Niigata Sake no Jin 2024
『Niigata Sake no Jin 2024' is a sake event held on Saturday, March 9th and Sunday, March 10th, 2024.
Held around the second week of March every year, most of the sake breweries in Niigata Prefecture (78 out of 89 breweries in 2024) exhibit, and you can sample most of the brands for free, making it an irresistible event for sake lovers.
If you taste a brand and find one you like, you can purchase it on the spot, and event-limited alcoholic beverages will also be on sale.
Additionally, Niigata cuisine will be sold as snacks, making it an event where you can enjoy Niigata's sake and cuisine.
ticket
There were two types of tickets: A ticket (5,000 yen) with reserved seats and B ticket (3,500 yen) without seats.
The reserved seats are long tables and pipe chairs similar to those found in conference rooms, and each ticket will allocate one section (about half a table and one pipe chair).
For B tickets, there is also a table, but there are no chairs, so you will basically have to stand.
Also, since the tables are free seating, it's first come, first serve, so the tables were reserved and quickly filled up.
There are no chairs or other places to sit inside the venue other than the reserved seats, so I thought the A ticket would be better in terms of having a place to sit.
This time I participated with a B ticket, but personally I think the B ticket was fine because I had to stand and drink for 2 and a half hours and didn't have time to sit or eat.
It's cheap.
Tickets are competitive
This is a popular event, so once tickets go on sale, they sell out within hours.
Of course, there will be no tickets sold on the day.
Tickets will go on sale around January, so please check the release date and time in advance.
This time, I got the impression that the A tickets sold out quickly, and the B tickets sold out within a few hours.
Albirex Niigata home opening match
During the second week of March, when Sake no Jin is held, the home opening game of J1 Soccer Albirex Niigata is often held.
In 2024, it was Saturday, March 9th from 14:00 vs. Nagoya.
In 2024, tickets for Sake no Jin went on sale on January 20th (Saturday), but at this point, the only information announced for Albi was that it would be held on March 9th (Saturday) or March 10th (Sunday).
Details will be announced on January 23rd (Tuesday), so I had to purchase tickets for Sake no Jin even though the schedule was not decided.
If you wait until January 23rd when the dates are confirmed, you won't be able to buy tickets for Sake no Jin because they are sold out. .
J.League, please make an announcement sooner. .
Although I don't know the details, the games often start from 13:00 to 14:00 on Saturdays and Sundays, so I think the only option is to buy the Saturday and Sunday morning session of Sake no Jin.
I attended the morning session on March 9th (Saturday) and was just in time for the game to start at 2pm. .
These events may overlap with events other than Sake no Jin, so be sure to book your hotel early.
Access
The opening will be at Toki Messe.
From Niigata Station, it takes less than 30 minutes on foot or about 15 minutes by bus, so we generally recommend accessing by bus.
If it's sunny or warm, we recommend walking as you can see the cityscape of Niigata.
However, Niigata in March is still cold.
The wind was strong that day, and there was snow on the ground, so I don't recommend walking at this time of year. .
clothing
Before the doors open, there will be a waiting line outside, so we recommend that you come dressed in warm clothing.
Once you enter the venue, the heating is on so it's warm.
On the contrary, it gets hot when I wear a coat.
There is a fee to store your luggage at the Kuroneko Yamato corner inside the venue, so please take advantage of it.
The fee was 500 yen for morning or afternoon storage, and 1,000 yen for the entire day.
Event starts
This time, the event will be held over two days, March 9th (Saturday) and March 10th (Sunday), with a total of four sessions in the morning and afternoon.
Each section was limited to 4,000 people, so it was quite crowded, but according to people who have been attending for a long time, it was even more crowded before the virus outbreak.
This time, I participated in the morning sessions on March 9th (Saturday) and March 10th (Sunday).
The venue will be open at around 10am for the morning session, and tastings will begin at 10:30am.
If you participate, you will receive a choco and a bottle of water.
In this way, we will pour it for you and taste it.
By pouring water into the used ochoko, you can wash the ochoko while also rehydrating it.
If you are concerned about the effect on your next drink, there is also a faucet so you can wash it.
Originally, I would like to introduce the brands I drank one by one. .
I only had two and a half hours to sample the wine, so I had to keep drinking.
I'm not at the level where I can comment or take notes on every brand, so I'll introduce the ones that I thought were particularly delicious.
Ishizuka Sake Brewery Himenoi Rikura
The sweet and sour flavor of the apricots was delicious.
Personally, I think the apricot element is a flavor that is not often found in Japanese sake.
It will be released as a raw sake type for Sake no Jin, and a pasteurized type will be released this summer.
Kamo Nishiki Sake Brewery Marvin
This is a limited edition sake for Sake no Jin from Kamo Nishiki Sake Brewery, which is well-known for its tag sake.
It had a very fresh taste, with fruitiness and yogurt-like lactic acid.
Takanoi Sake Brewery Tatomo Junmai Ginjo
It had a rice flavor and was rich in flavor.
Kawachu Sake Brewery Sotenbo Junmai Active Nigori Namazake Professional Limited
It was light and easy to drink for a cloudy drink, and had a nice fresh taste and fizzing carbonation.
Nakagawa Sake Brewery Koshino Hakugan Junmai Daiginjo Origarami
It was my first time hearing about this brand, but it was delicious.
Tahara Sake Brewery Snow Crane
I wasn't able to take a photo of the bottle, but I overwhelmingly preferred the sparkling.
It may be difficult to compare it to other alcoholic beverages, but it tasted like drinking champagne.
At the first glass, I understood why sparkling sake is drunk as a toast.
Impressions
Although I am from Niigata, I was surprised to see so many sake breweries that I had never heard of or tried before.
『Niigata sake rankingIf you look it up, you'll find names like Abe and Murasuke.
Of course, these are delicious, but they are listed in the rankings because they are distributed nationwide or within Tokyo.
When it comes to sake, Niigata has brands that can only be found within Niigata Prefecture, and brands that can only be found in smaller areas where sake breweries are located.
There's no way to research these, so it's difficult to learn about them or drink them unless you visit the area or attend an event like this.
Being on an online ranking means it's delicious, but that doesn't mean it's a delicious drink for me or you, or it's a top ranking drink, and it's possible that a drink that I couldn't find out is delicious.
I realized that if you want to dig deeper into sake, you need to drink a variety of sake and visit areas where sake breweries are located.
At this event, I drank sake on its own, but I think it becomes a different story when paired with food, so I felt that sake was an interesting drink.
Points to note
I would like to introduce a few things that I think need attention.
Crowd conditions vary depending on the booth
Some booths were so crowded that you had to wait in line to get a taste.
Abe Sake Brewery, which is famous for Abe, Asahi Sake Brewery, which is famous for Kubota, Tenryo Sake Sake Brewery, which is used in JAL First Class, Hemi Sake Brewery, which is famous for Itaru, and Kamo Nishiki Sake Brewery, which is famous for tag sake, seemed to be quite crowded.
The other booths don't seem to have long lines, so people crowd around, holding out their hands to hold the choko to the sake brewery staff who pours the sake for them.
It is not possible to participate in just one part.
Since the tasting time was only 2.5 hours, I thought it would be difficult to get the full experience if I only attended one part.
There were 78 breweries participating this time, and if you wanted to drink all of them, you would have to drink 78 cups in 2.5 hours (150 minutes), so you would have to drink about one cup every two minutes.
There are not just one type of sake per brewery, but several types on display, and there are some booths with long lines, so it can be very time-consuming.
Also, if you are trying to buy a brand you like, it becomes even more difficult because there is time to check out.
This time I participated in two sessions: the Saturday morning session and the Sunday morning session.
Saturday was mostly shopping, Sunday was mostly drinking, and I think we were able to drink almost 100 cups (100 types) from almost all the breweries in these two sessions.
Personally, I think you can enjoy drinking and shopping by participating in Part 2.
If you add food to this list, it feels like you need another copy. .
May sell out quickly
There will be 4 parts in total, but some booths have fixed numbers such as 50 bottles in each part and the number/quantity of bottles to be sampled.Some booths offered more and more and sold out.
It seems that some stocks were sold out just in the Saturday morning session, so I think it would be a good idea to participate in the Saturday morning session if it suits you.
Be careful not to drop the rice cake
The floor of the venue, Toki Messe, is made of concrete.
So, if you drop the rice cake, it will break.
As we approached the middle of the event and everyone started to get drunk, we could hear the sounds of cracking and breaking everywhere.
You may want to hold it firmly in your hand, or you may purchase something called an Ochoko strap, which was sold before entering the venue.
I held it in my hand, but I managed to avoid breaking it.
I can't get the BGM out of my ears. .
It's not that much of a caution. .
During Sake no Jin, Shion Kuwana with Pattaya Beach Boys' ``Let's have a toast” is being repeated endlessly.
I listened non-stop for 2.5 hours during the tasting, and since I attended 2 sessions, I was listening for about 5 hours.
This is definitely the song I listened to the most this year. .
Purchased product introduction
I would like to introduce you to what I purchased this time.
- Ishizuka Sake Brewery Himenoi Ishoni
- Ishizuka Sake Brewery Himenoi Rikura
- Tahara Sake Brewery Yukitsuru Sparkling
- Abe Sake Brewery x Echigo Herb Raw
- Asahi Sake Brewery Kubota Nigori
- Asahi Sake Brewery Manju Kubota Unfiltered raw sake
- Kamo Nishiki Sake Brewery Marvin
I bought all the brands that I tried and thought were delicious.
I think it's unique to events that you can buy something after drinking it.
The total purchase price for the seven books is approximately 17,000 yen.
A bottle of whiskey costs roughly over 20,000 yen, so as someone who usually buys whisky, it feels extremely cheap.
It looks like he won't have any trouble drinking alcohol with dinner for a while.
Shipping
There was a Kuroneko Yamato booth inside the venue, and for a fee, you could store your luggage there and have it shipped from there.
The package will be carefully packed on the spot, so all you had to do was fill out the slip and hand over the item you wanted to send.
The shipping cost for 7 bottles was around 2,000 yen, using cool delivery + packaging materials from Niigata to Tokyo.
7 bottles is too heavy to carry home by hand.
Some of the items you purchase are raw sake, so if you take them home by hand, the quality may be affected.
Considering these things, I think the shipping cost is rather cheap.
It arrived safely without any cracks, so I can't thank the people at Kuroneko Yamato enough who were in charge of it that day.
Purchased product introduction
Niigata Sake no Jin was a very fun event, so I would like to participate again next year.
I'm fine with the hotel because it's my family's home, but I want to win the battle for tickets.
YouTube
I'm also posting it on YouTube!
