This week’s episode is precisely what you’d assume it to be: the crew talking shochu.It had been a bit too long since we’d last done a real shochu-centric show, so we decided to drag Christopher Pellegrini into the studio to update us on some of the latest industry happenings and also humor our questions and musings.While we do get down…

Although we’re all still grounded here in Japan, this week we’re getting off the island for a visit to the great Pacific Northwest to chat with Andrew Neyens, the one-man-band behind Seattle’s Tahoma Fuji Sake.Between stints at some of Toyama’s most exciting and inspiring breweries, including Fumigiku Shuzo (makers of Haneya) and Masuda Shuzo (makers of Masuizumi), as well as…

With LINK, Pernod Ricard made their first foray into the world of sake. Bringing together the craftmanship and nuance of Chivas Regal with the pioneering spirit of Toyama’s Masuda Shuzo – makers of Masuizumi - the company in charge of many of the world’s most iconic labels in spirits set out to bring an unprecedented proposal to the world of…

Here it is! The final installment of our “Know Your Hosts” series, introducing our listeners to the minds and motivations behind Sake on Air.For the first half of this week’s show, we have Rebekah Wilson-Lye in the hot seat. Currently the head of international marketing and public relations for Japan Craft Sake Company, we delve into not only the personal…

Like most all of our listeners, we’re keeping rather close to home these days. The nature of things makes it a bit challenging for the team to gather and record, but on the bright side, it’s given us the time to dig through the archives and finally get around to editing some of our on-the-road interviews that have been gradually…

This week we’re tackling arguably one of the most misunderstood segments of the sake world:Kanzake, often simply referred to as, Hot Sake.For a complex web of reasons, the quality and general nature of hot (or warm) sake is still shrouded in generations of preconception and misconception. However along with an aggressive reexamination of “Why?” in relation to lost practices in…

To all of our listeners: thank you for your patience.As much as we go out of our way to include awamori as part of the broader shochu conversation, despite many months of listener requests, we have yet to do an entire episode dedicated to Okinawa’s incredible indigenous spirit. Until now!The progenitor of the entire shochu category, the now geographically indicated…

As promised, we’re coming right back with Part 2 of our exploration into what goes into paving the way for a brand new sake brewery outside of Japan. We continue our conversation with David Joll, owner and head brewer at Queenstown’s, Zenkuro, along with Matthew Shaw, co-owner and head brewer Melbourne Sake, which if all goes according to plan, should…

It now feels like eons ago when, only just last month, the global sake community seemed to have all flocked to Japan for the final days of the winter brewing season. My how the world has changed… It was during this time that we managed to catch up with David Joll, owner and head brewer at Queenstown’s pioneering sake brewery,…

Continuing with our Meet Your Hosts series, this week we bring you interviews with another pair from the team here at Sake On Air. First up we have Marie Nagata, interviewed by John Gauntner – a bit of an interesting dynamic, as it was Marie’s participation in John’s Sake Professional Course and the community of sake lovers and sake-curious who…

This week we zone in on sake in the U.K. as we welcome the founder and owner of Tengu Sake, Oliver Hilton Johnson to the show. Oliver’s carefully curated portfolio and user-friendly communication are just a handful of the reasons that Tengu Sake has been selected as the Specialist Merchant of the Year in the Sake category for the International…

This week it’s time once again to take a moment to get to know the team here at Sake On Air. We first aired one of these episodes back in October (Episode 27), where you got to know Sebastie Lemoine and Christopher Pellegrini; aka, “little Chris”. This week you’ll be hearing from Christopher’s sake-inspired counterpart, Chris Hughes (aka, “big Chris”)…

What exactly is the scent of sake? For our final episode of 2019, Chris Hughes, Rebekah Wilson-Lye, and Sebastie Lemoine gather to discuss the nature and role of aroma in sake. Seeing as how the smells that we experience impart so much influence on our perception of taste and our associated memories, this is a topic that arguably carries as…