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Stories from behind the bar: cocktails, ramen, Japanese culture, and life on the Lower East Side.
SakeJan 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.ShochuDec 31, 2025Tantakatan: A Red Shiso Shochu From HokkaidoMade in Asahikawa from red shiso grown in Shiranuka, with a name borrowed from Ainu. It's the most floral, easiest thing on our shochu list.SakeDec 26, 2025Kizakura Kyoto Beer: Uji Matcha IPA and Lucky Dog Session IPAA Fushimi sake brewery founded in 1925 that started making beer in 1995 — including an Imperial IPA brewed with matcha from Uji.ShochuDec 19, 2025Tomino Hozan: The Imo Shochu Made With Sake KojiNishi Shuzo builds this Kagoshima sweet potato shochu on yellow koji — the mold used for sake, not shochu. The result smells like citrus and pear.WhiskyDec 12, 2025Mars Iwai Fuyu: Japanese Whisky Finished in Chestnut CasksThe winter release from Mars Komagatake — Iwai Tradition finished four months in Japanese chestnut casks. Brown sugar and maple on the nose, cacao on a long finish.WhiskyDec 9, 2025Nikka Coffey Grain and Coffey Malt: Taketsuru's Other Souvenir From ScotlandNikka runs two Coffey stills at Miyagikyo, imported in 1963 and 1966. One whisky is mostly corn, the other is 100% malted barley through the same still.BeerDec 5, 2025Isekado: Craft Beer From a Mochi Shop Founded in 1575Ise Kadoya has been on the road to Ise Jingu since 1575 — first as a tea house for pilgrims, then miso and soy sauce, and since 1997 award-winning beer.WhiskyDec 2, 2025Ryujin Golden Dragon: A Whisky From a 16th-Century Sake BreweryRyujin Shuzo has been brewing sake in Gunma since the end of the 1500s, on a spring the brewery is named after. The whisky is mizunara-aged and comes in a dragon.SakeNov 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.SakeNov 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.ShochuNov 14, 2025Beniotome: The World's First Sesame ShochuIn 1978 a distiller in Fukuoka worked out how to distil sesame. Nobody had done it before, and Beniotome has been making goma shochu ever since.
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