Onsen Winter 2025
It is 8 degrees outside this morning as I write this to you… perfect weather for our new seasonal menu. We change our menu seasonally because we love living in a place with extremely different seasons. It lets us explore the bottles we love and play with them in different temperatures, drinking vessels, and while brushing snow off our cars, etc.
If we were to pick a theme of this menu, it is a love letter to rice (duh, right? Stay with me…) We are offering more than one nonalcoholic rice based beverage as well as alcoholic, fermented rice based beverages that are Korean and Vietnamese. Below is an explanation of the shifts in our menu this season…
A new menu section: ANA
We have added an “adult non alcoholic” beverage section to the menu. Each selection is rice based, but also a play on a traditional Japanese beverage called amazake and maybe more aligned with some of our January goals, you know?
What is Amazake?
“Amazake (pronounced ah-mah-ZAH-kay) is a traditional Japanese drink made of fermented rice. Literally means “sweet” (甘) “sake” (酒), it has a creamy, thick consistency with a sweet flavor, served either chilled or warm/hot. Although it is commonly called sweet sake, Amazake can be made either with low-alcohol or non-alcohol.
The history of amazake goes back to the Kofun period (250 to 538 AD), mentioned in The Nihon Shoki (日本書紀) or The Chronicles of Japan – the second-oldest book of classical Japanese history.
There are 2 Types of Amazake. Alcoholic amazake made with sake lee (the one I didn’t like growing up), and the non-alcoholic amazake made with rice koji. I now enjoy both types of amazake and they have been my favorite winter comfort drink for many years.”
Read More from Just One Cookbook (including some recipes) here
Nobody:
Alyssa: What is ANA you ask? According to this nice article by our friends at Punch Drink…
ANA:
N/A is the more common designation for the category, but some experts argue that “ANA”—for adult nonalcoholic beverage—is the superior term, because it specifies that the beverage in question is meant to capture the experience and/or social function of drinking alcohol. Seltzer, soda and milk, for example, are all technically N/A drinks, but they are not ANA drinks.
Hop a Plane
Yes! Please! Included in this selection is a lesson on what is and is not sake. The first two beverages are from our dear friends in Vietnam and Greenpoint, Brooklyn. They are exemplary versions of fermented alcoholic (not amazake) rice beverages that are not sake. To help further explain what sake is, we wanted to share what our friends are doing in related categories. Cousins? Besties? Same but different.
Additionally, we have included sake from Mexico and Paris - our vacation destinations of choice right now.
We hope you learn a little from this new group of bottles but more-so, we wanted to fill your cup with a little escapism.
Club Classics has been replaced by The Library
“The Library” is an opportunity to explore the many categories and styles of sake. We have picked these selections to show examples of sake’s glossary. If you have ever come across a term or a style that you loved, try our selection. If you still love it, ask us what comes next based off this information. We want this section to help you explore your sake curiosity. Let us know which bottle you love best.
A Whisky Glow Up
You have shown us that you really love drinking Japanese whisky. We do too. Especially during these winter months. This season, we gave our whisky menu a glow up with some really interesting bottles and some high end options too.
Look for the Nikka “Nine Decades” 90th Anniversary Limited Edition Blended Whisky… Nine Decades is a testament to the master blenders’ meticulous skill, showcasing a harmonious blend of malts and grains from Nikka’s two iconic distilleries: Yoichi and Miyagikyo. This bottle combines whiskies distilled over nine decades, from the 1940s to the 2020s. It includes rare single malts from Yoichi and Miyagikyo Distilleries, as well as whisky from Scotland's Ben Nevis Distillery. Bottled at 48% ABV, it's a tribute to Nikka's rich history and craftsmanship. 4000 bottles produced globally, and only 400 bottles for the in the US market.
Also look for some koji fermented “whisky” on the menu. You may have read about one of them in the New York Times right after the new year.
I will write more about our new whisky section later in the season, but there are nice tasting notes included on the menu.
Happy Sake Sipping, sweet friends!
Love,
Alyssa + The Kojies