Mixed Signals: Imported Sake Hits the Shelves of a BIG NC Supermarket Chain.

Komedake, instantly recognizable by their stylized "米"

Ingles is a chain of family-owned supermarkets in North Carolina. Some of them are really big.  I don't buy much in the way of food there, but I do pop in from time to time for the odd dozen eggs or gallon of milk.

But this store is big. They could hold a 5k race in there. In fact, at the Black Mountain Ingles,  there are at least 6 aisles dedicated to wine.

And sake? Well, there is some, I was surprised to learn.

What is there?

They've got Ozeki Junmai from California, Takhara Masamune, some Sho Chiku Bai, and a few varieties of TyKu. Mostly domestically made sake, and of the bunch, I find the Ozeki okay, if warmed, and who can argue with 1.8L of junmai sake for less than $10?

So when I want a bottle for cooking, or just one to have around to warm up, I head to Ingles.

Now I've been keeping a lazy eye out at the tiny wedge of shelf space dedicated to sake at my local Ingles Supermarket in the hope that one day that tiny 18-inch portion of the shelf might one day expand.

You see, according to North Carolina's Alcoholic Beverage Commission, it's illegal for folks to buy alcohol from out of state and have it shipped to them here, so for those wishing to abide (or in this case, imbibe) by the rules, there are few  if any viable options out there.

Sake is out there in some restaurants but at the retail level, North Carolina is mostly an imported-sake desert.

So I was quite surprised a few weeks back when I noticed that there were some premium imported sake sitting right alongside the domestic stuff. Would it be old stock that the distributor is just trying to push out? What was there?

Well, I found some bottles of the following:

Nakagawa "Komedake" Pure Grain Junmai (Tottori)

Miyashita Shuzo  "Hare no Kuni" Sunshine Country  Junmai (Okayama)

Miyashita Takara Fune "Treasure Ship" Junmai Ginjo (Okayama)

Housui Brewery's "Housui" Fragrant Water Tokubetsu Junmai (Tokushima)

I was really excited, and since that time tried all four sake, even though I had had some of them before.

According to the label, all of these sake come via the same importer, Sakestory and are distributed in NC by Empire Distributors.

The bottles were in okay shape, but I would be very surprised if they were BY14 or even BY13. They all tasted a bit flat. Not bad- just...old. Better than I expected, actually.

It would still be nice to see sake for retail that is well cared for, promoted, and understood. One can hope.