Joy of Sake 2015

A great event! My first time going everyone who is working the Sake stations is very well informed I left knowing a lot more about sake than I was expecting!

391 bottles of sakes on the floor, 391 bottles of sake!
Pipe some up, toss it back, 390 bottles of sake!
390 bottles of sake on the floor, 390 bottles of sake!
Pipe some up, toss it back, 389 bottles of sake!
…
300 bottles of sake *hiccup* on the floor, 390 bottles of *HICCUP*!
Pipesssome up, tosssit back, 29*hiccup*9 bottles of sake!
299 bottles of sake on the floor, *hiccup* bottles of SAKEHHH!
Pipesssome up, tosshiccup*sit back, 298 bottles of sake!
…
242 bottles of, **OOPS** I’m on the floor, 242 *F#$%ING* bottles of SAKEHHHHH!
Pipesssome up, — Oh hai, Malia! Whaat number saki are we drinkinguu? — I love sakeehhhhh.
242– wait 241! 241 bottles of sake on the floor. –slump– ZzZZzzZZzzZZzz
Thomas? Thomasss !!! THOMAS!!!
O.M.G FOOD. I NEED FOOD.
Pig Lady — yes. always yes. yes. yes. yes.
MW’s — Can’t go wrong with polenta fry with meat!
Pili — party central. love these kids.
Chris Kajioka — PHENOMENAL.
Chai — Surprisingly v good.
OnoPops — an icy oasis in the humid trappings of HIConCen.
Handroll — must have multiple. like 10.
Mud Hen Water — not too hot to have Ed’s soup!
Migrant Maui — i’m on a plane to Maui for more!
Shay Kenzo — plenty pasta to sober me up!
Honestly doe.
This is an event that improves every year. This is my third year going and each time has been epic. It’s so worth the money to spend time with my homies and onolicious food all in one huge venue. PLUS DERES SAKE!!!
Hiccup!

The Joy of Sake, the largest single sake celebration outside of Japan, is one of the very few annual event which I look forward to every year. Ever since attending my first Joy of Sake a few years ago thanks to Unilocal Hawaii, I’ve been totally hooked!
OH YEAH!
+ It’s the Joy of Sake!
+ 391 different sake
+ Food from over 20 restaurants
+ Lots of water available
+ Early entry tickets available again this year
+ Lots of parking
+ Brewers from Japan in attendance
+ Miss Sake 2015 was there too!
OH NO!
— The balmy summer weather made it hot outside
— It was over after just a few short hours
OH MY?!
~ Yes, there was a couple bottles of sake from Minnesota, and I did make it a point to try them.
This year we were treated to 391 different sake from all over Japan, and even a few from the US. Over 20 local restaurants and chefs were on hand to provide sake-​inspired bites to go along with the free-​flowing libations. There were even numerous brewers, and Miss Sake 2015 who made the trip from Japan to join in on the festivities.
Early entry tickets are available in limited quantities at a higher cost, but they’re definitely worth it to me. You get a whole hour head start to explore the room, eat the food, and indulge in all the sake before the room gets too crowded.
The Izakaya Alley setup outside the main ballroom grew from last year but still managed to maintain the festive outdoors feel. Although it was a hot and muggy summer night, there were still crowds of people enjoying the outdoor area as well as the air conditioned ballroom.
I can’t wait to see what Joy of Sake will have in store for us next year!

I had a great time at my third year in a row at Joy Of Sake! If it hadn’t been for Unilocal,I never would have started going! From my experience, there are 2 phrases that come to mind when I think of Joy of Sake (JOS): «Early Access is a must» and «Have a game plan and friends!» Why are either of those things important? Keep reading!
Tickets:
If you bought your ticket in advance, it was $ 130 for early access & $ 85 for general admission. If you waited a little too long or bought your ticket at the door, it was $ 145 for early access & $ 95 for general admission. I have friends that always go to the JOS Aftertaste events, so at the last Aftertaste before the real JOS is when they start selling tickets & I always ask a friend to pick one up for me (of course, I pay them back)!
Food & Lines:
This year there were 22 food vendors from lots of great local restaurants! 15 food booths inside and the last seven outside in Izakaya Alley. This is where friends and early access kick in because the extra early access hour is definitely the time you need to visit all the food booths before the masses enter the party! And because if you don’t know your plan of attack and have friends helping you work your way around all the booths, it’s highly possible that you won’t get to try all the amazing foods!
My top 3 dishes, in no particular order, were Chef Chris Kajioka’s (formerly of Vintage Cave) Sake-​cured Ikura with potato purée, grain furikake & green apple; Chef Andrew Le’s (The Pig & The Lady) Foie Gras Snow w/​coconut crumble, haw flakes, lychee & Thai basil; and Chef Wade Ueoka’s (MW Restaurant) Roast Beef w/​corn polenta fries and yellow ketchup! For dessert, Ono Pops, which was out in Izakaya Alley, actually had this really awesome Kasuteralla Butterscotch popsicle that I loved! It tends to be so hot and humid outside, so the frozen popsicle was a welcomed relief! Not only that, but they made the kasutera (a.k.a. castella) cake themselves, so I was impressed they’d go through the trouble.
Sake:
With all the food out of the way, it leaves tons of time for trying all the sake… or at least as many of the 391 different kinds you could get to! They had tables of Daiginjo A & B, Ginjo, Junmai, and even a special Brewers Station where you could meet the brewers from Japan and sample their products!
How do you pick when there are so many to choose from? Even if you don’t know which kind of sake you like, my friends and I suggest trying the «starred» bottles. Award winning sakes have silver or gold star stickers on the placards in front of their bottles. If you’re even pickier, you look for the asterisk on the placard because those sakes aren’t sold in the USA! And if you’re looking for the strong stuff, a «#» marks sakes that haven’t been diluted with water. So now you know.
Overall:
Is it expensive? Hell yes. Is it worth it? Hell yes! Will I be going again next year? Uh, duh, that’s an obvious yes (and with early access)! It’s always a fun night of food and drinking!

Joy of Sake is one of the most anticipated events of the year in my book. With hundreds of sakes to choose from and dishes from the best chefs in Hawaii, you really can’t go wrong with snagging a ticket.
I always make sure to get the early access ticket so we can breeze through all the food offerings first and then stop to enjoy the sake later. Although most people will tell you the sheer number of sakes are the star of the show, I’m always interested in seeing what the chefs put together.
The festival has come a long way since my first experience in a giant warehouse by the pier. Back then it was packed, without air conditioning and the food options were okay but not stellar.
Fast forward to 2015 where it is again being held in the Convention Center with ample air conditioning (very important with the 1000+ people roaming around), an impressive lineup of chefs and dishes, shorter lines and more sake.
The standout dishes this year were:
Chris Kajioka’s sake-​cured ikura with potato purée (very similar to a delicious dish from his days at Vintage Cave). The dish he made at the cave was sinful and just perfect. This application of it really worked well with the salty roe and earthy potato.
Mission Hall’s akule in summer salad. The akule was the star of the show here. It was cool, crisp and refreshing on a humid and warm summer night.
Mud Hen Water’s nostalgic pig’s feet soup. If you’ve been over to Mud Hen Water, you already know what to expect. The pig’s feet were perfectly tender and the flavors were spot on.
MW’s roast beef and corn polenta fries. Those polenta fries were addicting! I could easily eat a dozen… or two.
When tickets go on sale next year, you bet I’ll be grabbing that early access ticket again!

For Heaven’s sake… that’s a lot of Sake!
I have been fortunate to attend some of these events in the past in San Francisco and New York… and the Honolulu version is equally as fantastic!
The sake…
The sake was amazing! It always amazes me how unique and aromatic sake can be. My friend and I primarily stayed at the Daiginjo tables, mainly because we new we wouldn’t get through all 391 bottles… I took a lot of pics of my favorites… so I wont forget what to buy :)
The food…
The food selection was really great… I think they had the right amount of restaurants for the event. It’s great to switch between eating and drinking… doing one makes you crave the other.
I liked just about everything I had, but there were a few outstanding dishes…
–The pig and the lady served foie gras snow with coconut crumble, haw flakes, lychee and Thai basil.
Your mouth wasn’t sure what to do with it… it was sweet, it was savory, it was amazing. A crazy combination of flavors and textures in your mouth. I think I loved it because it was so out of the box and had distinctive flavors.
–Kaiwa served softly steamed octopus with warabi fern.
Wow… softest, most tender bite of octopus I have had in while! I have never been to this restaurant, but I may have to go now!
–Chris Kajioka served sake-​cured ikura with potato purée, grain furikake, and green apple.
I love grits, and if there was a version of gourmet Hawaiian grits… this would be it. Well balanced, full of flavor, and made you want more.
–Buho served a yellowtail ceviche taco with caramelized jamaica, serranos, red onions, micro cilantro and pickled watermelon rinds in a hand-​pressed corn tortilla.
Such a smart choice for the evening! Clean, fresh, and the right size for the mouth. It went so well with the sake.
The organization of the event…
The event wasn’t as ‘streamlined’ as I thought it would be. Part of the event was outside, and it was a hot steamy day. This made it tough for guests and vendors to be outside.
There seemed to be a shortage of table attendants. I rarely saw them, and found guests around me refilling the sake and asking questions to guests around them because there was no one to answer questions.
There was plenty of water available (very important!), but the water was room temperature which was not ideal on such a hot day.
I will definitely come back to this event again. So much fun… and so much sake!!!
I guess all that is left for me is to attend the ones in Vegas and Tokyo!

Joy of Sake is held annually at the Convention Center. It is a bit pricey, tickets cost $ 95 for general admission and $ 145 for early entry. Even though its more expensive, I definitely recommend the early entry tickets.
I cant believe this year they were featuring 391 sakes! Simply amazing! They also provide free waters bottles! This is very much appreciated when attempting to try all 391 sakes!
We were lucky to have about 20 different restaurants and chefs come out for this event. However I thought the food wasn’t as impressive as previous years. I hope I’m not getting snobby!!! D: AHHHHH!
Participating chefs and restaurants include: The Kahala Hotel, Chris Kajioka, BLT Steak, Halekulani, Top of Waikiki /​SKY Waikiki, Buho Cocina, Migrant Maui, Banzai Sushi Bar, Gokujo Sushi, Chef Chai, The Pig & The Lady, Morimoto Waikiki, Cakeworks, Highway Inn, Kaiwa, Mission Social Hall & Café, Mud Hen Water, Doraku, MW Restaurant, Hale Ohuna, and Chez Kenzo.
I would have to say that my top 3 dishes this year was:
Mahalo to all the Joy of Sake workers, participating chefs and restaurants. As always it was a great time: D

I will tell you this my friends, it’s all about the Early Access when it comes to attending The Joy of Sake. At $ 135 to $ 155 per pass, it may seem kind of pricey, but when you have the priviledge of getting into this event an hour before the other’s do, all i can say is that it’s so worth it because if you really want to try all the 20 or more food stations that are featured here, you can zip right through all of them without waiting forever and a day and can go back to the ones that you really liked in that one hour period. That to me made it all the worthwhile for me because from all the other Joy of Sake events, the worst part is waiting in this long agonizing line just to get a little sampling of food and having all this precious time just waste away and take away from your Sake tasting experience.
Another plus of having Early Access is getting first dibs at the Best Sake’s that were available that evening and let me tell you, when you are a part of an entourage that knows their Sake, i was glad to be a groupie and follow them around like a stalker on the Unilocal Message Boards.
The truth of the fact is that there are too many selections of Sake to choose from it will make your head spin and after sipping on the really good ones. there is really no meaning in trying the other types of sake that are just mediocre compared to the ones that shine during the evening. It’s kind of like sampling a Caymus Special Selection Cabernet and then trying Franzia in a box afterwards. All i can tell you is that i ain’t no Sake expert, but i truly know a good tasting one from a not so great tasting one.
What i really don’t get about going to The Joy of Sake every year is why oh why do they not have these Sake’s in ice? It’s kind of like drinking a soda right out of the twelve pack. I really prefer my Sake a little chilled if you ask me and not sitting on a table without it getting chilled. Pardon my Sake ignorance but that’s just how i feel. I also feel like most of these people get wasted faster drinking room temperature sake as opposed to the chilled ones.
And another thing i couldn’t understand was why were there Sake tasting outdoors of the convention center in Izakaya Alley when it was blistering hot outside? I was kind of thinking was this their idea of sampling hot sake by putting them out there to boil? i thought maybe you had to blow into your sake cup to cool it off after trying a sample outside. I was literally melting outside at Izakaya Alley. They should have just called it Hell’s Kitchen out there.
Another thing that intrigues me about coming to the Joy of Sake is all the ladies or men out there striving for attention. I didn’t know if i was attending a Fashion Show or Glamour Contest at this event. I was looking around for a stripper pole for some of these ladies to spin around to make some extra tips on the side the way some of these women dressed up. And there was also this older Asian lady who was wearing this super tight black dress with straps on the side. I think she probably got that skin tight outfit from Suzie’s Warehouse and should have brought a black mask and whip which would have made her outfit complete. This lady looked like she was going to Rumour’s night club afterwards and looked like she had a lot of mileage on her considering how much makeup she put on. It would make Bozo the Clown look glamorous if you ask me.
I really think there were some people out there that just wanted to get noticed and soak up all of the attention they were getting and not give a hoot if there was any sake at all to taste. It was like a gathering of people just wanting to take pictures with their Selfie Stick’s or just taking selfie’s by themselves just so other people in the know would just know that they were there and for no other reason but to look cute.
There were some food tasting that stood out from all the other’s. There were over twenty food stations to taste from, but most were just ok and nothing memorable, but there were a few that made me go back for more. These were the ones that made me go back twice just because it was that good…
MW Restaurant: Roast Beef with Crispy Polenta Fries and Yellow Ketchup
Halekulani Hotel: Lobster Espuma with Puffed Rice
Chris Kajioka: Sake Cured Ikura with Potato Purée, Grain Furikake, Green Apple
Highway Inn: Smoked Wild Boar, Big Island Poha Berries, Kabocha Pumpkin Purée
Migrant Maui: Kiawe Bean Flour Chow Fat Chow Funn with Tinono Pork Belly
Ono Pops: Yuzu Ume and Butterscotch
Cakeworks: Sake Noodles with Green Tea Shave Ice and Fresh Mango
And the BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT was…
The Kahala Hotel and Resort: Soy Braised Kurobuta Pork Belly Ramen
* No Taste, Luke Warm, Bland, No Flavor At All… YUCK!
As for the Sake, there were so many that we tried but there was one Sake that stood above and beyond all the others, and this was definitely the STAR OF THE SHOW…
Born «Yume wa Masayume» Kato Kichibee Shoten Fukui Prefecture AO2

Pretentious crowd of people who were there to be seen and not taste sake. Set up was random and event hosts were not helpful.

$ 145 (plus service fee) or $ 153 per ticket for the Joy of Sake (points not in any specific order; just as they came to mind is how I’ve listed them)
1) The list of sake was amazing.
2) The rating of the sake, accurate
3) The attendees, sell out event and everyone and their brother was there
4) Food stations from a variety of eateries delivered a treat of their specialty dish
5) Parking not an issue if you taxi’d your way there (Über was ready and able)
6) Check in Process– many walking around with their Ipads to check you in– fast easy and painless
7) H2O — water plentiful
What I don’t get is serving amazing highly rated sake at room termp? Why didn’t they have ice buckets for the large sake cups they were serving tasters from? Why didn’t they have the bottles chilled? Why? Why? Why? I don’t know. I don’t think so… Not for $ 153 per ticket.

I’ve been coming to this event annually for about 8 or 9 years now. It’s one of those events that I look forward to all year round. This year there are 391 different sakes to taste with food from 20 different restaurants. Tickets were selling for $ 145 for early entry and $ 95 for general admission. There are a limited amount of tickets that will be sold at the door so it will most likely sell out again.
My friends and I attend this event every year and have committed to it. I even flew back from CA in the past just to make sure I was here to join them. A lot of people come here for the food but the event is focused on the sake. The food is to compliment all the different types of sake. It doesn’t matter if you come for just for the food, the sake or both, it’s a great night out in Hawaii full of amazing sake, good food and great people.
Thank you to all the volunteers, restaurants and World Sake Imports for throwing this event for us! See you all at the Hawaii Convention Center!