{"id":5324,"date":"2015-05-23T16:53:36","date_gmt":"2015-05-23T14:53:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bsrumybg.myraidbox.de\/?p=5324"},"modified":"2022-06-29T15:37:02","modified_gmt":"2022-06-29T13:37:02","slug":"nagai-on-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ibiza-style.com\/en\/nagai-on-tour\/","title":{"rendered":"Nagai on tour \u2013 An encounter with an Ancient Sake Society"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every year, when the almond trees are deciding when to blossom, the Nagai team take a rest, research and development trip. This year, the idea was to have some rest and relaxation in Asia. Massages, hot springs, some shopping and really good food. To visit our chef Reina’s family and nothing more… Famous last words!<\/p>\n

Nagoya, Osaka and the Awara hot springs were lovely, relaxing holidays. The calm before the storm. All of a sudden, we were caught up in a whirlwind of food, meetings, visits, promises and, a lot of sake! All of it\u00a0organised\u00a0and happily orchestrated by our man in Tokyo, Eryu. One of those special people you will never find with a frown on his face or a dour\u00a0demeanour…\u00a0a\u00a0brother from another mother!<\/p>\n

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When we got to Kyoto,\u00a0Eryu\u00a0was not there, but he sent his friend Hasegawa to guide us into the\u00a0backstreets\u00a0(and bars and restaurants) of the area known as Gion, home of the Geishas and Maikos! He was a most demanding and generous host, making us enjoy the finest delicacies of Japanese regional cuisine with delicious matching\u00a0sakes until\u00a0the wee hours, only to reappear with his bleached hair and\u00a0crooked smile\u00a0to cheer us on to another fabulous temple at the crack of the freezing February dawn.<\/p>\n

The Golden Temple, seen through a friendly blizzard of perfect snow-flakes, Chinese tourists and green tea clarity, is one of those memories I shall carry with me until my last days and I hope to one day recount to my grandchildren. The encounter of man, the nature of now with what man and nature created ages ago, is one of those folds in the fabric of time and space that remain indelibly engraved in the memory continuum of this humble voyager.<\/p>\n

The next morning, with our brains still foggy from the Golden Koy in the lake of the Golden Temple, Eryu finally appeared and took us to our first serious encounter with an ancient, eternal sake master, and so began an initiation into the Sake Society. The\u00a0honourable\u00a0Tokubei Masuda, the 16th<\/sup>\u00a0sake\u00a0master\u00a0from\u00a0the same family with the same name (all first<\/p>\n

born\u00a0males), was a most gracious host and showed us through the whole process with an elegance and\u00a0unselfconscious\u00a0class of another level. Each sake bottle a work of art, reflecting creativity and expression. From the shape of the bottle\u00a0to\u00a0the intricate label, all pointing to the exquisite, range of\u00a0flavours, textures and perfumes that each miniature tasting glass announced, as we pretended to know what we were doing.<\/p>\n

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Amazingly, our preconceptions of what sake was were totally overturned after just a few samples…\u00a0the\u00a0dry, fruity, sweet, salty, thick, creamy, bubbly versions\u00a0were\u00a0just the tip of the iceberg… Well, we did try about 19 types, on an empty stomach. However, I think I vaguely remember that we did a good job of appreciating the nuances and subtleties of this elixir of eternal tradition.<\/p>\n

After this first encounter, we took the world’s fastest train to Tokyo and proceeded to meet the Minister of the Government for the Promotion of Sake in the world, the representatives of the Kimon Akita breweries as well as the Promoter of Tourism, whisky, beer and sake of Hokkaido and other super interesting personalities of the Tokyo sake world. We risked our lives eating Fugu…each serving of potentially deadly blowfish, accompanied by the appropriate sake (some warm, some cold), Eryu, devilishly grinning as usual, our\u00a0saviour-tormentor.<\/p>\n

From these meetings, a continued relationship has evolved and we are now looking forward to presenting the Ibiza gastronomic panorama with a whole range of exquisite, extraordinary and exciting sakes, suitable to accompany sushi, fish, meat and desserts!<\/p>\n\n\t\t