Meeting bien

Meeting Ayako Yoshida, who leads bien (美宴)

It was three years ago, in 2018, at bien's 5th anniversary event held in Inuyama.

Ever since, I've been a big fan of Ayako-chan, bien, and the sake of the Tokai region.

Nice to meet you — I'm Yuka, the "drinking lady."

From today, I'll be writing articles for the bien blog.♪

(I'll introduce myself as the "drinking lady" in the next article.)

At the end of 2017, I moved to Aichi Prefecture, brought here by sake.

Someone I met at my new company said that since I love sake, they'd introduce me to someone,

and that connection was Ayako Yoshida.

On this day, for bien's 5th anniversary,

we specially reserved the Horibe residence in Inuyama for a special banquet.

This is the magnificent spread of dishes that were laid out that day.

A sake banquet in an atmospheric place — it was like traveling back in time to a distant era.

It seems they usually prepare sake from local breweries,

but Ayako-chan said, "For bien, unusually, I prepared some trendy labels."

My beloved Sharaku and Hiroki, then the wildly popular Juyondai,

plus a local sake I'd never had, "Inuyama Castle," and a sparkling sake from Kumamoto.

Every sake they chose was wonderful, and I was thoroughly intoxicated by the atmosphere of the cultural heritage Horibe residence

and by Ayako-chan in kimono.

That's the connection that has continued since.

Thanks to Ayako-chan, not only have I had chances to enjoy delicious sake from the Tokai region,

I've also met wonderful people (all of them, every one, drinkers).

Here, I'd like to write at leisure about my beloved bien and about sake.

— that's what I hope to do here.

I look forward to your kind support. (^^♪