Fukue Homma - your guide in the land of sake
The Wine Room at the Hotel Okura is the place to go for sake workshops. That's because Japanese rice wine is the perfect complement to oriental cuisine.
Japanese Sommelière
The Japanese sommelière Fukue Homma can take you through a variety of sake workshops and tastings. Homma-san began her training in Japan with wine, but for some years now has also been studying the rituals surrounding Japan's own wine, sake.
Sake and Food
During the tastings you learn to differentiate between the different types of sake, and gain insight into what temperature to serve different qualities of sake at. Fukue Homma also devotes attention to matching sake with Asian cuisine.
Fermentation
Sake is older than the hills. The Japanese were already making alcohol in 300 BC, by chewing on rice and spitting the pulp into a pot. The saliva set the rice fermenting, making a slightly alcoholic drink.
Many Varieties
Since those long-gone times, rice wine has undergone enormous development. Nowadays you will find a variety of different sorts of sake, with widely divergent alcohol contents. Quality, too, varies greatly, depending on the degree to which the rice kernel is polished - all the way to its white heart.
Good Luck
Sake is closely interwoven with Japanese culture. During festivals and events, the drink is often brought in a brimming wooden barrel topped with a thin lid. During the ceremony, the lid is broken open and the sake poured into little square boxes of untreated wood, to be served to guests. Such rituals, called kagami biraki, are said to bring good luck.
Your Own Good Fortune
Luckily for you, Fukue Homma holds sake workshops in the Wine Room at the Hotel Okura Amsterdam - the tasting-room for wine and sake. Your tasting-room....
Experience the Taste of Okura...at Taste of Okura
