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Y Sake? Because chef
Roy Yamaguchi can

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By Betty Shimabukuro
Star-Bulletin

SAKE-making is turning into a successful side trip for chef Roy Yamaguchi.

The first 4,000 cases of his signature sake -- named Y Sake, for Yamaguchi -- has sold out to distributors and will be showing up in restaurants and retail stores over the next few weeks, his partner, Shep Gordon, said.

And it's an impressive list of restaurants: Jean-George in New York, Emeril Legasse's restaurants and restaurants in Bellagio in Las Vegas, among others, Gordon said.

Y Sake is the first daiginjo, or premium sake, to be brewed in the United States. It is being made for Yamaguchi at the Momokawa brewery in Portland, Ore., by SakeOne Corp.

The sake made its debut in Hawaii Monday night at a dinner at Roy's Restaurant in Hawaii Kai, the four varieties in the collection served with four specially created dishes. Yamaguchi said his restaurants in Hawaii will begin pouring the sakes this week.

The collection represents a range of flavor intensities: Y Sky is light, semi-dry; Y Rain is infused with ginger in the style of more contemporary sakes; Y Wind is very dry, more traditional in scent and flavor; Y Snow is a cloudy, unfiltered sake, slightly sweet, and was the best-seller in New York.

Gordon estimated that the sakes will retail for $25 to $30 when they reach store shelves in Hawaii.

Their classification as daiginjo means that the rice used in the sake is polished away to 50 percent of its original size. The more of the outer hull of the rice that is removed -- to reveal the inner starchy core -- the smoother and finer the grade of sake that results.

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