News

Kura One by Katsunari Sawada (Part 2)

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In our last podcast episode of Sake On Air, we had two of our regular hosts Chris Hughes and John Gauntner talk with Katsunari Sawada, the man behind the pocket-sized sake can, KURA One. If you have not had a chance to listen to it yet, we recommend you do so (here) before listening to the 2nd part, as we are looking further into the question of whether this could be indeed the future of packaging for the sake industry and beyond.

We will also be diving deeper into how to market sake overseas and KURA One’s strength in doing so. This comes as no surprise as Sawada-san has an incredible PR and marketing background and knows that putting in extensive research into what producers, sellers, and consumers want is crucial to building a successful concept and product.

But what is KURA One’s long-term strategy? With a huge demand for small format single-serving units in Japan, how will the company navigate the challenge of possibly cannibalizing brands that they are promoting (or vice versa) in other markets, and are these small cans really sustainable in the long run?
As always, we would love to hear what you think about this special double episode and make sure to check out KURA ONE on Instagram, as Sawada-san often posts promotions and special deals.

At the same time, if you’re looking for updates @sakeonair, you can follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Don’t hesitate to also share any other sake or shochu-related thoughts or questions with the hosts at questions@sakeonair.com and rate us on the podcast service of your choice while you’re at it.

We’ll be back very soon with plenty more Sake On Air.
Until then, kampai!

Sake On Air is made possible with the generous support of the Japan Sake & Shochu Makers Association and is broadcast from the Japan Sake & Shochu Information Center in Tokyo. The show is brought to you by Potts.K Productions with audio production by Frank Walter. Our theme, “Younger Today Than Tomorrow” was composed by forSomethingNew for Sake On Air.

Kura One by Katsunari Sawada (Part 1)

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In this week’s episode of Sake On Air, two of our regular hosts Chris Huges and John Gauntner came together to chat with Katsunari Sawada san, the mastermind behind KURA One!

For anyone unfamiliar with KURA ONE, the company’s mission in their own words “is a sake service that changes the “unreachable” into “deliverable”.” Moving away from the bigger sized 720 ml bottle and creating a smaller 180 ml aluminum sake can, an alternative to the traditional “One Cup”. Sawada-san has set out to change the sake industry and is working with representative brands of sake breweries that have won awards both domestically and internationally, hoping to promote sake.

With the brand KURA ONE becoming more and more prominent it might come as a surprise that the man behind the idea did not really drink sake in his 20s and 30s. When asked why, he answered that it was because of the image he had about alcohol being used to “just get drunk” and it was not until much later in his life that he connected with the beverage. In fact, he attributes coming back to Japan after extensively traveling all around the world that made him realize his role and responsibility in helping people to discover the charm of his home country, Japan.

Knowing this could only be done by truly understanding the local mindset, he visited 47 prefectures across Japan, in which he had many opportunities to exchange opinions with craftsmen and brewers. This uniquely valuable experience is what became the foundation of it all, as he became fascinated by regional products born from geographical and cultural backgrounds, influenced by the way of life, thinking, and attitude of the craftsmen who create them. This is where the Idea of KURA ONE started.

Combining his incredible PR & communication knowledge with finding a new way to package and showcase these producers is what we see in KURA ONE today. Finding smart solutions that both help the people in the industry who make the sake, as well as using data to customize the products for customers to easily understand the product with smart technology to help to easily deliver and store them. Plus dare we say, these can’s are also incredibly beautiful to look at.

Prepare yourself for an engaging conversation as John, with his extensive knowledge of the sake import industry follows up with Sawada-san on some key points of why or why not this might be the future of packaging.

As always, let us know what you think about this week’s episode and we will be back very soon with part 2! In the meantime make sure to check out KURA ONE on Instagram, as Sawada-san has mentioned he will have some promotions coming up soon and of course, don’t hesitate to also reach out to us with any sake or shochu-related thoughts or questions at questions@sakeonair.com and rate us on the podcast service of your choice while you’re at it.

At the same time, if you’re looking for updates @sakeonair, you can follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Don’t hesitate to also share any other sake or shochu-related thoughts or questions with the hosts at questions@sakeonair.com and rate us on the podcast service of your choice while you’re at it.

We’ll be back very soon with plenty more Sake On Air.
Until then, kampai!

Sake On Air is made possible with the generous support of the Japan Sake & Shochu Makers Association and is broadcast from the Japan Sake & Shochu Information Center in Tokyo. The show is brought to you by Potts.K Productions with audio production by Frank Walter. Our theme, “Younger Today Than Tomorrow” was composed by forSomethingNew for Sake On Air.

Is Wine the Best Way to Promote Sake?

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Exports are steadily climbing and more people are beginning to understand what it is, but sake still has a way to go before it can solidify its place alongside other popular drinks categories outside Japan. How to get it there is the million-dollar question.

One strategy the sake industry has been proactively pursuing for many years is positioning sake adjacent to wine. The respected International Wine Challenge (IWC) competition launched a Sake Division in 2007 with support from the Sake Samurai Association, and today teams of sake professionals judge alongside their wine sommelier colleagues. The Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET), a major professional educator for the drinks industry, launched courses for sake in 2014, and in 2021 celebrated 10,000 students studying their introductory Level 1 and advanced Level 3.

In 2022, the Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association (JSS), which represents nearly all sake breweries (and shochu distilleries) in Japan, forged a partnership with the Association Internationale de la Sommellerie (ASI), an umbrella organization for wine sommelier associations in over 60 countries. JSS chose ASI with the goal of promoting sake alongside wine, which resulted in ASI integrating sake service into their exams and JSS hosting ASI-nominated sommeliers on occasional sake education tours throughout Japan, and so far proven to be a fruitful and beneficial partnership.

Hitoshi Utsunomiya, director of JSS, is confident that wine is a good way to promote sake. Wine and sake have many similarities, he points out: both are enjoyed with food, and skillful pairing can elevate both the food and the sake or wine. Spirits tend to live in a space before or after meals, and beer (generally) lacks the higher perceived value of wine, making them arguably less useful as an entry point.

The acidity and astringency of wine naturally complement fatty or oily dishes, but a global shift towards lighter and healthier ingredients has created an opening for sake to shine through pairings with seafood, eggs and vegetables. As demonstrated by its smooth integration into WSET courses and curriculum, sake can be more than adequately described and expressed using existing frameworks for wine. As far as Utsunomiya is concerned, leaning into wine is a logical choice for promoting sake.

Hitoshi Utsunomiya, director of JSS, demonstrating koji making at the JSS Academy 2023 
(Photo © 2023 Arline Lyons)

He also acknowledges some notable differences, however. The first is umami: the savory quality that makes sake an exceptional match for many vegetables and seafood is a stranger in the world of wine. And while many good wines are appreciated for their rich and complex flavors complemented by a long finish, the experience of many exceptional sake can be quite the opposite, light with a short, clean finish meant to cleanse the palate.

The theory is that promoting sake alongside wine should be effective because people who like wine should inherently be interested in sake. The question is: Are they?


Perusing wine retailers, it often stands out that very few also go out of their way to stock sake. When they do, it’s often either the usual suspects on offer from a handful of large-scale producers, or a very specific, select offering that’s carried thanks to concentrated efforts from boutique sake importers or a handful of export-focused breweries. Even where there is sake available, it can feel like a token effort to include another product type rather than an extension of the existing product range.

Screenshot from the sake section of Irish online drinks retailer irishdrinkshop.com

Despite its ability to shine where wine occasionally struggles, it’s also still far too rare to see a dedicated place for sake in pairing menus. It remains largely stuck in Japanese or pseudo-Japanese bars and restaurants, which is disappointing, as the global permeation of its brewed brethren – beer and wine – can largely be attributed to these categories’ placement in drinking and dining establishments of just about any form of cuisine or experience you can imagine. Many Japanese restaurants run by (and resultingly, often for) Japanese have great sake lists, but that does not often carry over to larger chains or restaurants run by and for locals, where sake tends to be mass-produced and priced to be an easy add-on to a meal. And while 10,000 students in 7 years sounds like a great achievement for the WSET courses – and it is – it still pales beside the number studying wine and spirits – over 108,500 for wine and 9,000 for spirits in the 2020/2021 academic year alone.

The question then becomes: Why isn’t this strategy producing more results, despite the strong arguments for why sake could (and should) succeed when promoted alongside wine?

One reason could be that the differences between wine and sake have been underestimated. Almost every sake course will compare its basic flavor profile to that of wine and beer, pointing out that sake lacks acidity and bitterness. These are both points in its favor for pairing, but their absence can occasionally make sake feel thin and weak, perceived as lacking complexity in comparison, while its star feature, umami, is still not well understood.

And while WSET started teaching sake in 2014, their wine courses have run since 1979. Formal sake education simply hasn’t been around as long. Sake has won a place at prestigious events, but many wine specialists still haven’t put in the time to fully understand it. I was at the IWC awards dinner when an employee of a global wine company was dragged to the sake table by a friend and struck up a conversation with, “this has red, white and rosé, right?”

Even the most elegant theory can fail under real-world conditions. 

Sake brewery representative and wine merchant Henry Thorogood has a cautious but still optimistic view. He sees very positive results from educational sake tours run by ASI and French sake competition Kura Master for highly trained and talented sommeliers. They are valuable allies, but even once they’ve been engaged and educated it does not mean they will automatically become a flag bearer for sake wherever they go. 

Asked about inclusion on restaurant menus, Henry stresses that “sake has to solve a problem” to make it onto the list in an environment dominated by wine. Sommeliers who have met brewers and actively thought of food pairings as a part of tours and tastings understand the potential of sake in a deeper way, so are more likely to both reach for it to solve a pairing problem and make the extra effort needed to bring a sake into their bar or restaurant. 

The JSS/ASI tour for wine sommeliers in Feb 2023 included a visit to a seed koji maker in Kyoto 
(Photo ©2023 Arline Lyons)

So, it’s not clear if a strategy of promoting sake alongside wine will deliver results easily, quickly, or at scale. 

It also raises the question of whether concentrating promotional efforts on wine benefits the market for sake as a whole. A great deal of mass-produced sake, often treated as a low-risk add-on in casual restaurants, has its own route through large producers and exporters. It’s entirely possible that the current strategy of working with experienced wine sommeliers could end up acting only at the higher end of the market without a significant enough trickledown effect, leaving the large mid-tier market still unsupported.

There’s no question that the world of wine has great potential for promoting sake. There are many parallels, including similar packaging, ways of drinking, and to some extent pricing. But it’s not the only way, and the somewhat singular approach may not necessarily pay off by delivering the results the industry needs to have sake take an unwavering place alongside other drink categories at the table. For example, many overseas sake brewers have grown and flourished in the small-scale and highly experimental craft beer ecosystem, with most craft sake brewers in the US, and several in Europe, originally coming from a background brewing beer or cider. It’s entirely possible that reevaluating the importance of wine and embracing a more diverse range of strategies might be necessary to truly bring sake to the world.

References

Personal communication, Histoshi Utsunomiya, 18 July 2023

Interview, Henry Thorogood, 24 July 2023

WSET celebrates milestone ten thousand sake students https://www.wsetglobal.com/news-events/news/2021/april/21/wset-celebrates-milestone-ten-thousand-sake-students/ from WSET, 21 April 2021

Announcement of the Association de la Sommellerie Internationale (ASI) Partnership https://japansake.or.jp/sake/en/topic/news/announcement-of-association-de-la-sommellerie-internationale-asi-partnership/ from JSS, 23 May 2022

IWC https://www.sakesamurai.co.uk/iwc/ from Sake Samurai Association UK, accessed 8 August 2023

“A rice wine, which is actually closer to a strong beer — very confusing!” https://www.irishdrinkshop.com/Sake accessed 30 July 2023

Record number of students take WSET qualifications over last year https://www.wsetglobal.com/news-events/news/2021/september/21/record-number-of-students-take-wset-qualifications-over-last-year/#:~:text=The%20Wine%20%26%20Spirit%20Education%20Trust,global%20network%20of%20course%20providers. From WSET, accessed 8 August 2023

Translating Taste with Arline Lyons

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Arline Lyons never expected to be the go-to translator for sake related writings coming out of Japan, but remix Mr. Crichton, “sake finds a way.” Our American host in America, Justin Potts sat down with her to talk sake, translation, and some exciting news regarding the growth of Sake on Air. Based in Zurich, Switzerland, Arline holds the (WSET) Level 3 Award in Sake and is a SSI International Kikizake-shi, and a SEC Advanced Sake Professional. In their free flowing conversation, they also get into the sake industry in Europe and some of the differences in wine and sake education.

Arline is the mastermind behind the sake focused newsletter (https://taste-translation.com/), sake workshops in Europe (https://discover-sake.com/), and a delightful series of t-shirts that can be found here: https://saketees.com/product-category/t-shirts/. She is also one of the go-to translators for the Brewing Society of Japan and for our dear friends at JSS. In her life away from sake, she is also a highly accomplished translator in the pharmaceutical and medical field.

Annnnnd now she is joining the team here at Sake on Air! Arline will be writing a monthly post about sake for the Sake on Air website. You can find the first one here: https://sakeonair.com/2023/09/13/is-wine-the-best-way-to-promote-sake/

Share your thoughts with us on Don’t hesitate to also reach out to us with sake or shochu-related thoughts or questions on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook or at questions@sakeonair.com! Don’t forget to rate us on the podcast service of your choice or just write it on a sake label, we don’t care.

We’ll be back very soon with plenty more Sake on Air before you know it.

Until then, kampai!

Sake on Air is made possible with the generous support of the Japan Sake & Shochu Makers Association and is broadcast from the Japan Sake & Shochu Information Center in Tokyo. The show is brought to you by Potts.K Productions with audio production by Frank Walter. Our theme, “Younger Today Than Tomorrow” was composed by forSomethingNew.

Mixing Shochu with Bartender Soran Nomura

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How do we effectively promote Japan’s indigenous beverages? That is the million-dollar question and something the Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association are working on relentlessly every day. On the Shochu front, one way they are doing this is by collaborating with bartenders and mixologists from all around the world who have fallen in love with Shochu and Awamori and showcasing the fruits of these collaborations at special events.

Recently, we were lucky to join one of these events, where we got front-row insights into the state of the industry as well as being treated to some delicious Shochu Cocktails by not other than Soran Nomura, renowned in the bartending community both in Japan and abroad, owner of Nomura Shoten, the Quarter Room in Tokyo, creator of beverage consultant firm “ABV+” among a long list of things.

So in this week’s podcast, our regular hosts and Shochu enthusiasts Christopher Pellegrini and Marie Nagata sat down together with Soran to chat about his incredible story. Starting out his journey somewhat 20 years ago in London, with the dream to study art, he very quickly realized he needed a way to make money, so he joined the team at a bar in east London, first as a bar back, but quickly worked his way up in no less than 2 months to become a bartender!

His love for art inspired him to reinterpret garnishes and cocktail presentations which lightened his passion for cocktail making and inspired him to become a mixologist. Fast forward and 10 years later, Soran became the head bartender at well-known Fuglen in Tokyo. He then moved on to work on a variety of things including opening his own consultancy called “ABV+”, and working as the bar producer and manager at the famous K5 Hotel in Tokyo, before opening Nomura Shoten in 2022, followed by the the Quarter Room earlier this year. A unique bar concept that intends to fuse art and cocktails. Listening to Soran, and how he approaches new cocktail creations even left our hosts in awe for a few seconds. Comparing the layer of a drink with mixing colors for a painting, Soran brings it all back to his beginnings and passion for art.

As always, let us know what you think about this week’s episode and if you are in Tokyo, make sure you visit Nomura Shoten or the Quarter room! You can of course follow Soran on his Instagram and don’t hesitate to also reach out to us with other sake or shochu-related thoughts or questions at questions@sakeonair.com and rate us on the podcast service of your choice while you’re at it.

At the same time, if you’re looking for updates @sakeonair, you can follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Don’t hesitate to also share any other sake or shochu-related thoughts or questions with the hosts at questions@sakeonair.com and rate us on the podcast service of your choice while you’re at it.

We’ll be back very soon with plenty more Sake On Air.
Until then, kampai!

Sake On Air is made possible with the generous support of the Japan Sake & Shochu Makers Association and is broadcast from the Japan Sake & Shochu Information Center in Tokyo. The show is brought to you by Potts.K Productions with audio production by Frank Walter. Our theme, “Younger Today Than Tomorrow” was composed by forSomethingNew for Sake On Air.

Bubbling in the Moromi with Martin Sturma

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Martin Sturma’s path to kurabito life at Shimizu Seizaburo Shoten has been a winding one. He first started working with sake at the JETRO Prague office, but he had already fallen in love with drink thanks to a fateful encounter on a study abroad trip to the U.S., of all places.

By 2020 he was ready to make the move to Japan and start working at a brewery, but the pandemic got in the way, and he found himself in Paris working for one of the more interesting sake makers outside of Japan, WAKAZE. There he was able to build experience across all parts of the brewing process, preparing him for when Japan finally reopened its borders, at which point he promptly set off to start at Shimizu Seizaburo Shoten, the makers of Zaku.

Today he joins us to talk about his experiences becoming a kurabito, the differences between working at a sake brewery outside of Japan and a more traditional brewery in Japan, and why keeping the yeast happy is the best way to make delicious sake.

Anybody planning on coming to Japan to brew sake? Share your ambitions with us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. You can also follow Martin’s adventures on his instagram. Don’t hesitate to also reach out to us with other sake or shochu-related thoughts or questions at questions@sakeonair.com and rate us on the podcast service of your choice while you’re at it.

We’ll be back very soon with plenty more Sake on Air before you know it.
Until then, kampai!

Sake on Air is made possible with the generous support of the Japan Sake & Shochu Makers Association and is broadcast from the Japan Sake & Shochu Information Center in Tokyo. The show is brought to you by Potts.K Productions with audio production by Frank Walter. Our theme, “Younger Today Than Tomorrow” was composed by forSomethingNew.

Tippsy Sake with Genki Ito & Sachiko Miyagi

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Somehow, they’ve done it.

Despite the long list of complex and seemingly impenetrable barriers, the folks at Tippsy have managed to make a large, diverse, and inspiring range of sake available to anyone just about anywhere in the U.S. Since founding Tippsy in 2018, Genki Ito has managed to expand Tippsy’s offerings to over 400 unique products and make them available to nearly every state across the country.

What exactly is, “Tippsy”, you ask? In addition to being a reliable place to shop for sake online in the United States, Tippsy also offers a curated subscription service, opportunities to communicate and learn with a global community of sake fans and sake-curious, and a wealth of high-quality educational and informative materials about sake.

The mission that Genki set out on was propelled forward when joined by current portfolio manager, Sachiko Miyagi. An experienced and highly decorated and certified sake educator, Sachiko has made herself the bridge between untapped sake knowledge and undiscovered sake lovers of the future.

This week we’re lucky to be joined by both Genki and Sachiko to share with us the challenges and aspirations that have formed the past and will inform the future of Tippsy, and how they plan to get sake into the hands of the millions of people out there unknowingly waiting to begin their own sake journey.

Any Tippsy subscribers out there? Share your experiences with us on InstagramTwitter, and Facebook, and of course, don’t forget to share with the folks over at Tippsy, as well! Don’t hesitate to also reach out to us with other sake or shochu-related thoughts or questions at questions@sakeonair.com and rate us on the podcast service of your choice while you’re at it.

We’ll be back very soon with plenty more Sake On Air before you know it.
Until then, kampai!

Sake On Air is made possible with the generous support of the Japan Sake & Shochu Makers Association and is broadcast from the Japan Sake & Shochu Information Center in Tokyo. The show is brought to you by Potts.K Productions with audio production by Frank Walter. Our theme, “Younger Today Than Tomorrow” was composed by forSomethingNew for Sake On Air.

ARUTEN: On Your Own Terms with Jim Rion

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Aruten, arukoru tenka, or the ingredient largely responsible for the need to create a category of junmai sake in the first place, is sake that has been made with an addition of brewer’s alcohol. Four years and 4 months ago John, little Chris, big Chris, and Justin discussed the differences between junmai and aruten sake in episode 11 of Sake on Air. How time flies. But today Justin is diving back into aruten with sake specialist, and fellow podcaster, Jim Rion. Jim is the author of Discovering Yamaguchi Sake: A Taster’s Guide to Breweries, Culture, and Terrain, published earlier this year from Stone Bridge Press.

Jim’s word for this week is aruten. Reasons for adding brewer’s alcohol are many and you’d miss out on a lot of exceptional sake to assume, “junmai, good; aruten, bad.” Aruten sake types include daiginjo and ginjo (sans “junmai” of course), as well as honjozo and futsu-shu. Some brewers choose to specialize in aruten to give themselves more control over the final flavor of their sake, others are maintaining a long tradition that has its roots in preservation techniques for sake.

Are you more of an Aruten or Junmai person, or does it really even matter? Share more with us here at @sakeonair on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, or send us a message with your thoughts and experiences to questions@sakeonair.com.

We’ll be back with more Sake On Air – On Your Own Terms, before you know it.
Until then, kampai!

Sake On Air is made possible with the generous support of the Japan Sake & Shochu Makers Association and is recorded and broadcast from the Japan Sake & Shochu Information Center in Tokyo. The show is brought to you by Potts.K Productions with audio production by Frank Walter. Our theme, “Younger Today Than Tomorrow” was composed by forSomethingNew for Sake On Air.

MOYASHI: On Your Own Terms with the Sake Concierge

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Moyashi” is a bit tricky: it’s simply translated as “bean sprout” in Japanese, but in the world of sake it refers to the sprouting koji starter knows as tane-koji, in Japanese. In this week’s episode we get insight as to how this important terminology also ties into an even more specialized term “soyashi” and how the fermentation process is connected to the sprouting of various bacteria and molds.

Moyashi was the Sake Concierge, Takashi “Umio” Eguchi’s second word choice in our On Your Own Terms series. He always offers an insightful perspective as part of his explanations about sake and the related enjoyment and culture. Our conversation today is a walk through the historical methods of sake brewing, and how past techniques have been passed down to the terms and practices that still thrive today.

Was moyashi new to you? Share more with us here at @sakeonair on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, or send us a message with your thoughts and experiences to questions@sakeonair.com.

We’ll be back with more Sake On Air – On Your Own Terms, before you know it.
Until then, kampai!

Sake On Air is made possible with the generous support of the Japan Sake & Shochu Makers Association and is recorded and broadcast from the Japan Sake & Shochu Information Center in Tokyo. The show is brought to you by Potts.K Productions with audio production by Frank Walter. Our theme, “Younger Today Than Tomorrow” was composed by forSomethingNew for Sake On Air.

GENSHU: On Your Own Terms with Sebastien Lemoine

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The amount of “genshu” sake circulating the market these days is ever-increasing. So first and foremost, what in the world is genshu?

This week your regular host Sebastien Lemoine brings the genshu topic to the table on his own terms together with Justin Potts. Beyond defining the term (hint: it’s actually pretty simple!) they also get into how the term can be both misinterpreted and reinterpreted at the discretion of the maker’s processes, making sake titled with the word genshu not only more prevalent, but also raises the question: does it even matter?

Are you a genshu fan? If so, tell us why at @sakeonair on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, or send us a message with your thoughts and experiences to questions@sakeonair.com.

We’ll be back with more Sake On Air – On Your Own Terms, very soon.
Until then, kampai!

Sake On Air is made possible with the generous support of the Japan Sake & Shochu Makers Association and is recorded and broadcast from the Japan Sake & Shochu Information Center in Tokyo. The show is brought to you by Potts.K Productions with audio production by Frank Walter. Our theme, “Younger Today Than Tomorrow” was composed by forSomethingNew for Sake On Air.

AMAKUCHI: On Your Own Terms with Tomomi Duquette

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This week we’re lucky to be joined once again by Niigata Sake Lovers founder, sake educator, guide, and evangelist extraordinaire, Tomomi Duquette.

Tomomi’s sake vocabulary that she’s brought to the bar this week on her own terms is particularly interesting in that it flies directly in the face of what her sake homefield is best known for. In Niigata – generally considered the karakuchi motherland – genuinely amakuchi sake is relatively few and far between (although that’s gradually changing, as well).

In general, karakuchi is more prevalent vocabulary – both in sake conversation and on the label – than amakuchi. That being said, for every karakuchi sake, there’s certainly a delicious bottle of amakuchi out there as well, isn’t there? So, why doesn’t it seem to get as much attention? Is karakuchi as universally loved as it seems, or is amakuchi equally synonymous with beloved sake?

In order to discuss amakuchi, we kind of have to address karakuchi, as well, so this week you sort of get a two-for-one here at On Your Own Terms. Lucky you!

Do you lean more karakuchi or amakuchi? What’s your personal barometer for each? Let us know @sakeonair on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, or send us a message with your thoughts and experiences to questions@sakeonair.com, and we’ll discuss.

We’ll be back with more Sake On Air – On Your Own Terms, very soon.
Until then, kampai!

Sake On Air is made possible with the generous support of the Japan Sake & Shochu Makers Association and is recorded and broadcast from the Japan Sake & Shochu Information Center in Tokyo. The show is brought to you by Potts.K Productions with audio production by Frank Walter. Our theme, “Younger Today Than Tomorrow” was composed by forSomethingNew for Sake On Air.

ARABASHIRI: On Your Own Terms with Keith Norum

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Not only can a single batch of sake be broken down into unique seasonal releases, it can even be divided up into a range of unique products immediately following the pressing of a single batch.

One possible way to do so would be to set aside (and then promptly bottle and distribute) what’s known as “arabashiri”, often translated as “first run”. This week we’re thrilled to be joined once again by previous guest of Masumi fame, Keith Norum. What exactly is “arabashiri”, and is it something you should be on the lookout for? Keith is the perfect guest to speak on the topic because not only does Masumi do a spectacular annual Arabashiri release, their specific product actually differs a bit from the conventional definition of the word, leading to some great Masumi stories as well as a great compare-and-contrast conversation that will hopefully shed more light on this often underappreciated bottling and help our listeners better understand the term as a result.

Anyone keen to follow Keith on a detailed brewery tour of Masumi can do so here, as well as keep up-to-date with Masumi straight from the source in Nagano right here.

If you have some of your own arabashiri experiences, be sure to share with use here at @sakeonair on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, or send us a message to questions@sakeonair.com.

We’ll be back with more Sake On Air – On Your Own Terms, very soon.
Until then, kampai!

Sake On Air is made possible with the generous support of the Japan Sake & Shochu Makers Association and is recorded and broadcast from the Japan Sake & Shochu Information Center in Tokyo. The show is brought to you by Potts.K Productions with audio production by Frank Walter. Our theme, “Younger Today Than Tomorrow” was composed by forSomethingNew for Sake On Air.

KURA: On Your Own Terms with Chris Hughes

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Is it “kura”, or is it “gura?”

It’s both! On week’s episode of On Your Own Terms, regular host Justin Potts sits down with Chris Hughes to examine a rather pervasive term in and around the world of sake: kura, the Japanese word that encompasses storehouse, brewery, factory, and nowadays, a whole lot more. Sake breweries are often called sakagura in Japanese, with their modern facilities are often built around an older kura that can be 100s of years old. (Note: the “gura” spelling represents the inflection that occurs when attached to a preceding word, hence, “saka-gura”, as opposed to, “saka-kura”.)

The Japan Sake & Shochu Makers Association (JSS) has an excellent resource that lists all of the sake breweries throughout Japan that offer kura tours. There are also many companies that offer brewery tours as part of their personalized services, including our very own Sebastien Lemoine’s Passerelle.

Have you visited a sakagura before? Do you have plans to go? If so, share your experiences or let us know at @sakeonair on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, or send us a message to questions@sakeonair.com.

We’ll be back with more Sake On Air – On Your Own Terms, in just a few days.
Until then, kampai!

Sake On Air is made possible with the generous support of the Japan Sake & Shochu Makers Association and is recorded and broadcast from the Japan Sake & Shochu Information Center in Tokyo. The show is brought to you by Potts.K Productions with audio production by Frank Walter. Our theme, “Younger Today Than Tomorrow” was composed by forSomethingNew for Sake On Air.

MUROKA: On Your Own Terms with Andrew Centofante

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Is it “unfiltered”?

This week’s episode of On Your Own Terms explores one component of sake’s rather confusing classification of filtered vs. unfiltered when we discuss muroka sake with one exceptional gentleman who happens to be both the owner and head brewer of North American Sake Brewery and co-founder of the Sake Brewers Association of North America, Andrew Centofante.

Often simply communicated as, “unfiltered”, muroka is just one of many processes and choices available to a brewery when deciding the nature of the sake that they want to send out into the world. As concepts such as “low intervention” increase in popularity and align with the values of more and more brewers and consumers, muroka is gradually becoming more and more a key piece of vocabulary related to sake-specific communication. But is “unfiltered” entirely accurate? Is there more to it? This week regular host Justin Potts sits down with Andrew to discuss.

Is muroka a term you pay attention to or place value in? Let us know at @sakeonair on InstagramTwitter, and Facebook, or send us a message to questions@sakeonair.com.

We’ll be back with more Sake On Air – On Your Own Terms, in just a few days.
Until then, kampai!

Sake On Air is made possible with the generous support of the Japan Sake & Shochu Makers Association and is recorded and broadcast from the Japan Sake & Shochu Information Center in Tokyo. The show is brought to you by Potts.K Productions with audio production by Frank Walter. Our theme, “Younger Today Than Tomorrow” was composed by forSomethingNew for Sake On Air.

RICEY: On Your Own Terms with the Sake Concierge

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We’re back again with more, On Your Own Terms, the series that allows our guests to select a single bit of sake or shochu-specific terminology to share with us, explaining it concisely, while also reflecting on their unique experiences and perspectives tied to their topic-of-choice.

This week, the Sake Concierge, Takashi “Umio” Eguchi, brings both terminology and perspective that only he could deliver. This time around we explore the “ricey” component of the sensory experience of sake.

When we started doing this, somewhat narrow-mindedly there was an assumption that most guests would likely select a Japanese-term that would mean little to those not particularly well-versed in the world of sake or shochu. While that’s generally been the case up until now, Umio throws a wrench in things this week – in the best way possible.

The sensory experience of sake is often described, in terms of either (or both) flavor or aroma as being “ricey”, or expressing “riceyness” in some form, whether it be something reflecting steamed or cooked rice, mochi rice, rice bran, or something else entirely.

If your evaluation of a particular wine pointed out its “grapeiness”, you might get sideways looks for pointing out the obvious. If we were talking beer, however, pointing out “malty” character or something being “hoppy” would be considered information of value.

For a drink essentially made entirely from rice and rice-based raw materials (koji!), what meaning or significance does the “riceyness” of a particular sake communicate? Could it mean something different to different people depending upon their geographical or cultural perspective? How does such a term not only point out the obvious, but also the exemplary? Umio elucidates on all of these things, keeping us on our toes and in a state of reflection for this session of On Your Own Terms.

We’ll be back with more Sake On Air – On Your Own Terms, in just a few days.
Until then, kampai!

Sake On Air is made possible with the generous support of the Japan Sake & Shochu Makers Association and is recorded and broadcast from the Japan Sake & Shochu Information Center in Tokyo. The show is brought to you by Potts.K Productions with audio production by Frank Walter. Our theme, “Younger Today Than Tomorrow” was composed by forSomethingNew for Sake On Air.