San Francisco Saké Vacation, Part 1

I love San Francisco. I lived there for a year and was sad to leave and I'm very happy any time I get to visit. So, when I heard that on October 1st, True Sake would be celebrating Nihonshu no Hi (Saké Day), I bought a ticket and booked my flight. My plan was to stay for a few days and try some new saké every day.

On Friday, my first day in town, I managed to try five different sakés. Really, I was on a mission during this trip and I wasn't going to let silly thoughts such as, "should I really be drinking this early in the day??" slow me down.

The House
The House is in a nice little space right at the edge of Chinatown and North Beach. They offer only one saké by the glass, but it's a good one. I've had enough saké now (but I'm still unfamiliar enough with Japanese) that I am having a pretty difficult time keeping saké names straight. I didn't recognise Meibo "Yowanotsuki" junmai ginjo, which is also known as "Midnight Moon." When I got back to my computer and put two and two together I was excited because I knew that I had a bottle at home in my refrigerator. Something to look forward to! I was happy to make the discovery because I really like this saké. The aroma is pleasant with a bit of floral, the taste was clean with prominent apple throughout and a tart finish. It seems to be a good choice to match with a variety of foods, therefore not a bad choice for a restaurant to offer if they are only going to offer one by the glass. I had the white shrimp and Chinese chive dumplings which came with a tart, tangy sauce and the deep fried salmon roll with Chinese hot mustard. The House also offered a 750 ml bottle of San Pellagrino for $4.00 which I could hardly believe. Most places charge $4.00 for the little bottles.

Meibo junmai ginjo
Rice: Yamadanishiki polished to 50%
SMV +2
Alcohol 15.8%
Acidity 1.5
Amino Acid: 1.2


Ozumo
Later that night, I had a wonderful meal at Ozumo. This evening truly brought home to me the difference between "drinking" saké and "tasting" saké. At the beginning of the meal I wrote in my notebook: "Wakatake Daiginjo Onikoroshi (Demon Slayer) 'beautifully sound, round and alluring saké with a silky texture and slight sweetness stemming...'" The quote is from the menu and I didn't even finish writing the quote and that was it for the night. I was there with an old friend and the saké was flowing and, really, taking notes or even thinking logically about aromas and tastes was far from my mind. Well, I don't regret it. I can sort of recreate the evening from the itemized check: butternut squash miso soup, miso soup, bluefin sashimi, hamachi sashimi, spider roll, ikura sushi, Voss sparkling water, 1 glass Wakatake daiginjo, 1 glass Kamoizumi daiginjo, 1 glass Dewa 33, 1 glass Dewazakura Oka.

Dewa 33 & Dewazakura Oka specifics (also see True Sake's newsletter of April '06 for a good writeup of both):

Dewa 33
Polishing rate 50%
SMV +4
Alcohol 15.8%
Acidity 1.4

Dewazakura Oka "Cherry Bouquet"
Polishing rate 50%
SMV +5
Alcohol 15.5%
Acidity 1.2

Wakatake daiginjo (I later realized that this saké was recommended by one of my tablemates at Sake Day as his anytime saké and a brief search of the internet for other people's opinions shows that many others agree)
Polishing rate ?
SMV +/-0
Acidity 1.4

Kamoizumi daiginjo
Polishing rate ?
SMV 1.5
Acidity 1.2

Sakagura

Mask hung on ceiling

A huge thanks to Tim at urbansake.com for his recommendation of the extraordinary Sakagura! I had one night in New York last week and I wanted to make the most of it. Sakagura delivered more than I expected. The saké menu is so large, it is truly overwhelming. I decided right away to put myself in our server's hands and I wasn't disappointed. This man was very knowledgeable and willing to spend time helping me find just the thing that I would love (unfortunately, I didn't get his name). When I let him know that I was open to his suggestions, he recommended that I start with a Junmai Daiginjo and I agreed. He asked me if I liked dry or sweet saké and I asked for something slightly dry. He brought 2 bottles to the table for me to taste, Daiten Shiragiku and Nanbu Bijin. I might have liked the Nanbu Bijin better, but I was intrigued by the extreme strawberry aroma of the Daiten Shiragiku ($15/glass). It was served in a stemless glass that was the same shape as my Reidel sake glasses, only a bit smaller. The taste was sweet and smooth with a bit of fruit.



Next, we decided that I should move on to a Junmai Ginjo. The server again brought two bottles to the table and I choose Urakasumi Zen [SMV +1; Polishing rate 50%; alcohol 15-15.9%; acidity 1.3; amino acids 1.3; rice Toyonishiki]. ($17/glass). This was delicious, but it was served just as the Tori Karaage (deep fried chicken chunks marinated in saké and ginger infused soy sauce) arrived at the table. I think the saké was a little too subtle to stand up the chicken. Rob asked the server if there was significance to the use of different glasses the saké was served in. Yes! said the server. The daiginjo would have a somewhat more subtle fragrance and the glass was designed to concentrate the fragrance.



The server asked if I wanted to try a third saké - why, yes! Usually I'm not a heavy drinker, but I had decided that I was going to try as many sakés as I reasonably could. Server said maybe I should consider something a bit more unique. He suggested a yamahi (see John Gauntner's site for a good explanation of the process for making yamahai saké). I choose Kikuhime [SMV +1, acidity 1.8] ($9/glass). This had the bold, savory, ricey aroma which I love. A rich, yummy saké.




I decided that I was going to finish the meal with an aged saké. The aged sakés were offered by the bottle, carafe, glass and tasting. We ordered a tasting of the Daruma Masamune (a blend of 1972, '82, '84, and '89 pure rice sakés at $17/tasting) and a glass of Hanahato (aged 8 years for $8/glass). Both sakés were a striking amber color. The Daruma Masamune was described on the menu as "dramatic" and Rob called it "challenging." I agreed with him, which isn't to say that I didn't enjoy it. It was full-bodied and a bit sweet. The Hanahato (SMV-44, polishing rate 65%, acidity 3.5) was strong and complex with a slightly sweeter aroma and taste than the Daruma Masamune. The aged sakés were a great way to end a fabulous meal.



On top of the mind-blowing saké menu, Sakagura offers some very tasty food options. The menu featured mostly Izakaya-style snacks or small plates. Besides the tori karaage, we had gindara yuan yak (grilled cod), toro sashimi (the most delicious thing we ate), agedashi tofu, goma ae (extraordinary spinach salad in sesame dressing), yuba shumai, maguro tartare with caviar, and the dessert for 2 which comprised of pineapple sorbet, a chocolate souffle with raspberry sauce and vanilla ice cream (served on a plate with 2 other treats which I can't remember), chocolate chip cookies and Sakagura's signature green tea truffles (yum!). It sounds like a decadent meal, and it was in a way, but one of the things that I love about Japanese food is that I never seem to feel overfull afterwards. I bought two boxes of black sesame shochu truffles to go, one for Mayu, who was watching our house, and one for me. Wow! They were so strong - I ate two of them in the car while I was driving and I was worried that I might be pulled over for DUI. Delicious!




This was one of the most fun evenings that I've had dining out, certainly the most fun since I discovered saké. Sakagura is saké heaven. I can't wait to go back - our next business trip to NYC isn't till next April - maybe I will have to take a couple vacation days!

Full moon viewing with Root of Innocence

Usually I'm not aware of the phases of the moon, but I now realize that a full moon is an excellent excuse for moon viewing and saké drinking! For the last full moon (September 7th) Rob and I opened a bottle of Mukune, "Root of Innocence." So delicious! First thing I noticed in the aroma was a bit of fruit and butterscotch. The taste was full with a huge flavor of butterscotch and some mellon at the end. I loved this saké (even though, along with the moon, it inspired some very bad poetry) .

SMV 55%
Polishing rate +2
Acidity 1.8
Alcohol 16%





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A lucky find in South Bend

We checked into our hotel late on a Sunday night in South Bend, Indiana, and were told that we would be lucky if the Applebees was open - apparently, most places close early here. Imagine how happy we were to find Japanese steakhouse Mikado on our drive to Applebees. Well, I don't know...anything is better than Applebees...we were excited.

The menu listed one saké: "hotsaké" for $4.50. I ordered a beer. But, I noticed what looked like saké bottles lined up on the unmanned sushi bar, so I got up to see what they had and found that they had a bottle of Ozeki dry saké. You must understand, this was 9:00 on Sunday night in South Bend, Indiana. This was a hugely happy discovery for me.

Actually, I didn't really have any complaints. The food was good. We ordered age dashi tofu (my favorite), gyoza, and I had the "tempura deluxe" which came with miso soup, salad, and (strangely) a bowl of fried rice. The tempura was good, crisp and light with shrimp, sweet potatoes, green beans, mushrooms and onions presented on a cute (although plastic) sushi boat. Ozeki dry saké seemed to compliment this "late-night" meal just fine.

SMV: +8
acidity: 1.3
alcohol: 14.5%

Mikado
402 Dixieway N.
South Bend, IN 46637
574-272-2535

Saké in Chicago: Meiji

We were headed to Chicago for a book fair and, of course, I wanted to find a fun place to drink saké. I wrote to the Chicago Chowhounds board and someone enthusiastically recommended Meiji.

I went there with three friends, one a fellow saké drinker. We ordered by the glass because we wanted to taste as many sakés as possible. I happen to like slightly sweeter sakés and my friend Al prefers them more dry and the waiter gave reasonable recommendations based on this.


First I tried the Karen "Coy" junmai ($12/glass). This was actually way too sweet for me. I haven't found the SMV on this, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was -60. Still, I would love to get my hands on the label. It's so pretty: as Tim at urbansake.com says, "the über-pink bottle perfectly captures the taste." He awards it his Golden Masu for "Biggest Barbie Wannabe" and I couldn't agree more. [Update! This just in: I happily found the September issue of True Sake's newsletter in my inbox today and found a nice review of Karen Coy by guest reviewer Mark Bright. His review along with True Sake's tasting notes actually sound so tempting, I now want to give this saké a second chance! Also, nb: SMV -23, acidity 2.9, alcohol 10%.]


Al ordered the Masumi junmai ($8/glass) and this was the hands down favorite of the night. With an SMV of +3 it was dry, but not too dry for my taste. I wish that I could do it justice with a description, but, unfortunately, I only got a sip of it.

Next I had the Umenishiki Junmai Ginjo ($11/glass). John Gauntner discussed the brewery in his July '06 newsletter and said: "Umenishiki has a lot of diversity across its products, but the one thing that they all share is clean, focused flavors that almost radiate quality...The junmai ginjo is clean, bright and sharp with a cleansing acidity melon and citrus flavors and aromas." This was my second favorite of the evening.



The final saké that we tried was Dewazakura "Oka" Junmai Ginjo ($10/glass). This was also a popular choice. In fact, I was surprised by how much I liked Al's drier sakés. I guess I am still learning my own taste!
*Grade: Ginjyoshu(50%), Nihonshu-do: +5, Acidity: 1.2, Rice: Miyama-Nishiki,Yukigesyo, Yeast: Ogawa, Alcohol: 15.5%.

By the way, the food at Meiji was delicious. We had a friend along who absolutely refuses to eat raw fish and even she managed to find some things she found yummy, including chicken skewers with spicy sweet miso, sweet and sour plum and teriyaki sauce and the Asparagus Ribeye Roll with enoki mushrooms and teriyaki glaze. I highly recommend the Yuri roll and all agreed the nigiri was fresh and tasty.

I love MU!

I brought my family to Saji Ya tonight because it was 1/2 price saké night, bottles included. Mu is sold only by the 720 ml bottle at Saji Ya, so I had been looking for an oppportunity to try it. Normally it is $39.00: we got it for $20!

I really loved this saké. It seems that other people love it too, because it won a gold medal at the U.S. National Saké Appraisal, which was held in Hawaii in July. The aroma is nice and fruity with a bit of melon. The taste is very savory, a bit dry, and super smooth. I definitely want to try this saké again and, since I am usually the only one at dinner drinking saké, it is a good thing that in Minnesota you can now recork bottles (or screw the cap back on) and bring them home with you. Actually, I heard that there is someone who eats lunch at Saji Ya nearly every day and orders a bottle of this for himself and usually finishes it. I hope I never get to that point!

Junmai daiginjo (polishing rate 50%)
15% alcohol
SMV +2
Acidity 1.5
Yamada Nishiki rice

Calendar of saké related events

Saké is more popular now than ever and it seems that there are quite a few saké related events around the world, so I've created a calendar to help keep track of them. Please send me an email or leave a comment here if you know of other events and I'll add them to the calendar.

Disposable saké cups

For your next tasting party!

Disposable saké cups! I could have used these at my last tasting party. I'll certainly stock up for the future!

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Cup-saké

When I was last in Japan, I made an overnight trip to Kyoto, mainly to see Takigi o-noh at the Nanzen-ji temple. After the play, I decided that since it was rather late I would have a small dinner in my hotel room. I stopped at the 7-11 near the temple to get some snacks and I was surprised that they had a pretty big selection of saké! I had no idea which to get, so I decided to get a Nazen-ji souvenir cup-saké. Even if it was awful, I could dump it out, keep the cup as a souvenir, and raid the mini bar for something palatable. It was actually pretty good, at least it seemed right with my convenience store bento. About the only things that I can read on the label are "20%" and "65%" - I'm assuming that is 20% alcohol and the polishing rate is 65% rather than vice-versa!

I was reminded of this story when I found THIS on gaijinphoto. This makes me so jealous! I will definitely try to get to Ajinomachidaya when I am next in Japan. Check out the cup-saké page on their site!

Saké in Denver

I'm in Colorado for nearly two weeks, first in Denver and then in Colorado Springs. Naturally, while I'm here, I am going to try to find new sakés to try.

Our first night here, we had dinner in a nice little Japanese restaraunt called Sushi Han. There were only a couple of choices for saké and they weren't even listed by name, so I chose the mystery "Junmai Ginjo" and hoped for the best. I was happy when they brought the bottle to the table and I found that they were serving Hakushika Junmai Ginjo (SMV +0, acidity 1.4). The aroma was very subtle, just barely rice I thought. But the taste: Chocolate! Chocolate rice! Really, once the idea of chocolate entered my mind, I couldn't think of anything else, except for the fact that this saké felt thick. It almost felt like it had the consistency of oil although that makes it sound unpleasant and it wasn't.

When we were finished with dinner, I covertly hid the bottle in my bag and I'm looking at it now and wondering what "BL.BL" means. It is stamped on the label in the manner that a bottling date usually is, so I tried googling "saké date on bottle" and had no luck with what I was looking for, but I did find a bizarre sounding movie. Saké Bottle Battle (2004) is described as follows:

A man and a woman, on their pivotal fourth date, dine together in a Japanese restaurant. But when the man demands that the woman steal a saké bottle for him, their individual truths -- alternately eccentric, kinky, and perfectly understandable -- cause them to bond in uniquely human fashion.

I have the feeling that this movie won't be in my netflix queue anytime soon.

Today I had the chance to stop in at Chateau Liquors, a very nice shop with a large selection of wines and a few sakés on the shelf as well. I bought one of each of everything that they had that I hadn't tried before:

Notice the bottle on the right is missing it's cap. That is because I decided to begin research on some of my new saké right away. Tentaka Kuni "Hawk in the Heavens" (SMV +3, seimaibuai 55%, acidity 2.1) was the first thing I tried. The aroma on this one was pretty light; only a bit of rice. There was a slight alcohol taste, but also a bit of fruit that I wasn't expecting from the scent. The acid was a little sharper than I like, but overall, I think this was a nicely balanced saké. I didn't finish the entire bottle, so I will try the rest later and compare the "fresh" and the "been open a few days" taste.

I believe that, barring a saké emergency that I must relay, the report on my Colorado trip will pick up in a few days when I reach Colorado Springs.

Saké tasting/dinner party

We had a very successful saké tasting/dinner party at our house this past Thursday evening. Our friends Mayu and Wes came over early and Mayu made an extraordinary meal of vegetable aspic, soba noodles, tofu and daikon salad with goma dressing, garlic grilled chicken wings, grilled summer vegetables, and stir-fried eggplant, pork and garlic chives with miso. Our friends Patrick and Sophie brought sticky rice with durian, thai custard, and mango for dessert. I provided the saké.





Our first saké of the evening was a surprise smash hit. I was worried about what the boys would think as I poured a cloudy, sparkling saké (Harushika Tokimeki “Palpitation of Saké” sparkling junmai saké, SMV –80, acidity 5.5), but to my surprise, everyone said they loved it and would drink it again. As expected, it was very sweet, but it also had a very distinctive "saké" taste. This saké isn't available locally, so I had to order it from True Sake in San Francisco and I will definitely be ordering more!


Next, we had a comparison tasting of three junmai sakés:

~Fukucho “Moon on the Water” junmai ginjo (Seimaibuai 55%, SMV +3, acidity 1.4)

~Ginga shizuka “Divine Droplets” junmai daiginjo (Seimaibuai 50%, SMV +3, acidity 1.2)

~Kanbara “Bride of the Fox” junmai ginjo (Seimaibuai 50%, SMV +3, acidity 1.6)

Mayu liked the very dry "Divine Droplets," while everyone else preferred the Kanbara "Bride of the Fox."

I served the next tasting in white paper cups. I did a bit of testing beforehand and determined that the cups were neutral in taste and scent so I went ahead with them, disregarding their total lack of elegance.

This tasting was actually guessing game with four sakés including a nama, a taru (cedar aged) saké, a very dry junmai, and a honjozo.

~Ichinokura taru saké (Seimaibuai 55%)

~Kagatobi yamahai Junmai (Seimaibuai 65%, SMV +12, acidity 1.8)

~Kaguyahime “Princess of Bamboo” honjozo junmai (SMV –2 acidity 1.1)

~Ohyama “Big Mountain” nama (SMV +3, acidity 1.5)

At first, I was planning to keep score of everyone's guesses, but that went by the wayside rather quickly and I asked everyone to score themselves. That didn't last long either; everyone was having too much fun tasting and watching as the others made their guesses. Nearly everyone guessed the taru saké; the Ichinokura has the taste of cedar that you would expect to find in a taru. Next easiest for people to guess was the dry Kagatobi yamahai junmai. The honjozo and the nama were a bit more difficult to discern, but this was also rather late in the evening, so taste buds might not have been working at optimum levels...

The only sad part of the night is that the photographer (me) did a horrible job and most of the pictures turned out dark or blurry. Well, now we have a good reason to have another tasting and I've already got some more "games" in mind!

New tasting flight at Saji Ya

I am very lucky to have a great Japanese restaurant, Saji Ya, within walking distance of my house and I usually eat there a few times a week. They have a nice saké selection and I was really happy when they recently added a tasting flight with 3 sakés (served in wine glasses) for $12.00 (which I think is a bargain!)

The sakés featured are:

1. Otokoyama “Man’s Mountain” Junmai (SMV +10, Acidity 1.6, Alcohol 15.5): I’ve had this elsewhere and I have to admit, it’s not my favorite. I think that it’s enjoyable for the first few sips, but I find that it is a little too dry and acidic for my taste. It even feels “tongue puckering” to me. I think many people actually prefer the drier sakés, in fact, this is my boyfriend's favorite of the three.

2. Suishin Junmai (SMV +3, Acidity, 1.7, Alcohol 15-16%): Now we're talking! Saké expert John Gauntner says this about it in one of his newsletters:

"This is one of those sakés that has been fairly famous for so long it ends up being overlooked, which is a shame. A classic Hiroshima style, soft and gently sweet, but a bit more bolstering acidity than most sake of this region. While simple and straightforward, it is incredibly versatile, and is enjoyable either chilled, at room temperature, and even very gently warmed."

I think the best part about it is the deep “savoriness” in the follow through. I don’t yet completely understand the term “umami,” but this saké has what I imagine umami to be.

3. Yaegaki nigori (SMV –12): The jury is still out on whether I am truly a fan of nigori saké, but this one is certainly pleasant. At first whiff, there is a strong aroma of fruit juice and at first taste it’s like creamy spiked fruit juice. I would definitely order this one again.

What I bought at Surdyk's today

Today was the last day of Surdyk's famous wine sale, so I went bright and early to stock up! Surdyk's is by far the best source for saké in the twin cities. The buyer, Noel Nichols, is very serious about saké: he went on a "fact-finding" mission to San Francisco and when he came back he moved all the saké to it's own refrigerated section and went so far as to put in bulbs covered by UV filters (they are possibly the first retailer in the country or even the world to take this precaution). That is serious!

Here is a list of what I bought:

Takasago Ginga Shizuku "Divine Droplets"
Hakutsuru draft (6 bottles of the 180 ml size: it's good to have something on hand to drink when I don't feel like thinking about it)
Fukucho "Moon on the Water"
Ichinokura taru junmai cedar aged saké
Kanbara "Bride of the Fox" (Foxy Lady on the Surdyk's sales slip!)
Kurosawa junmai daiginjo
Meibo Yowano tsuki junmai ginjo "Midnight Moon"
Yaegaki nigori
Ichinokura junmai nama saké "Hyakkoi"
Ohyama nama (2 bottles - I've had this before and I love it!)
Tsukino Katsura junmai-daiginjyo nigori
Hitori musume nigori
Gekkeikan Black & Gold

It's a good thing that I don't cook, because I have no room in my refrigerator for food!

Eat-Japan :: All about saké

I somehow came across eat-Japan.com and was thrilled to find that they have an issue of their magazine nearly entirely devoted to saké. I ordered a copy from London and it arrived this week. Happily, it is big and glossy and gorgeous and full of information on saké.

The supervising editors of the issue are Haruo Matsuzaki, "one of the foremost saké critics in Japan today" (and a contributer to Philip Harper's new book which is scheduled to be released in October) and John Gauntner, "the leading non-Japanese saké expert in the world." As you would expect with two such illustrious saké experts as editors, the issue covers all aspects of saké, including brewing, saké types and tastes, how to enjoy saké, and much more.

I found the article on saké breweries particularly interesting. The photography allows a glimpse into the world of kura (saké breweries) which most people don’t usually get. You can read all you want about the intense working conditions, but, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words…

Possibly the most useful information is the section on specific breweries with descriptions on some of their saké. Each saké is illustrated with a nice color photo, so it is easy to match the saké you are drinking in your home to the ones being described. Of course, these are saké available in London and I’m not sure that they are all available in the US, but I recognized many that I’ve either tasted or seen.

It cost about $28.00 including shipping to the US, a bit much for a 120 page magazine, but I think it is well worth it for those who, like me, like to get all of the information on saké that they can find.

Takara Sake USA in the NYT

I found a short article in the travel section of the New York Times today on Takara Sake USA. It led me to their web site which has some interesting information, including a very general guide for pairing sake with food. Whatever you feel about saké made outside of Japan, it's hard to find fault with Takara's corporate slogan: "We proclaim ourselves a 'Harmonist' a term coined out of our sincere desire to act proactively in creating a positive rapport between people and nature." Actually, I really enjoy their Takara Sierra Cold, which is one of two sakés served at Mai Village, my local Vietnamese place. The description on Takara's site claims: "Takara Sierra Cold is an innovation in sake brewing. It is fermented with a specially developed yeast that allows for the rich flavor of a premium type of sake. We have made this product with an alcohol content of 12% for those who prefer a milder taste." It is just plain easy to drink.

The first time...

I can’t remember my first taste of saké, but I do remember the first time that I had saké that was extraordinary. Unfortunately, I have no idea what it was. It was in 2003, the first time I ate at Kai, one of my favorite restaurants in NYC. I was on my own that night, so I decided to indulge myself and I ordered the 8 course menu with the saké pairing. I can’t remember what I ate or drank, but I’ve been obsessed with kaiseki ever since, and from that evening, I’ve progressed to the point I’m at now: obsessed with saké.

Previous to that evening, I had wanted to like saké. I loved that it is such an ingrained part of Japanese culture, that it is served from cute bottles, in cute cups, that it seems exotic… But, up till that night at Kai, I had never had a saké that would tempt me to try it again.

After the first revelation, things proceeded slowly. I had a lot of super hot saké at my local Japanese restaurant and that seemed fine to me. I started reading saké descriptions on menus and paying a little bit closer attention to what was available. My total and complete conversion into a saké fanatic took place just this year, on a trip to Japan. Before the trip, I somehow found out about Fukumitsuya, a saké shop and bar in Tokyo. I was able to visit and, luckily for me, the man behind the counter spoke great English and he was very willing to talk to me about saké and recommend some that I might like. I did find some that I loved, in fact, I brought 4 bottles home with me. Ever since then, I have been on the hunt for all of the saké and all of the information about saké that I can get my hands on. This blog will be my place to keep and organize some of that information.

Divine droplets

Had the rest of the Divine Droplets tonight. Maybe I was in a different mood tonight, because it tasted much better than last night. The shameful truth is that I left the bottle out on the counter overnight and I didn't even put the cap back on. I decided to drink the rest anyway...

My first post!

This is my first (test) post. I can't wait to start writing about saké!