The Netherlands and Japan are two countries that have had (mostly) good relations with each other since the beginning. While there isn’t a large Japanese community residing here, there is one city where it is not uncommon to hear Japanese while walking down the street, or seeing a Japanese supermarket or restaurant in shopping centers. This city is Amstelveen, and is host to the Japan Festival, a festival to showcase some aspects of Japanese culture. This year, the festival had a very nice addition, one I could not skip of course.
At the stand of the Embassy of Japan, 4 sake importers set op a small sake bar where visitors could try a couple of their sake. These four companies are Sakenomism, Kuratje, Shu Wa Wa and Otemba. All 4 companies have their own distinct styles, and of course I had to try the sake.
Sakenomism
Last week I came to know the lovely people of Sakenomism for the first time at the Sake & Cheese tasting, and it was great seeing them here as well. Kawashita-san still recognized me from last week and we had a nice chat about the sake she brought with here. The first one was the Kinsen Kinokawa Honjouzo sake. The flavours were typical honjouzo style sake: grainy, cereal, rice. It was surprisingly easy to drink, for a honjouzo. Some of them can be quite heavy, or even a bit spicy, but this one went down very smoothly. The second sake was a Honey Lemon shu. I am not the biggest fan of the taste of lemon, so I skipped this one. Still, the honjouzo was great, and I can’t wait for their tasting this upcoming Friday.
Kuratje
Mori-san from Kuratje had the best line-up for my personal tastes. An importer situated in Utrecht, he has a webshop where he sells good from Japan. Sake is one of those goods. He specialized in sake from the Tohoku region in Japan. The first time I meet Mori-san was at the Japan market in Leiden, where he promised he would get some nice sake in the near future, and he made good on that promise! The first sake he brought with him was the Hirotogawa Tokubetsu Junmai. Nice and crisp, both cereal and fruit flavours, like a bit of banana, and good acidity
The second sake was already teased on Kuratje’s Instagram, so I already did some research on that one. The Miyakanbai Junmai Daiginjo is a sake made with Miyama-Nishiki rice. I usually tend to like sake made with this rice, and this was no exception. Fresh, easy to drink and loaded with fruity flavors like mango and pear. I will do a more detailed review of this one, since I ordered it from Kuratje’s webshop while writing this blogpost.
Shu Wa Wa
This was the first time coming in contact with this importer, and I must say, what they brought with them was pretty good! The Ikekame Tange Sazen is a Junmai Ginjo sake from Fukuoka. Clean, dry and hints of pear and apple. During this hot day very refreshing. Their second sake was a low alcohol Nigori sake: the Sanuki Cloudy. A pretty creamy sake, but also quite refreshing, and only 6% alcohol. Here at home I looked up this sake, and apparently it’s recommended to drink with spicy foods. I think I will try that someday!
Also, looking at their website, I noticed they have a lot of sake from the Amabuki brewery. I definitely should order some bottles from them.
Otemba
I have been ordering sake for a long time from this company. They have some of my favorite sakes ever, like the Biwako no Kujira and the Tsukino Katsura Nigori Sparkling Honjozo. At the festival they brought 2 sake that have been part of their line up for a long time: The Mutsu Hassen Black Label Junmai Ginjo and the Fukucho Seafood Junmai Sparkling.
The heat was starting to get to me, and since I have tried the Mutsu Hassen before, I decided to only get the Sparkling sake. With aroma’s of lemon, lime and apple it wasn’t my favorite sake of today, but I can see why they market this as a sake that pairs well with food.
With my stomach full of sake, it was time to get some food. Overall, a nice tasting at a fun event. Thanks you to all the lovely importers for supplying all the thirsty people here with great sake!
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