Kadota Liquor organized a sake tasting event recently. It was held at the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel in their Moku Ola banquet room. We tasted beer and shochu in addition to sake.
I love sake and I love enjoying sake with friends. This event was extra fun because it was like a big party except that we didn’t have to set up or clean up. The admission fee includes sake, pupu, and a sake cup to take home. (Click here to see the sake cup on Amazon.) Since we are in Hilo, I knew many of the people in attendance and made some new friends. One person whose name I recognized knew me because my dog goes to her good friend’s house when I’m out of town. Even my dog has friends in Hilo!
Anyway, in addition to the drinks, our admission fee included totally local-friendly pupus like fried noodles, won ton, spam musubi, BBQ sticks, and makisushi.
The Cherry Company/Hakkaisan, World Sake Imports, Young’s Market, and Southern Glazers were the vendors sharing their products. Some products were familiar and some were brand new to me. Some yummy ones from the event included the Seitoku Daiginjo Prince of Peace, Kokuryu Kuzuryo Nine-Headed Dragon, and Yuki no Bosha Junmai Ginjo. There were some fun products like the Ozeki Yuzu Jelly. The beers included Kawaba Snow Wizen, Kawaba Sunrise Ale, Hitachino White Ale, Hitachino Red Rice Ale, and Orion an Okinawan beer.
My friend and I would like to plan a sake tour to Niigata similar to our last one to Akita in October. (We visited 8 breweries in 3 days in Akita! Click here to see the video about our tour on Na Leo TV.) At this event, we made friends with the vendor from Hakkaisan (one of my favorite breweries) in Niigata and can begin planning our trip. It was this person’s first time to Hilo, but he just came for work and had no time to explore our special home. He flew in that day and was leaving the following day to return home to Japan.
If you’re a sake lover, you have to come to the next tasting. If you’re new to sake, you definitely should come so you can try the many different kinds of sake there are–sweet, dry, fruity, bubbly, cold, warm. There will be at least one that you like! Living Hilo Style.
Living Hilo Style 