Enjoying blend sake

The Sunday of the last week was a cold day, and my fancy for warmed sake increased. So, I went to Izakaya Sawanosuke at Sawanoien with my friend. They operate this izakaya only on weekends, but this is a nice place to drink warmed sake in the daytime. Actually, since Sawanoien is open only in the daytime, Sawanosuke closes the operations late-afternoon.

Quite unfortunately, Sawanosuke was not operating on that day. Last year, I had also the same experience. It was as if I had known non-business days of the izakaya, and has selected such days. I am so unlucky about this izakaya.

It was a cold day and it was hard to drink cold sake in such a condition. We wanted to leave Sawanoien and go to some warm place to drink sake.

Anyway, we had lunch first at the Mameraku, tofu restaurant, on the premises, and had some sips of sake at Kikisake Dokoro (sake tasting corner) as we usually do when we visit the place. Then, we left Sawanoien for Tachikawa.

We got to Tachikawa around 4 o'clock in the afternoon. It was still too early for normal izakayas to open. However, there are usually some exceptional izakayas. Kaisen Uoriki is one of such exceptional restaurants. So, we entered the Kaisen Uoriki on the south exist-side of Tachikawa Station.

By the way, is this izakaya a chain store? I see Kiasen Uoriki in several places. I know there are at least two Uoriki izakayas in Tachikawa, and there is one in Akishima, so they are probably chain izakayas. In the past, chain izakayas did not carry very good sake, but lately they have good menus. Actually, this Uoriki also had a relatively nice selection of sake.

Otohshi appetizers neatly arranged on a plate were good enough for pairing with sake. As to foods at this izakaya, sashimi was nice, and they had also nice sushi, which you may want to eat as a wind-up food.

We ordered Gazanryu Hazuki Muroka Namazake, which was sake rich in taste and went well with kinmedai kabuto ni (boiled head of an alfonsino fish flavored with soy sauce, sugar, sake, and other seasonings) Then, we ordered Yukimuro, sake from Gunma Prefecture made from Gohyakumangoku sake rice. This was quite dry and flinty sake.

Then, I have an inspiration. I poured some of the half left Gazanryu in my cup and then added Yukimuro to it, blending the two sakes fifty-fifty. This blend sake tasted basically like Gazanryu, but it had increased mildness and sweetness, became easier to drink, and went good with foods. I found that blending two sakes in one's own way was also a pleasure of sake drinking.

And, here is today's video. I compared two warmed Tokyo sakes, Sawanoi and Kasen.