Sake.....mystery needs solving [Archive]

limjack

July 18th, 2010, 20:52

Anyone know anything about this bottle of sake? We recieved it as a gift from a older lady. She didn't know anything about it except her husband brought it back from when he was in the war. Not sure of the timeline but my wife thought she said WWII but that could be wrong. I can't translate the writing either and I am sure that would shed some light on the matter. We recieved the bottle over a year ago. I put it on a shelf and forgot about it until tonight. So, I thought perhaps the gang at SOH might be able to solve the mystery of the sake bottle. So here are the pics. Hope you guys can shed some light on the little bottle.

cheezyflier

July 19th, 2010, 05:59

if no one else does it first, i can have the wife translate when she gets home from work tonight.

limjack

July 19th, 2010, 06:47

That would be great!!! I will try not to open it and drink it until then...lol.

Jim

brad kaste

July 19th, 2010, 06:58

...I'd try to sell it on eBay. Make a statement to the effect that it was Saburo Sakai's own personal sake bottle but never got to drinking it..........:jump:

dominique

July 19th, 2010, 22:34

My Chinese is too faraway to be really operational but I can still search in a dictionary ! I understand that this is a bottle of sake from Gekkeikan月桂冠<o:p></o:p> (yueguiguan in Chinese - laurel crown - hence the leaves on the front label). The adress on the label says that this company is in Kyoto- Fushimi district. This is their homepage :

http://www.gekkeikan.co.jp/english/index.html

What surprises me is that everything on the bottle is in Chinese. No Japanese at all... Maybe something made for the chinese market. Your friend's husband was in China or Japan during the war (after for Japan) ?

You could contact Gekkeikan to know more about this old bottle. Let us know... You might even make a buck selling it to their company museum :icon_lol: (http://www.yelp.com/biz_redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gekkeikan-sake.com%2F&src_bizid=6p2dtw38cqGnmCVd9LwOXA&cachebuster=1279608008) !

EDIT

They even have operations in California : www.gekkeikan-sake.com/ !
(http://www.yelp.com/biz_redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gekkeikan-sake.com%2F&src_bizid=6p2dtw38cqGnmCVd9LwOXA&cachebuster=1279608008)

Daveroo

July 20th, 2010, 08:36

that sake place in folsom is just down the road from me...well 12 miles as the crow flys?...have to go see the place..looks nice

limjack

July 20th, 2010, 15:12

My Chinese is too faraway to be really operational but I can still search in a dictionary ! I understand that this is a bottle of sake from Gekkeikan月桂冠<?xml:namespace prefix = o /><o:p></o:p> (yueguiguan in Chinese - laurel crown - hence the leaves on the front label). The adress on the label says that this company is in Kyoto- Fushimi district. This is their homepage :

http://www.gekkeikan.co.jp/english/index.html

What surprises me is that everything on the bottle is in Chinese. No Japanese at all... Maybe something made for the chinese market. Your friend's husband was in China or Japan during the war (after for Japan) ?

You could contact Gekkeikan to know more about this old bottle. Let us know... You might even make a buck selling it to their company museum :icon_lol: (http://www.yelp.com/biz_redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gekkeikan-sake.com%2F&src_bizid=6p2dtw38cqGnmCVd9LwOXA&cachebuster=1279608008) !

EDIT

They even have operations in California : www.gekkeikan-sake.com/ !
(http://www.yelp.com/biz_redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gekkeikan-sake.com%2F&src_bizid=6p2dtw38cqGnmCVd9LwOXA&cachebuster=1279608008)

You laid out a nice path for me to at least start searching...Thanks dominique. Its a start to solving this mystery.

Jim

NoNewMessages

July 20th, 2010, 18:02

You laid out a nice path for me to at least start searching...Thanks dominique. Its a start to solving this mystery.

Jim

A quick Google search shows many Chinese/Asians markets in Seattle. Have lunch, ask a few questions.

cheezyflier

July 20th, 2010, 20:19

What surprises me is that everything on the bottle is in Chinese. No Japanese at all...

i forgot to ask my lovely bride to do the translation last night but just now i remembered. you got the front label correct for the name of the company, but she says all the characters on the other label are japanese.

it reads/translates rought this:

south beach town, fushimi county, kyoto city.

okura brewing co. ltd.

180 ml/can contains artificial preservative

dominique

July 20th, 2010, 21:21

she says all the characters on the other label are japanese.

I didn't know that modern Japanese could be written in kanji (chinese ideograms) only. I was surprised to see no katakana or hiragana characters.

You laid out a nice path for me to at least start searching...Thanks dominique. Its a start to solving this mystery.

Jim you're welcome, I love a good mystery. Let us know...

dominique

July 21st, 2010, 04:21

can contains artificial preservative

This is humourous as on the front label the rightmost word <link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CWINDOWS%5CTEMP%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_fil elist.xml"><link rel="themeData" href="file:///C:%5CWINDOWS%5CTEMP%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_the medata.thmx"><link rel="colorSchemeMapping" href="file:///C:%5CWINDOWS%5CTEMP%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_col orschememapping.xml"><style>  </style> 純粹 (chuncui in Chinese) mean, if I am not mistaken, something like "pure", the leftmost characters being Chinese for sake (qingjiu - clear alcohol).

limjack

July 22nd, 2010, 08:48

Sent e-mail to Gekkeikan with the pictures in hopes they may have some info on the little bottle of sake. There website said it could take a bit for them to respond. With the name and a starting point I did go in search of around the web but did not come up with anything yet….that could be a good thing meaning it is rare. With the color of the sake it is probably not drinkable (not a sake lover so that doesn’t hurt my feelings) so that would drop its value. Will let you know if I hear anything.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
Jim<o:p></o:p>

dominique

July 22nd, 2010, 11:15

http://goodfoodonkcrw.vox.com/library/post/58-year-old-bottle-of-sake-found---is-it-valuable.html

:)

limjack

July 26th, 2010, 07:27

This is what they sent me today although it does not make sense to me unless I am reading it wrong. The Tokkure bottle to me seems to be a ceramic flask for heating the sake unless the bottle is also call a tokkure and can be used int he same manner. From the way it reads it sounds like they are not sure. I think more investigation is needed. Might go join a sake forum and post there.....lol, forums for all things is a good thing.

Jim

Dear Jim,
Thank you for your kind interest in Gekeikan Sake.
Carefully comparing the product shape and color feature of the picture with our product
lists over 50 years, we concluded it was a TOKKURI bottle sold about 50 years ago,
precisely from 1962 to 1969 when our company name was “Okura Shuzo”.
TOKKURI bottle is designed for heating Sake by soaking it in hot water bath. Since
Gekkeikan has been one of the top Sake blands long time, it could be purchased at or
around American base camp.
The Sake,about 50 years' old on your hand, seems to be over matured and no more the
one recommended to sip that possess original fresh Sake quality, because some
components in Sake changes its form to another amber-colored components as times
goes by. Likewise the taste became worse and worse. In addition, it has no commercial
value.
Next time you meet our fresh product, we truly wish you drink it within 1 or 2 year. And if
you opened the lid, please keep it in refrigerator and dry the bottle within 2 weeks.
Sincerely yours,

Gekkeikan Sake Co., Ltd.

　

Customer Service Team
customer@gekkeikan.co.jp

cheezyflier

July 26th, 2010, 09:48

maybe i'm used to listening to my wife speak engrish, but to me that seemed pretty straight-forward. sounds like the best thing you could do is wash out the bottle and maybe put some wild flowers in it or something. the sake isn't drinkable, and the bottle has no value.

limjack

July 26th, 2010, 10:24

Lol, you are right but got too many little bottles to hold flowers. Would not even go near drinking the stuff as well. Do not plan on selling it, just kind of fun to have. Will tuck it away with a couple old wine bottles I got at Expo86 in Vancouver Canada with info I collect and perhaps print this thread and wrap it around the bottle. Then my daughter can dig it up later when I am gone from here and throw it in the trash :icon_lol:.

Jim