America has the best selection of sake outside of Japan. Hundreds of brands have been registered by importers. Most restaurants and bottle shops in major cities have access to dozens of them at any given time. Imports, though, are not cheap. Even most of America’s domestic producers tend to be pricey. Thankfully, SakeOne in Oregon offers reasonable prices together with reliably good quality.
As people stay home more during during the COVID-19 pandemic, they probably miss their fix of fine sake at their local Japanese restaurant, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it at home. SakeOne is making that easier through its online shop by offering direct shipping options to more than half of the states in the U.S. Interestingly, SakeOne is both a domestic producer and importer, so the selection is decent, too.
Among its domestic brands (Momokawa, G, Moonstone and Yomi), readers of Sake Today will probably recognize Yomi quickly. The canned, individual-serving sake has been featured in several outdoorsy ads. Indeed, if you’re planning to hit the wilderness for some real social distancing, these are easy to pack. We must say they’re rather good when gardening, too.
The import brands include Hakutsuru (Hyogo), Yoshinogawa (Niigata), Murai Family (Aomori), Kasumi Tsuru (Hyogo), and KIBO (Iwate). Hakutsuru is, of course, a titan of the industry that we recently featured in Sake Today 23. KIBO, meanwhile, is from Suisen Shuzo in the coastal city of Rikuzentakata, which was largely wiped out in the tsunami of March 11th, 2011. The brewery got back on its feet following the devastating loss of personnel and infrastructure alike, and made KIBO (meaning “hope”) the centerpiece of its recovery. We featured this inspiring story in Sake Today 9. It’s an uplifting read in times like these, and even more uplifting, perhaps, if you’re sipping some of this liquid history while reading it.
The range of styles available through SakeOne’s online store covers the gamut from futsu-shu (table sake) to daiginjo–you should be able to find a fix appropriate to your tastes and needs. Note that shipping is free for orders over $125. Be aware that restrictions for shipping domestic or imported products may differ from state to state. New products are on the horizon so stay tuned!
