I love hiyaoroshi season!

🍶🇯🇵🌸日本酒を買う海外バイヤーのニーズや悩みごと、リアルな愚痴などがあればぜひ教えてください！リアルに！どんな些細なことでも！

Hi All! I’m currently in Japan and will be travelling to Tokyo (currently in Shinjuku, will be ending trip near Shibuya), Kyoto, Osaka, and Hiroshima. I’m looking to purchase a bottle of sake as a gift for my family, and was wondering what kind I should look to purchase if I’m looking for a sake that should be served chilled/room temp and has a taste profile that is not on the sweet side. Any help will be appreciated!

1.普段はビールやワインを飲む人が多いと推測するが、日本酒はどういう時に飲む？
・普段から飲んでるよ
・日本食を食べるときに買う
・リラックスしたいときに日本酒単体で飲む
・軽くおつまみを作ってペアリングを楽しむ
・その他

2.同じ価格の日本酒を飲み比べて味にあまり差が無い場合、次のうち何を基準に選ぶ？
・香り
・産地
・希少性
・ストーリー
・その他

3.どんな味わいの日本酒が好き？
・甘い
・辛い
・クリア
・軽い
・古酒
・フルーティ
・その他

みなさんのディベートを見てみたいです！
国籍とご意見をセットでコメントしていただけると嬉しいです！
お待ちしてます❣️

I thought I'd post this here in case anyone is traveling in Nagano this next weekend. We're doing a special kanzake event at an old liquor shop converted to a cafe/bar in the quaint castle town of Komoro. It's on Halloween and there'll be 6 selections of local sake warmed in various ways with otsumami prepared by the bar. We'll also be serving some of the sake in unique ways, including the use of a traditional flavoring ingredient -- you'll have to come to find out what it is!

Apologies to the mods if event announcements are discouraged -- there isn't a specific mention of it in the rules.

Another one from the backlog — Jozen Aqua Junmai Sake.

This one was smooth and soft on the palate with a really easy mouthfeel. Very clean and drinkable overall, but I found it pretty simple compared to some of my favorite bottles.

There wasn’t much fruit coming through for me, and it was missing some of the polish and layered character I usually look for in sake.

Nothing offensive about it at all — just didn’t really stand out.

3/5 🍶

Hi guys, we are a bar in Shibuya called APPRE. We opened a Jikon Daiginjo Tobindori today!
We are selling this at our location in Nombei Yokocho by the glass! But we need to get rid of it as soon as possible . Sorry to do a self promoting post but the boss says it’s VERY IMPORTANT we finish this in next few days. PLEASE HELP US 🥺🥺🥺😙😙😙😙

Want to try a hot sake. Preferably something really clean without a lot of additives and definitely want to avoid a wicked hangover. I’ve tried looking up reviews on most of these but get mixed answers. ABC liquor is kinda the only place near me and these are the ones available.

So, I’ll be taking a couple of advanced sake certifications next year, including the Advanced Sake Sommelier course with the SSA. My goal is to become a Master Sake Sommelier and compete in an international sake sommelier competition someday.

As far as I know, the SSA and SSI organize these competitions from time to time. But I’ve heard that to compete in the SSI one, you need the International Kikisake-shi certification. I’m not sure whether it’s an entry-level certification or if it goes deeper into sake knowledge and practical skills.

Has anyone here earned this certification? If so, how would you describe its rigor and its recognition around the world?

What a delightful savory bottle. Started fridge cold but left it on the counter to experience the temp/ flavor shifts (while decorating). Think I like it almost room temperature. Definitely a new favorite in the Junmai style.

I’m new to Sake and had this at a Sake bar in NYC and thought it was delicious. Is anyone familiar with this Sake and can give me recs for other ones? Any help is much appreciated!

Just came back from a 10 day trip in Tokyo (mainly food and shopping), only brought these 2 because of luggage space but I got for a good price, even paid a bit more for NichiNichi than Cosmos.

I might share a bit more of all the sakes I had during the trip, if you guys interested.

Hey everyone, back again! 🍶

I’m a big sake fan myself, but I often have trouble deciding which bottle to buy.

I thought it might be nice to see what other sake lovers think before choosing, so I tried adding community reviews to my app!

I’m still figuring things out, but I’m hoping this could help people discover new sake.

Do you think this would be useful? Is there anything you’d change or improve?

I’d really appreciate your feedback!

I’ll leave the App Store link in the comments in case anyone wants to check it out. 😊

Came across an old drinking set my great grandfather bought in Japan in the 60s and I was wondering what would be something similar I could get. (I'm 100% sure it's bad so not asking that) Located in the southern United States.

This one was a huge hit.

Takatenjin “Soul of the Sensei” Junmai Daiginjo was super smooth from the very first sip with virtually no alcohol burn.

Soft melon and green apple came through first, followed by light grape and delicate floral notes. The texture was silky and slightly creamy, with a gentle sweetness that stayed balanced instead of becoming heavy.

What really stood out was how polished and seamless it felt from start to finish. Clean, elegant, and incredibly easy to drink.

This is one of the closest bottles I’ve had to the style I love most.

5/5 🍶. Sake #52

I had a Junmai Daiginj at a restraunt and it was lovely.

Id like a couple of premium bottles for the office.

What are some in the $100-300 AUD Range you would reccomend?

Hey everyone!

A while ago, I shared a small iOS app I built to keep track of the sake I’ve tried.

I received some really helpful feedback from this community, and I’ve been experimenting with ways to make the app easier to use.

After a lot of trial and error, I finally managed to add AI-powered sake label scanning! 🍶

Now, you can take a photo of a sake label, and the AI tries to identify it and help fill in the details.

It was honestly much harder to build than I expected, especially as a beginner developer 😅

It’s still not perfect. For example, the AI can recognize Japanese characters on labels, but it doesn’t translate them into English yet.

I’m still learning and improving things little by little.

Thanks again to everyone who shared their thoughts last time!

I’d love to hear what you think, especially if you’ve ever struggled to remember which sake you’ve tried.

(App Store link in the comments)

Been MIA for a little bit, but I’ve tried a lot of sake since my last post, so I have plenty to share 😂🍶 Starting back up with Yuki no Bosha “Limited Release” Junmai Ginjo.

This one was very sweet from the first sip, honestly a little sweeter than I wanted. There was also a noticeable alcohol warmth on the finish that lingered rather than disappearing.

The combination of the sweetness and alcohol presence made it feel heavier and less clean than the smooth, balanced styles I normally gravitate toward. I struggled to sip this one on its own.

Definitely not for my palate.
2/5 🍶

Got a bunch more reviews coming — including some 5/5s from the backlog. This was sake #51

Hello there!

I have experience with wine fermentation but sake is unknown for me.

I started to try some experiments (I work within an R&D food company) and the process is making me little nervous hahah

I made koji with a local rice (image attached) and then I started to make shubo.

My question is: how do I follow the fermentation in order to see if its going or not?I mean, how do I measure sugars and other things like NH4, lactic acid and so on? I mean, is not a normal liquid matrix like wine or other beverage, is pretty solid with little water at the beginning. I tried to take a few grams and diluted with water and then filtered this solution and using as a sample for my enzymatic analysis but I’m not sure if what I measure is really what’s inside.

Do you have some experience on this?

Thank you 🙏

HI all,

Does anyone know of any places to do sake tastings, ideally guided, in Tokyo?

EDIT: Thanks for all of the recs!