I Can't Get Enough of the Funky Stuff!

Message from Beverage Director, Sam Miyazawa:

Although it was three days later than planned, Kuraichi fully reopened on July 21st. After that, we encountered various technical issues that kept our new team busy with troubleshooting and problem-solving. These issues caused inconvenience to our customers, such as many out-of-stock items, but we can finally say that almost everything is functioning normally again.

As we introduced on Instagram, the new Kuraichi is on the immediate right as you enter from "88 35th Street," the door closest to Third Avenue above 35th Street. It is also on the immediate right when you exit the elevator lobby from Sunrise Mart or the Food Hall, and on the left if you enter from the Courtyard. In other words, the new Kuraichi is right in the middle of Japan Village!

One thing that we, the new team, need to work harder on is free tastings in the store, which was a specialty of the old store. The new store is actually smaller than the old one, but the traffic is obviously higher, so we are working on finding the best way to hold tastings comfortably. So, for starters, we will resume the free tastings at the end of August as a grand opening event for the new store! We plan to hold them on Fridays and Saturdays for four consecutive weeks, and we will announce the details in this newsletter and on Instagram.

First of all, on Friday, July 25th, we will hold a "Kuraichi Grand Opening Funky Sake Tasting", featuring sake from Terada Honke. This is Kenny's favorite brewery, who led the first season of Kuraichi with me. Back when the only words in Japanese Kenny knew were names of sake, he took local trains and walked along country roads alone just to visit this brewery. Terada Honke impressed him by their unique production and "philosophy". Thanks to Kenny's influence, I also became fascinated with the sake from this brewery. I was impressed by the book written by Keisuke Terada, the former president and master brewer, who has since passed away.

To make a long story short, their sake emphasizes the following concepts.

- Brewing sake within the laws of nature

- Making sake that is beneficial to the drinker and their body

- Making powerful and lively sake through powerful fermentation

- No pesticides or additives

- Emphasizing the role of the microorganisms involved in sake brewing

- Fermenting not only the sake brewing process but also the human body ("Ferment yourself!")

Daigo no Shizuku

Musubi

Katori 90

Supported by these ideas, Terada Honke's sake is very funky, but that is the result, not the goal. However, if we are to be honest, being a little funky might be natural and good for the body! So, for the in-store tasting on 7/25, let's enjoy "Funky Sake Stuff" and let's go with "One Sake Nation Under the Groove"!