March 15, 2016
March sakes ship today for Sake Gumi, our monthly sake subscription club. If you like what’s on deck here, you should join! On March 11, 2011, the Tohoku region was hit by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake. As if that wasn’t enough, a tsunami that hit a maximum height of 133 ft, traveling 6 miles inland, caused […]
January 15, 2016
Happy New Year! In 2015, we expanded our Oakland shop to include sakes and the largest selection of Japanese craft beers in the U.S. Then, we launched Sake Gumi in August in an effort to spread the joy of sake to those in the Bay Area and beyond. We felt that this club would be […]
December 28, 2015
December is when the warmth of friends and family is there to balance the cold weather. The contrast of the cold weather outside and the toasty home-comings during the holidays is what we want to reflect in our sakes this month. Our theme for Sake Gumi this month is “Cold Weather, Warm Gatherings.†For our […]
December 14, 2015
It’s heartwarming to know that the holidays are around the corner, until the madness hits you like a ton of bricks — holiday parties, road rage and lines, lines, lines. This is Sake Gumi’s first holiday season, and we are having lots of fun selecting special edition sakes that will ease the shock and stress […]
November 16, 2015
Photos by Daniel Metcalf We had our very first Sake Gumi Social last weekend — it was a BLAST! This event was exclusive to Sake Gumi members, held at Ramen Shop’s new bar annex. Yoko and I wanted the event to be informative and lively, letting all the local Sake Gumi members meet and get to know […]
October 18, 2015
It’s been three months since starting Sake Gumi. Frankly speaking, Kayoko and I have been overwhelmed by the reception, with members joining from coast to coast. The Sake Gumi love is alive and thriving across America. For October, we wanted to celebrate the end of the rice harvest season in Japan. The last harvest usually […]
July 23, 2015
It’s been a crazy sake week here at Umami Mart — first we launched the Sake Gumi, and now, we’re happy to announce a special tasting event with renowned Hakkaisan Brewery! We will be hosting an evening with Timothy Sullivan, founder of Urban Sake and Brand Ambassador of Hakkaisan Brewery. I have known Timothy since my NYC days — […]
July 22, 2015
Yoko and I could not be more thrilled today — we are dubbing it SAKE GUMI DAY. We’re finally launching our sake club! IT IS HERE! We’ve been having a lot of fun since we opened our Bottle System in April — it’s been really wonderful to be able to share sakes and beers from Japan with […]