Hira-hai (shallow Sake cup)

This is a document that Mr. Masasuke Umetsu (president of Umetsu brewery) made for explaining about "Hira-hai". We used this document at the Good Food & Wine Show 2013.

Traditional sake cup "Hira-hai"

The ergonomically designed Sake cup.

The shallow, round shape of this cup is designed to allow your mouth and lips to form the best shape for enjoying sake, especially warm sake, and maximises the sensual experience.

The cup is round and made from fine porcelain.
The flat shape of the cup keeps your lips flat and creates a vertically narrow but wide space.

When you tilt the cup, sake flows into your mouth in a flat shape. It spreads over your tongue in a thin, wide film—you can taste the sake over the whole range of your tongue. Each part of your tongue is sensitive to a different taste.
You should keep the sake on your tongue for as long as possible to savour the taste—don’t send it down your throat in a hurry! With this cup, you can enjoy your sake to the full, every time you tilt your cup!

This cup only holds a small amount of sake, which is the best volume for drinking warm sake. Every mouthful can be tasted slowly at the best temperature.


The message written inside this sake cup is: ‘Sake wa junmai kan nara nao yoshi’. Junmai sake is good. Furthermore, warm junmai sake is the best.

By Hiroshi Uehara

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

Flat Rate Delivery for Sydney and Melbourne

We just start the $15 Flat Rate Delivery for Melbourne metropolitan area. You can find the next delivery schedule for Melbourne metropolitan area on our website. If the next delivery date does not suit you, please choose "AUS POST" then your order will be dispatched within 3 business days.

Shipping Schedule

•  Sydney Metropolitan Area (limited area)
• Flat Rate Delivery : within 3 business days.
• AUS POST : within 3 business days.
• Melbourne Metropolitan Area (limited area)
•  Flat Rate Delivery : please check our website.
•  AUS POST : within 3 business days.
• Australia Wide
•  AUS POST : within 3 business days.

*You can check if the "Flat Rate Delivery" is available for your delivery postcode, by pressing the "Estimate Shippng" button in your shopping cart.

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.