Sake Monday

After a busy weekend of skiing, curling, and board games, we decided to bump our Something Saturday until Monday night. And we were certainly glad we did when we were sipping on sake and eating delicious Japanese food after a long day of work. 

On Monday we went to "Some like it...Warm!" a warm sake-tasting event hosted by the Sake Institute of Ontario. Sake is a rice wine made by fermenting polished rice and is also the national beverage of Japan. Before this event, neither one of us had much experience drinking sake so we were up for trying almost anything.

The event was held at Kingyo and featured seven sake distributors and manufacturers showcasing over 30 sakes. ​

Some of the distributors were very helpful in explaining the sake-brewing process and the differences between the various sakes on offer. Over the span of the evening, we tasted ~6 sakes which ranged from some warm apple cider sake from the Ontario Spring Water Sake Company, to the Tengumai Junmai Daiginjo 50 which is a new style of Daiginjo sake brewed in Japan. 

And there was food. Lots and lots of tasty Japanese tapas. Some of our favourites were the grilled mackerel, chicken kara age, and the salmon and toro battera sushi.

Throughout the evening, surveys were also being passed around to collect feedback on your preconceived notions about sake and why you like/don't like it. Our understanding is that these surveys will be used to try to get more sake imported into Ontario, so while sake is not necessarily our drink of choice (partially because it is slightly pricey), we were more than happy to help!

We ended up leaving the event around 8 pm with a little sake buzz. We were very pleased with ourselves for choosing to check out this random event to get our work week started off right. Here are some more photos from the event:

(SLIDESHOW)

We had fun. 

This time last year, we checked out the DJ Skate Night at the Waterfront, in 2015 Elizabeth tried skiing for the first time, and in 2014 we checked out another foodie event.