A group of Izumi Sakes will be featured at Jamie Kennedy’s “The Spirit of Local” event March 5, 2012, 6:30-9:00pm at Gilead Cafe and Bistro. 

The theme of the event is A Local Food Movement Cocktail Party.   Ontario Spring Water Sake Company’s Izumi-branded sakes will be sharing the spotlight with Still Waters Vodkas from a distillery in Concord, and Gilead Vodka from Prince Edward County.  This event is certain to be delicious, entertaining and educational!

Ontario Spring Water Sake Company has recently started conducting regularly scheduled Tasting Tours at our Distillery District sake brewery.  Initially we are offering scheduled tours at 5pm Thursday evenings, and Saturdays and Sundays at 1pm and 4pm. 

The tasting tours consist of an overview of the sake brewing process, raw materials and equipment, followed by a guided tasting of several of our freshly-brewed unpasteurized and pasteurized sakes.  The tasting tour takes about 1 hour, and is available at a cost of $15 (plus HST), which includes a souvenir IZUMI competitive sake tasting cup.

Spots on any tour can be pre-booked at 416-365-SAKE (7253), or may be arranged at the brewery prior to the scheduled tour time, subject to availability. 

Groups of 5 or more can also book a private tour at their convenience.

Hope to see you soon!

This morning we have started to press Brew #17. We have just paused to taste the Arabashiri first run sake, and it is indeed delicious, a smooth, clean and fruity encore to Takahashi-toji, whose methods are now being applied by head brewer Greg Newton.  Those who brave Toronto’s winter weather to visit our brewery today through Monday can taste just-pressed Shiboritate sake at the tasting bar, sake at its freshest! 

We will bottle a very limited amount of the first-pressed Arabashiri version of Batch #17 for the growing number of customers that have become fans of this light but flavourful treat, which will be available only at our retail outlet in the Distillery District.

Kampai!

Last week we made our first delivery of sake lees (“sakekasu”) to Brian Knox’s Wagyu Beef Farm in Formosa, Ontario.  Sakekasu is used by Kobe beef and other Wagyu farmers in Japan as a key part of their diet, as it enhances the animals’ appetite and thereby contributes to the marbling of the gourmet beef.  For sake breweries this use of their sakekasu reinforces sake brewing as an environmentally sustainable activity. 

After making the sakekasu delivery we used our refrigerated sake delivery van to transport some delicious Knox Wagyu to The Healthy Butcher, a premium meat purveyor in Toronto.  Mr. Knox started feeding his current herd sakekasu over the weekend, so sakekasu-fed Wagyu beef will finally be available to Ontario consumers later this year. 

We are looking forward to trying the sakekasu-fed meat when it becomes available, and will keep you posted about its availability.