Beer Tastings in Japan(42)

Absolutely lovely and accommodating host for a delightful tea picking and Soba cooking class. 🍵🍃🍜 This was my first Japanese cooking experience, and every step was clearly explained. The class was conducted by the renowned Soba shop. It truly was a magnificent experience. Highly recommended! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was a great experience tasting and learning about Japanese tea. Yosuke is very knowledgeable and explains each tea very well.

From my first time trying the Daruma Koshu at Sakagura in new York, I have been obsessed with this sake. The caramel noted with the refined taste of this aged sake which was paired with an ice cream (yes, I know, so weird and interesting) was a memory that has stuck with me for more than 5 years. When I planned my trip to Japan, a tour of this brewery was a must for me. When I saw that this was available on byfood, I was excited but initially skeptical due to the lack of reviews. However, I was surprised that the CEO Shiraki San herself was our tour guide. We were late to our appointed time due to navigation troubles (Do not use taxi to transfer after bus, you will not find one) but Shiraki San was extremely accommodating. She gave us an informative tour of the brewery showing us the several stages of the process (Fermentation, pressing etc.) and a facility where really old sake were still aging, even from as old as 1995. During the tasting session, we got to try several aged sake including ones from 1970s. Exploring how the aging changes the taste and even the texture, even at a period of around 5 years, was extremely intriguing. Each one feels really distinct from each other. The sake was paired with some dried fruits and nuts which were a really tasty combo. Finally, I got to purchase 2 bottles which had been so hard to find in my home country. This was a bucket list item for me for a very long time and I was love to do a tour again!

Aki was AWESOME. On the day of the event he reached out via both email and WhatsApp to give us the specific meeting location (it's rather vague on the event page, which had us a little worried initially) and it was very easy to link up with him. During the tasting he was very energetic and upbeat which made it super engaging. Additionally, he is super knowledgeable when it comes to explaining the various nuances to the different types of sake. Everyone in my group learned a ton. Finally, he selected some excellent sakes. Our group weren't huge sake drinkers previously but enjoyed nearly all of the sakes we sampled. Oh and on top of all that- it was decent value as we got to try 7 different sakes (including the unpasteurized namazake type, which you can only get in Japan). Needless to say we all left there event buzzing.

I highly recommend this tour. Masa gave a very good introduction to Nagano and the world of sake. I am glad we were able to interact with other locals as well in learning about Nagano and sake. This tour gave a more personalized feel when traveling. Masa and anyone else we interacted with were also very knowledgeable and answered any questions I may have had throughout the tour.