True Sake and Sakaya

I am so thankful to all the great local wine shops and Asian markets around the Carolinas that carry "true" high quality Japanese sakes I've found on my journey over the past two years here in my native American South, as we now know we're "Not Alone".  

I've met incredible people like James Voltz who operates The Raleigh Wine Shop, Mr. Forrest who manages the sake department at The Grand Asian Market (in Charlotte), Master Chef Masa of Waraji Restaurant (here in Raleigh); Waraji is the true oasis of North Carolina sake (http://www.warajijapaneserestaurant.com/about/)  

I have some very special posts planned in their dedication.

Locating, highlighting, and supporting local places around the Carolinas that carry high quality sakes is the main goal of this blog.  But I would also like to highlight a few places online where you can order rare sometimes hard to find sakes and while they’re not exactly local to us, they are still helping bring “True” sake to America and they offer online orders.

True Sake in San Francisco and Sakaya in NYC are prime examples of passionate sake merchants who operate “Sake Only” stores here in the US.  They’re both operated by very special folks, experts in sake, and eager to make sake more widely understood, available, and popular.  Check them out at their digital store fronts!

 Sakaya

 324 East 9th Street 

New York, NY 10003 

http://www.sakayanyc.com/

True Sake

560 HAYES ST. 

SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102

http://www.truesake.com/

-Brad Russell

Raleigh Sake Hotspot- Seaboard Wine & Tasting Bar @ Seaboard Station

   

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     It’s never a good idea to judge things by their outside appearance, this however is not the case with Seaboard Wine.

     

     It’s remarkably beautiful store front matches the kindness and charm of what you’ll find inside; a friendly staff and a cozy wonderful environment filled with over 2000 (!) different wines and of course one of the city’s best Sake selections.

     

     They’re also the cities longest running independent wine store, they’re celebrating their 16^th year of operation.

     

     Let’s get to the Sake!  They keep a nice selection representing a good variety of types, grades, regions, and flavor profiles.  The selection changes every couple of months so it's always fun to stop in and see what’s in stock.

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(a few recommendations from this current selection: the Sparkling Diaginjo, Bride of The Fox, Snow Shadow, One Cup, Coy, Diving Droplets)

     What really sets them apart however is their quality of customer service and willingness to put up with my sometimes odd Sake requests for special order.  I've encountered a much different attitude from especially the big-box wine stores and even some of the other small independent wine shops were sometimes you can get a sense that while they may carry some Sake, they really couldn't care less about it much less go through the task of contacting their suppliers and seeing if they can track down a special bottle for you.

    To Emma and Jenn and the rest of the Seaboard Wine staff, thanks for always making a Sake customer feel welcome in a wine shop and entertaining our special Sake requests!

Check out Seaboard Wine and Tasting Bar for yourself at-

http://www.seaboardwine.com/

802 Semart Drive, Suite 118

Raleigh, NC 27604

-Brad Russell