijoshu in place of water. The plan runs until 2111.
- Feb 20, 2026Daishichi Minowamon: Kimoto, Super-Flat Polishing, and the Hard Way of Making SakeA Junmai Daiginjo from Daishichi in Fukushima, founded 1752, brewed entirely by the labor-intensive kimoto method, and the first sake made with their super-flat rice polishing.
- Feb 3, 2026Snow Angel Nigori: A Sake Whose Brewery Won't Say Who It IsYuki no Tenshi is a private-label nigori from a major Hyogo brewery that keeps its name off the bottle. Soft, creamy, 12.5%, and the easiest sake we pour.
- Jan 2, 2026Hakkaisan Junmai Daiginjo 45: Niigata's Clean, Dry Style in One BottleA Junmai Daiginjo polished to 45% from the brewery at the foot of Mount Hakkai, made with snowmelt water so soft it defines how the whole region's sake tastes.
- Nov 28, 2025Kikusui Shiboritate and Perfect Snow: Two Sakes That Skip a StepOne is freshly pressed, unpasteurized and undiluted. The other is Japan's best-selling nigori at 21% ABV. Both come from Kikusui in Niigata.
- Nov 21, 2025Kiuchi Kikusakari Taru Sake: Cedar-Aged Sake from the Brewery Behind HitachinoMost people know Kiuchi Brewery for Hitachino Nest beer. They had been making sake for 173 years before that, and this Akita cedar barrel-aged taru sake is the proof.
- Oct 19, 2025Hakutsuru Sayuri: A Nigori Named After a Little LilyA soft, creamy nigori from a Nada brewery founded in 1743. Sayuri means little lily, and it's the bottle we use to convert people who say they don't like sake.
- Oct 5, 2025Little Sumo: An 18% Undiluted Junmai in a CupChibi Zumo, a junmai genshu from Oka Brewery in Hyogo, bottled undiluted at 18% ABV. It looks like a novelty cup and drinks like a serious sake.
- Aug 15, 2025Sanzen Bizen Omachi: A Junmai Daiginjo Made From Sake's Oldest RiceKikuchi Shuzo brews this in Kurashiki, in the middle of Omachi country: 100% Bizen Omachi polished to 50%, and a gold medal at the US National Sake Appraisal.
- Mar 21, 2025The History and Origins of Izakayas: Japan's Beloved Drinking CultureFrom Edo-period sake shops to postwar nomikai culture, a look at where izakayas came from and how they became Japan's favorite place to drink and eat together.