Christmas Giveaway 2013

* This giveaway is closed. We will inform the winners at this blog on 18th December. 

Sakenet Australia has put together 2 giveaway specials to show our appreciation for your support of Sakenet Australia.

Giveaway One: For Our Customers
All online orders between 15th Nov to 15th Dec 2013 go into the draw to win 1 of 3 prizes. Order now at "www.sakenet.com.au" Prizes:    1st prize - Taketsuru Junmai Daiginjo 11BY 720ml    2nd prize - Chikusen Junmai Umeshu 500ml    3rd prize - Tokkuri & two Sake cups

Giveaway Two: For Our Facebook Page Followers
If you have been one of out Facebook followers, you are already registered to this campaign. If not, please "like" our facebook page until 15th December 2013. Follow us on "www.facebook.com/sakenet" Prizes:    1st prize - Okuharima Junmai Ginjo Shimomura 16BY 720ml    2nd prize - Hiokizakura Junmai Tamasakae 720ml    3rd prize - Two Sake cups

*These campaigns will close at midnight 15th December 2013.
The winners' name will be announced on out website and/or facebook page.
The prize will be despatched around 18th December 2013.
We will send an email or a facebook message to the winners for arranging the shipment.
The shipping cost of the prizes will be free.
The shipping address must be in Australia.

Sake is like Sake !

 The Good Food and Wine Show 2013 in Sydney and Melbourne is now over. We met lots of people at the Show who had a huge interest in Sake and Japanese culture.

 One of the most common questions we received was “ What is Sake?” Rice wine, Japanese wine, Japanese liquor was the standard answer; but when one more astute gentleman followed that question up with “how is it made?” I casually replied, “It’s brewed in a brewery.” To which he responded with， “so then it’s more like a beer…” well, no…

 This got me thinking about 2 big problems, how to explain what Sake is and describing its taste by comparing it to something else.

 My personal belief, after having learnt and taught languages for many years, is that terms like Sake should not be translated and “You can’t get wet from the word water.” (Alan Watts)

 When I hear the word wine, I automatically imagine a dark red liquid gently swirling around a delicate glass with a long stem and round bowl. I imagine grapes and vineyards and large oak barrels… Maybe some of us think of white wine, but in general, I think it’s safe to say, that, Australians, when hearing the word, wine, will think of the traditional alcoholic beverage made from grapes. So when we hear the term rice wine for the first time, I think it’s inevitable, and perfectly understandable, that we, as Australians, will consciously or subconsciously use our images of wine as a point of reference, to try and figure out rice wine, which will, no doubt lead to comparisons with our preconceived notions of wine, and judging Sake by the standards of wine.

 Sake, as many of us know, and many of those who tried Sake for the first time at the show found out, is nothing like wine. It’s not like anything! Sake is like Sake. It tastes like Sake and it looks like Sake. Therefore sake should not and cannot be judged against the standard of wine, because the properties of what makes good Sake are completely different from wine. Just like you wouldn’t judge a white wine against a red or even less a wine against a beer!

Rei Takahashi

Sydney Good Food and Wine Show 2013

Sydney Good Food and Wine Show will be held from 28th (Fri) to 30th (Sun) June 2013.

picture from Melbourne Good Food & Wine Show 2013

Sakenet Australia will have a Sake Tasting Booth, and three of our Kuramoto (Hiokizakura, Takaisami and Umetsu) will come to Sydney from Tottori Prefecture Japan for this event. Tottori is very important region for Junmai Sake industry/culture of Japan.

We will also be selling Sake at our booth, and we will give you free delivery (for limited area of Sydney/Melbourne) if you order Sake at the venue.

Please visit out booth and try some authentic Junmai Sake from Tottori, if you are coming to Sydney Good Food and Wine Show 2013. We look forward to meeting you.


[Event Information]

• Event name
        Sydney Good Food and Wine Show 2013
• Venue
        Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre
• Show hours
        Fri 28th June: 10am - 6pm
        Sat 29th June: 10am - 6pm
        Sun 30th June: 10am - 5pm
• Tickets
        General Entry: $33
        Children (12 - 17): $22
        Children (Under 12): Free

[Kuramoto Information]

• HIOKIZAKURA (Yamane-shuzo)
• Location: Tottori Pref.
• Established in: 1887
• Annual Output: 102,600 litres
• Number of brewers: 7
• TAKAISAMI (Ohtani-shuzo)
• Location: Tottori Pref.
• Established in: 1872
• Annual Output: 216,000 litres
• Number of brewers: 10
•  UMETSU (Umetsu-shuzo)
• Location: Tottori Pref.
• Established in: 1865
• Annual Output: 14,400 litres
• Number of brewers: 3

Melbourne Good Food and Wine Show

Melbourne Good Food and Wine Show is over. Thank you to everyone who visited our booth. Most people may not have expected a Sake booth at the show, but it was great to chat and meet you all.

Sakenet Team

Koikawa-san and Shinkame-san

Koikawa-san and Shinkame-san, Rei and Taka (at front)

We worked so hard.

Lots of people

Shinkame-san is serving Shinkame Sake to a visiter.

"Otsukare-sama deshita!"

Our next event is at Sydney Good Food and Wine Show, 28th - 30th June 2013. Three brewers (Hiokizakura, Takaisami and Umetsu) will come to Sydney for this event.

The show will start tomorrow!

Melbourne Good Food & Wine Show is from this Friday, 6th June.

This year, Sakenet Australia's guest is...

Mr. and Mrs. Ogawahara from Shinkame shuzo

Mr. and Mrs. Sato from Koikawa shuzo

Good Food & Wine Show

We will be part of "Good Food & Wine Show" in Melbourne and Sydney this year.

http://www.goodfoodshow.com.au/

Melbourne: 7th - 10th June 2013
Sydney: 28th - 30th June 2013

For this event, our some of Kuramoto (Sake brewers) will come to Melbourne and Sydney. They will serve Sake to you at our Sakenet's tasting booth. You can try various Sake and also purchase them at the venue.

We will keep updating the information about this event here and our facebook page.

Sake wa Junmai 2012 (report #5) : Wineries in Beechworth

Continuing on from our last post, some brewers visited Beechworth on 10th July.

Bridge road breweries, nice pizza and beer tasting for lunch.

 The pizza restaurant is also a beer brewery, 

we took a tour of the factory.

 After lunch, we visited 2 wineries; Savaterre and Giaconda.

 The entrance of the cave (wine cellar) at Giaconda

 The cave is full of wine barrels.

 We tasted some very rare wine from Savaterre and Giaconda.

 The tasting was very serious.

This is very rare picture too, 

five top brewers from Australia and Japan.

Thank you, Keppell (Savaterre), Nobue-san (Savaterre) and Peter (Giaconda) for having us.

Sake wa Junmai 2012 (report #4) : Sake tasting in Beechworth

After the sake tasting at The Grace Hotel Sydney, we had some small tastings at restaurants around Sydney and one in Victoria.

On 10th July, some of our guest brewers visited the restaurant "The Provenance" in Beechworth, Victoria.

An hour flight from Sydney and an hour drive to Beechworth

 The brewers

 The Provenance : the building was an old bank

 Planning the sake matching with the food

 The owner chef Michael's speech

 The dinner was casual and the brewers shared the table with guests.

 Raw garfish, puffed rice, dashi lime gel,

orange salt, nori powder, seaweed

 Butter sauteed cauliflower, pickled cauliflower,

brown butter gel, candied pine nuts, scallop floss

Sakes from Shinkame, Izumibashi and Umetsu

Thank you, Michael and The Provenance staff for hosting such a lovely event.

P.S.

Sorry I did not take pictures after the second course, we were too busy eating and drinking!

Sake wa Junmai 2012 (report #3) : Lucky draw

The happy smiles of lucky draw winners.

Sake wa Junmai 2012 (report #2) : Breweries

Photos of our guest brewers.

 Ms. Ohta (Bentenmusume)

 Rei (Sakenet) and Mr. Hashiba (Izumibashi)

 Mr. Morinaga (Komagura)

 Mr. and Mrs. Ogawahara (Shinkame)

 Mr. Nagayama (Taka)

 Mr. Taketsuru (Taketsuru)

Rei (Sakenet) and Mr. Umetsu (Umetsu)