The process of bringing back a few bottles of sake was such a drag last
week (customs, security, etc.) and shlepping them around Tokyo on my
way to Narita and all the rest, that I just blew it off.

I'm in one of those rare places in the USA where I can actually walk
into stores and buy good sake, at Mitsuwa, Marukai and Hi-Times, all in
Costa Mesa, CA, just down the road about 10 minutes from Santa Ana. Of
course I know there are jillions of reasonably priced sakes-of-the-gods
that I can buy in Japan can't be had in the US at any price.

It's overpriced, certainly, at Hi-Times, but their stock is intriguing.
Over the past two or three years all these stores have gone from the
1.8 liter bottles (the traditional sized bottle) to regulation "fifth"
bottles the way most US booze is sold. But the price-per-ounce has
skyrocketed in the process. Hi-Times doesn't even sell the 1.8's, and
the Japanese supermarkets down have the smaller bottles at about 3-to-1.

The price for a 1.8 bottle started, for the better sakes, at around $32
and went up to about $70 (Mitsuwa/Marukai). Now they seem to have a
greater selection in the smaller bottles but they seem to run about the
same price.

Hi-Times has lots of names I've never seen before, at least a 3rd of
them with special labels printed in the US (I assume) with little kanji
and an English name prominently displayed. I've bought a couple and
them, and think they are great, but they were around $32 each. Which
sucks and will certainly cut down on my volume of usage.

The two I've bought turned out to be distributed through "Vine
Connections" in Sausalito. The entire cabinet (they are in a
glass-front cooler as beer would be sold) might be through VC. There
are many (25-30) less-than-a-fifth bottles, though not quite as small
as the One Cup size. Probably about twice that size; maybe half a
fifth.

I hate to avoid embracing traditional names, but damn it's hard to get
Japanese to stick in my head. Anyway, they don't seem to provide it. I
got two: "Bride of the Fox", by a Niigata brewer by the way, and "Wings
of Fortune". I find it irritating that I can't name the sake in
Japanese, though the kanji is clearly displayed at the website (below)
for those who might help out on the info. These both come frome the
brewer Kaetsu Shuzo, says the website.

Both are inexplicably called "Kanbara" on the website. Both very tasty.

I've always thought I liked the drier sakes, but I find these
purportedly more "sweet" sakes (both nihonshu-do: +3) much more
complex. I think of them as more "floral" rather than sweet. I've had
some sweet sakes in Japan they would make handful of Brach confections
seem dry. This stuff is certainly not sweet to my tastes.

For more info, and possible recruitment for your local wine-sto

http://www.vineconnections.com/sake/index.html
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What a day this has been, what a rare mood I'm in.