Teaching Sake 101 at Sake Hana

Last night I had the great pleasure of teaching a Sake 101 class for the fine folks at Sake Hana. Arranged by Manager Toshi-san, the class was the second in a series of instructional classes that were requested by Sake Hana Customers.

The class was structured as a basic sake 101 class which covered sake classifications, sake ingredients, Production Process and of course sake tasting! The tasting is really what set this class apart. For the 20 or so Students in attendance, we were able to taste TEN sakes during the class. This allowed us to try both pure rice and fortified sakes, along with Nama, Nigori and Koshu! Phew! Everything was delicious. Here is our tasting list:

1. Welcome Sake: ???
2. TakeNoTsuyu Junmai
3. Kikusui Honjozo
4. Kaiun Junmai Ginjo
5. Okunomatsu Ginjo
6. Dassai Junmai Ginjo Nigori
7. Narutotai Ginjo Nama Genshu
8. Wakatake Junmai Daiginjo
9. Tedorigawa Ikinaonna Daiginjo
10. Hanahato Kijoshu Koshu

Needless to say, it was a blast to teach and I really hope the students enjoyed it as well. We shook things up by serving a mystery sake to welcome students at the beginning of class. After they had a chance to taste all classifications, we had them guess what grade the sake was… Junmai? Ginjo? I’m happy to report, most guessed correctly! Click on the welcome sake link above to see what we chose!

Special thanks to Toshi-san for arranging this fun class! If you haven’t been to charming and romantic Sake Hana (265 E 78th St, NYC, NY 10021), please plan a trip there. the sake selection is top notch and the atmosphere is wonderful. I am looking forward to the upcoming classes at Sake Hana! Hope you’ll join me!