(soft music)
- Hey guys, how's it going? It's Mikayla.
I'm just taking a walk around Yakuin today.
Yakuin is the neighborhood next to Tenjin.
A lot of people who visit Fukuoka for the first time
will mostly stay around the Tenjin, Nakasu, Hakata areas.
That's where like all the big brand shops are
the Apple stores are, H&M and all that stuff.
But if you're a local the adjacent areas
such as Yakuin, Imaizumi, Kego are actually really nice
if you wanna have a nice evening, pop into a local bar
or restaurant and just enjoy the lifestyle here in Fukuoka.
Today, I'm making my way over to Bar Aya,
which is a bar here in Yakuin that does, sake pairings.
You can taste different sakes from all over Japan and Kyushu
and they do the sake pairing
and tasting course in English and Japanese.
So even if you don't speak Japanese
this is something that you can enjoy
and I think that-
I don't know I think this is really cool.
I'm here, I've just arrived, Bar Aya.
I'm gonna head upstairs and say hello,
and I'm gonna show you what the place is like.
Hello.
(speaking in foreign language)
(soft music)
- All right, so can you tell me about Bar Aya.
What is Bar Aya?
- The kanji of Aya means to intersect or cross.
I named our bar Aya, because we wanted a place
where foreign visitors in Fukuoka
can experience Japanese culture
while enjoying Japanese food, drinks
and friendly staff's company.
From my experience in tea ceremony,
I was always very impressed
by the elegance of women wearing a kimono.
And I wanted to recreate that experience
in a Japanese style bar.
- That's a great answer.
I really think, it's great to see younger people
wearing kimono, because it's very beautiful
and like you said elegant.
Bar Aya its a members only bar from seven o'clock onwards.
You have to be a member or you have to be introduced
by a member of the bar, in order to get in.
But, between one and seven o'clock
they offer this experience to visitors
where you can try Fukuoka's local ingredients
and local flavors in local cooking
along with several types of sake or Japanese wines.
And this is really cool.
(upbeat music)
So the first sake is Uguisu suit from Kuruma.
It has a low alcohol percentage.
So, it's a little bit lighter
than most sake and it has a bit of fruity taste.
Let's give it a try.
It's not a clear sake.
It's a little bit Milky and it's very sweet.
Okay, so this is Daichi, it's also from Kuruma.
You can see it's very clear.
I just had a sip and this one tastes very light.
It's very sweet, it has like that natural sweetness
that rice has.
And it's very easy to drink.
(speaking foreign language)
- So this is my third sake.
This is Biden, it eases Itoshima rice
and it's produced in Southern Fukuoka,
in a place called (indistinct).
And it doesn't have the sweetness of the rice
that the last two had.
These two were relatively sweet,
but this one is, quite sharp
a little bit more of a savory sake.
(speaking foreign language)
- So this is Komagura
and it's, another Fukuoka based sake.
And this one's a little different from the other ones
that I've just tried.
This was made in 2014.
So it's been getting more rich
and deep and flavor for the past six years.
And you can really taste this one in your cheeks
when you take it in.
It just has like a deeper flavor that you can really feel
in the back of your mouth.
And this one is also not very sweet
but, it's also not too sharp or bitter either.
Very easy to drink.
There really are so many different factors
that can affect the outcome of sake
and how it tastes and its texture, its flavor.
For example, the type of water that is used
if you use very pure mountain spring water
it'll taste different than if you're using filtered water.
The method of fermentation
will also impact how the outcome taste.
The amount of polishing
that you do on each individual rice grain.
If you Polish them down to their little core kernels
they're gonna have a different flavor
than if you use the entire rice grain.
And it's really fascinating to come
and be able to try different ones
and hear specifically what the differences are,
cause once you know what to look for,
you can really taste the difference in each sake.
After trying four different types of sake
and hearing how they were different,
we're now moving on to a food pairing course,
where I get to try local foods paired with sake
served at different temperatures in different cups,
and I can see how, pairing these sake
with particular ingredients
can actually change the overall flavor of each sake itself.
- Today, there are four types of local sake in Fukuoka.
We have prepare the dishes using the ingredient
of Fukuoka that match.
- it's interesting how the blue cheese kind of-
It's like the sake cuts the,
the severity of the blue cheese,
the blue cheese doesn't feel as strong and overbearing.
This one is a little warmer too.
(speaking foreign language)
- It mixes with the earthy flavor of the vegetables,
so well.
That's amazing.
- You Like it.
- Yeah. I love it.
It's awesome.
(speaking foreign language)
- All right, so it is just past noon
and I am feeling the sake.
I have had so many different tastings and pairings today,
and it's been a really exciting,
and informational experience.
I feel like I've learned a lot.
I feel like as foreigners, we often-
We're used to like one type of sake
or we have an idea of what sake should taste like,
because we've only ever tried one kind
but there is not one single unanimous flavor from sakes.
I feel like I've definitely learned that today
through this experience.
It's a lot to take in, but it's an educational experience
and it's a lot of fun.
Good luck you guys.
Thank you so much.
And thanks for having me today.
(speaking foreign language)
- If this is something that you think
that you might be interested in
you can book this experience on byfood.com.
This video was created coordinated by, byfood.com.
They helped make this shoot possible.
So if you want to book this experience for yourself
whether you're living in Japan or
if you're planning to visit Japan in the next five years
or so, I don't know.
Please check out byfood.com
and check out their food experiences.
And if you're interested in coming to Bar Aya
and meeting these lovely ladies,
you can do so, on the link below.
Thank you so much for watching.
Bye.
(soft music)