News

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We’ve been relatively quiet on the shochu front in recent months, but we’re looking to remedy that this week by serving up an episode that should inspire our listeners to begin procuring their shochu and awamori selections for the weekend and beyond.

This week Christopher Pellegrini welcomes frequent collaborator, author and co-host of the Japan Distilled podcast, Stephen Lyman. Stephen took us on a detailed tour of Yamatozakura Distillery for the Sake Future Summit back in 2020, joined us to talk about his book, Guide to Japanese Drinks, back on Episode 26, and also appeared on Episode 14 to discuss some of the finer nuances of our favorite koji-crafted distillates.

While shochu and awamori can be served up wonderfully any myriad of ways, this week Stephen and Christopher drill down into the basics. How are shochu and awamori most commonly prepared, served and consumed in Japan? Why would you select one style over another and how does it influence the sensory experience? What styles of shochu naturally lend themselves to certain serving and drinking styles?

As shochu and awamori expand their reach across the globe, drinking and service styles are diversifying at a dizzying pace – which is incredible. But for this episode, our hosts inform as to not only ‘what’ the common and established drinking styles are, but also ‘why’. There’s a reason this beloved beverage holds market share and mindshare in Japan on-par with (and occasionally eclipsing) sake. If you’re looking to explore those reasons, this week’s episode is the perfect place to start.

Thanks for once again tuning in to Sake On Air. You can help new listeners discover the show by leaving us a review on Apple Podcasts or on whatever service delivers you all of your podcasting needs. Contact us at questions@sakeonair.staba.jp with any thoughts about this week’s show, and feel free to follow us on  Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Everything from Sake Future Summit 2020, as well as a number of other recordings, are all archived over on our YouTube channel, as well.

We’ll be back in two weeks’ time with more Sake On Air.
Have a happy and healthy week, everyone.

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 a co-production between Export Japan and Potts.K Productions, with audio production by Frank Walter. Our theme, “Younger Today Than Tomorrow” was composed by forSomethingNew for Sake On Air.

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This week we continue our conversation with the multi-generation family of rice (and sake rice!) farmers at Isbell Farms in the heart of Arkansas. For those of you just now joining, we highly recommend you make time to give Part 1 of this conversation a listen before diving in, as it provides a great deal of context for this week’s discussion, is referenced occasionally throughout the show, and more than anything, it introduces you to this inspiring family.

This week the family kicks things off by talking about the transition from their early work with Takara Sake USA to connecting with Blake Richardson of Moto-I and Minnesota Rice & Milling via Norway, which lead to further expansion into a range of sake-specific rice varieties in support of North America’s craft sake breweries, along with the recent development of their own sake rice variety, known as Somai.

From there we get into the creation of sake rice sample kits (and post office shenanigans!), the experience of opening up and sharing family life on the farm through YouTube, tackling sustainability and conservation issues surrounding rice farming while selling carbon credits to Microsoft in the process, and a great deal more.

We hope that this pair of episodes not only contributed to our listeners’ appreciation of sake and the hard work and passion involved in bringing that magnificent beverage to life, but also helped to further your interest in the world of agriculture in North America – and anywhere, for that matter. All of our futures hinge upon the people and means through which we grow food. If that food being grown contributes to beautiful sake, and if that beautiful sake contributes to a healthy and sustainable future, all the better. In that capacity, we here at Sake On Air can’t wait to see where the Isbell Family takes us next.

For more about Isbell Farms:
– Website
– Instagram
– Facebook
– Twitter
– YouTube

Thanks for once again tuning in to Sake On Air. You can help new listeners discover the show by leaving us a review on Apple Podcasts or on whatever service delivers you all of your podcasting needs. Contact us at questions@sakeonair.staba.jp with any thoughts about this week’s show, and feel free to follow us on  Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Everything from Sake Future Summit 2020, as well as a number of other recordings, are all archived over on our YouTube channel, as well.

We’ll be back in two weeks with a bit more Sake (and Shochu!) on Air.
Until next time.

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 a co-production between Export Japan and Potts.K Productions, with audio production by Frank Walter. Our theme, “Younger Today Than Tomorrow” was composed by forSomethingNew for Sake On Air.

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When it comes to producing sake outside of Japan, still one of the most significant hurdles to crafting the sake of a brew-master’s dreams is access to the ideal resources needed in order to realize the vision, and included in those resources are the raw materials.

Sake specific rice varieties from Japan are in high demand from sake makers across the globe–and for good reason–but there’s also something to be said for being able to craft an incredible beverage from the resources available close to home.

While consistent access to a good number of sake brewing tools and resources still remains rather elusive for a significant number of international sake breweries, when it comes to sake rice in the U.S., the family at Isbell Farms is on a mission to make Japanese rice and sake rice varieties an accessible, quality, and viable option for a new world of sake breweries.

After a successful foray into the production of koshihikari, a Japanese staple table rice variety that put the family’s rice (and faces) on televisions and convenience store shelves across Japan in the 80s, demand from the rapidly growing number of Japanese restaurants across the U.S., along with a handful of major sake breweries setting up operations on North American shores led to opportunities to double-down on a then relatively niche market. Since then, they’ve grown and evolved to become a go-to supplier of established sake rice varieties, including yamada nishiki and gohyakumangoku, amongst others, to breweries large and small across the U.S.

This week (and next) we speak with the Isbell family as we explore the origins of cultivating Japanese rice varieties in the heart of Arkansas, the expansion to sake rice varieties, and just what it means to be a grower in the U.S. today.

We’ll be back with Part 2 of this special look at sake and rice growing in the U.S. next week, as we join the family at Isbell Farms once again to more closely examine the nature of sake specific rice varieties, as well as the future of rice farming and agriculture in the U.S. Stay tuned.

For those of you interested in following the work of the Isbell family online:
– Website
– Instagram
– Facebook
– Twitter
– YouTube

Thanks for once again tuning in to Sake On Air. You can help new listeners discover the show by leaving us a review on Apple Podcasts or on whatever service delivers you all of your podcasting needs. Contact us at questions@sakeonair.staba.jp with any thoughts about this week’s show, and feel free to follow us on  Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Everything from Sake Future Summit 2020, as well as a number of other recordings, are all archived over on our YouTube channel, as well.

Wishing all of our listeners happiness and health in a (hopefully) sake-infused week ahead. Take care out there.

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 a co-production between Export Japan and Potts.K Productions, with audio production by Frank Walter. Our theme, “Younger Today Than Tomorrow” was composed by forSomethingNew for Sake On Air.

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Despite a rich and storied history spanning millennia, in certain terms, sake has yet to unequivocally prove its ability to stand the test of time.

If you’re in some way associated with the sale or service of sake, likely one of the most common questions you get is, “How long can I keep my sake before it starts to go bad?” or, “How long does sake stay good after it’s opened?” As a buyer, these are both logical and very important questions. As an industry, having clear and concise answers to those questions is equally important. In order to keep things simple, as well as to help assure an overwhelmingly positive experience for as many sake drinkers as possible, the general message adopted suggests that sake should be consumed within 6-12 months from purchase, refrigerated both prior to and after opening, and then consumed within several days to a week once it’s been opened. This is sound advice that’s relevant to a great majority of the sake being produced and sold both domestically and internationally.

There is, however, a paradigm that exists entirely outside of the above logic; where a greater element of time isn’t only a factor, but a necessity.

Welcome to the world of matured and aged sake.

Often referred to as koshu – literally “old sake” – often translated as “aged sake”, or jukuseishu, commonly translated as “matured sake”, bottles of sake referencing these qualities were crafted taking time into account. That amount of time can be anywhere from a few years to a few decades depending on the style of sake and the intent of the brewer, and in many cases the results are astounding.

Yet despite plenty of beautiful examples of aged or matured sake on the market and countless historical texts singing the praises of what time can do to a bottle of sake, a rather perfect storm of circumstances coalesced to nearly erase aged sake culture, production, and consumer appreciation from the collective understanding of sake for about a century.

Thankfully, a relatively small, but thoughtful, proactive and coordinated effort from a growing number of sake makers and sellers has been hard at work seeking to rebuild and redefine what time can mean (and cost) when factored into a bottle of sake. Whether it be the collective rebranding efforts of the Toki Sake Association, the Muni line from Kokuryu used in the first ever sake industry auction in 2018, the dedication to long-term aging in ceramic storage vessels by Tsuki no Katsura, or a handful of specialty bars dedicated to the unique and treasured style, awareness surrounding the magic that time can work on a bottle of the right kind of sake is slowly building.

This week, Sebastien Lemoine, Marie Nagata and Justin Potts gather to discuss the historical and modern context of matured and aged sake, the formal definitions (or lack thereof) in place, the typical qualities that time imparts on a bottle of sake, what maturing sake could mean from a service standpoint, and more.

For those of you that missed our special interview on the topic for Sake Future Summit 2020, Aged Sake and the Test of Time, that’s a great primer (or follow-up) to this episode. Prior to this episode Sebastien actually sat down with Nobuhiro Ueno, while Justin paid a visit to Tokubee Masuda of Tsuki no Katsura, to help us get a bit more insight into this fascinating sake category. Those interviews will see the light of day in some form a bit further down the road, but for now, we hope you’ll pour yourself a glass of sake and settle in with us for an exploration into the one thing that proves nearly impossible to attach a price tag to no matter what the context: time.

Thanks for once again tuning in to Sake On Air. You can help new listeners discover the show by leaving us a review on Apple Podcasts or on any of your favorite services that deliver you all of your podcasting needs. Contact us at questions@sakeonair.staba.jp with any thoughts or feelings, or go ahead and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Everything from Sake Future Summit 2020, as well as a number of other recordings, are all archived over on our YouTube channel, as well.

We’ll get into how time factors into the world of shochu and awamori in another show another day. For this week, give your sake a bit of quality time.

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 a co-production between Export Japan and Potts.K Productions, with audio production by Frank Walter.

Our theme, “Younger Today Than Tomorrow” was composed by forSomethingNew for Sake On Air.

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In an ideal world we’d bring you listeners a brand-new episode each and every week. While we can’t see that happening in the immediate future, in the process of creating or preparing for many of our episodes we end up with a lot of fun and insightful conversations that sadly just don’t make it into a final episode.

Whether it be interviews conducted in attempt to broaden our perspective and gain further insight into a specific topic before attempting to tackle it, or an unanticipated tangent during a regular recording that we just can’t bring ourselves to carve up, but also can’t force into the overall show structure, we’ve continued to amass quite a bit of material that we would love to share with our listeners at some point and in some capacity.

That’s what we’re testing the waters with this week, in our first (but hopefully not last) episode of “Okawari”.

In Japanese, the term okawari refers to ordering “another round”. Essentially, if you’re asking for okawari, you want to keep the party going. That’s what we hope this week’s show (and future okawari installments) can bring to the table.

As part of the process of examining the world of Nigori Sake for episode 60, we thought it would be interesting to get a bit of insight into the U.S. market’s unique attachment to this special style. In order to do that, we called up sake expert, certified Sake Samurai, and self-declared Sake Ninja, Chris Johnson, to share with us the evolution and status of the style in the U.S.

One thing for sure is that we’ll be coaxing the Sake Ninja to reappear in future episodes, as there are dozens of topics that we’d love to pick his brain on, and he deserves a feature all his own. That’s one of the reasons we’re giving this week’s conversation okawari status. Our chat with Chris is both great supportive material for our previous episode, while providing more than enough substance to be fully satisfying as a stand-alone episode in its own right.

We’ve got lots more material in the vault that we could use to pour you all “another round” of your favorite past topics, guests, and even entirely new snippets and insights. Let us know what you think of the concept and we’ll see what we can do to develop the format in the future.

You can send those thoughts to questions@sakeonair.staba.jp or message us via Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook. Note that you’ll also help out the show by leaving us a review on Apple Podcasts or on whichever service you rely upon for your podcast needs.

Thanks for supporting us here at Sake On Air. We’ll be back with more sake and shochu-infused goodness in just a couple of weeks.

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 a co-production between Export Japan and Potts.K Productions, with audio production by Frank Walter.

Our theme, “Younger Today Than Tomorrow” was composed by forSomethingNew for Sake On Air.

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There’s a fascinating schism that’s emerged between the domestic and international markets’ relationship with nigori-style sake over that past few decades.

With its rather odd positioning landing it someplace between a more “traditional” style and at the same time a relatively “new” product proposition, a few distinct exceptions aside, nigori sake generally makes up an incredibly small portion of most makers’ product lineup.

At the same time, in some international markets (the U.S. in particular), nigori sake has developed a life of its own as an ever-present and iconic style representing the sake category as a whole, resulting in relatively more common placement on drink menus and amidst distributor portfolios than you’d often find in Japan.

Recent for creative and nuanced interpretations aside, for many years more “standard” offerings of nigori sake tended to be sold as (and as a result, perceived as) more budget products. However, the burdens of merely crafting a nigori sake are many and varied – arguably more demanding than a great deal of “clear” product – with the craft of producing a truly great nigori sake being in many cases a rather herculean task.

Why the disconnect? Is there really a “typical” or “traditional” nigori-style sake? Is Japan slowly developing a newfound appreciation for new styles of nigori? Do international brewers have an advantage when it comes to indoctrinating new sake drinkers through nigori-style sake?

Discussions around these topics and more this week with several of your regular Sake On Air hosts Sebastien Lemoine, Chris Hughes and Justin Potts. In preparing for this episode the team asked around different corners of the industry for various perspective and insight. You’ll get a bit of that here, but expect more from those interviewees in the coming weeks, as well.

There’s a lot to love about nigori, an infinitely diverse and growing style poised for a renaissance in the global world of sake. We hope you’ll come along for the ride.

Thanks for once again tuning in to Sake On Air. You can help new listeners discover the show by leaving us a review on Apple Podcasts or on any of your favorite services that deliver you all of your podcasting needs. Contact us at questions@sakeonair.staba.jp with any thoughts or feelings, or go  ahead and follow us on  Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Everything from Sake Future Summit 2020, as well as a number of other recordings, are all archived over on our YouTube channel, as well.

Thanks for choosing sake and shochu. Be sure to pour yourself a bit of nigori this week, as well.

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 a co-production between Export Japan and Potts.K Productions, with audio production by Frank Walter.

Our theme, “Younger Today Than Tomorrow” was composed by forSomethingNew for Sake On Air.

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Just a few episodes back we decided to revisit some of the highlights from Sake Future Summit 2020. In preparing for and editing that episode there was so much that we wanted to include but couldn’t in the interest of time, we devised a clever solution: we just did it again.

As with the previous round, if you have the time to really pick through all of these on the official Sake On Air YouTube channel, the visual component adds a lot to these and there’s a great deal more fascinating and insightful material that we just couldn’t cram in. Also, seeing as how half of the programming for the Sake Future Summit was comprised of interviews, tours, presentations and discussions conducted with individuals from the Japanese side of the industry and carried out in Japanese and subtitled, a majority of the great programming is still stuck in a visual-only format. If you’re sipping sake or shochu over the weekend, firing those sessions up alongside your beverage-of-choice isn’t a bad way to spend an evening. You can find those all archived over on our YouTube channel.

In this episode you’ll hear from hear:
– How the pros of the U.K. sake market are looking to bring it to the next level in a discussion with Barry McCaughley (Restaurateur; F&B Development Consultant), Miho Komatsu (Sake Specialist for Marussia Beverage; Marketing and International Sales for Akashi-tai Sake Brewery), Akiko Konishi (Manager of Intl. Dept. at Konishi Shuzo), and navigated by Oliver Hilton-Johnson (Tengu Sake).

– About how some unique approaches to the Spanish market could change the game for sake, together with Pablo Alomar Salvioni (President of Salvioni & Alomar), Francois Chartier (Aroma Specialist; Master Blender for Tanaka 1789 X Chartier), and Rubén Pol Ramon (Head Sommelier at Restaurant Disfrutar, Barcelona).

– The ways in which shochu is poised to be woven into the future of the world’s best bars with Don Lee (Industry mentor; former partner Existing Conditions), Ryan Chetiyawardana (Founder of Mr. Lyan; Cocktail bartender), and Chikako Ichihara (CEO of Azix; Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association US Liaison officer).

– How French cuisine could pave the way for sake to be incorporated into the upper echelons of the epicurean experience, together with Xavier Thuizat (President of Kura Master; Chef Sommelier of Hotel Crillon) and Marco Pelletier (Vigneron at Domaine de Galouchey; Proprietor of Vantre, Paris).

– About the fascinating ways that sake and shochu are being incorporated into some of the U.S.’s best restaurants in a dialogue between Nobuo Fukuda (Chef at Teeter House), Sachiko Miyagi (Sake Expert at Tippsy Sake), Mutsuko Soma (Chef at Kamonegi; Owner of Hannyatou), David Schlosser (Chef at Shibumi), and Christopher Gomez (Beverage Director at Shibumi).

Thanks for tuning in this week. Please help new listeners discover the show by leaving us a review on Apple Podcasts or your favorite service bringing you your podcasts. Contact us at questions@sakeonair.staba.jp with any thoughts, feelings or kind words about the show, or go  ahead and follow us on  Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Don’t forget to subscribe to us over on YouTube, as well.

Thanks for choosing sake and shochu. 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 a co-production between Export Japan and Potts.K Productions, with audio production by Frank Walter.

Our theme, “Younger Today Than Tomorrow” was composed by forSomethingNew for Sake On Air.

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In the past we’ve hosted episodes with a handful of non-Japanese individuals that have dedicated themselves to the work and lifestyle that comes along with being a kurabito (brewer) in Japan. We’ve even had a guest that’s been so deep in the game for so long that he’s approached toji status.

This week, however, we sit down for a sort of fireside chat with an inspiring and insightful young woman who not only committed herself to the rhythm of a sake brewery, but in doing so, made herself a part of the small mountain town that it resides in, and all that comes along with it.

Lucky for us, in Water, Wood & Wild Things, accomplished writer, artist and food stylist Hannah Kirshner was kind enough to document it for all of us, as well.

Scheduled to release on March 23^rd via Viking, Hannah conveys her experiences in Yamanaka since 2015 in a manner that I’ve rarely experienced in books crafted to communicate an experience of life in Japan. Maybe it’s because the book isn’t really about Japan.

While in Yamanaka, Hannah has set up shop in a sake brewery, in this case Matsuura Shuzo, makers of Shishi no Sato brand sake, committed herself to apprenticing behind the bar with a borderline-obsessed sake evangelist and service professional, relentlessly pursued the “way” of tea, dedicated her time and energy to the lathe with a woodturning artisan of national acclaim, insistently pursued the inherent warmth in the craft of charcoal making, grown indoctrinated into the world of wild game hunting, and all of the other things you might imagine (and many you wouldn’t) that would accompany such a lifestyle and commitment.

Thankfully, there are a lot of books these days that focus with precision on what sake is. In Water, Wood & Wild Things, by shedding light on the ways in which the people of Yamanaka’s livelihood is interwoven into the fabric of their work, community, and hence their identity, we finally get a voice that shares with us why sake – and the ecosystem that it’s inseparable from – is important.

You can help new listeners discover Sake On Air by leaving us a review on Apple Podcasts or your favorite service for podcast enjoyment. Send us your thoughts at questions@sakeonair.staba.jp and follow along with us on  Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. There’s also a lot of great sake and shochu-inspired programming over on YouTube.

We’ll be back with more Sake On Air very, very soon. March is going to be a busy month. You can thank us later.

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 a co-production between Export Japan and Potts.K Productions, with audio production by Frank Walter.

Our theme, “Younger Today Than Tomorrow” was composed by forSomethingNew for Sake On Air.

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Umeshu might be one of the most universally pleasing drink categories on the planet. Its characteristic sweet and spunky qualities can be served up any myriad of ways and seem to tickle just about everyone’s taste buds no matter how you spin it.

However, while the style may seem relatively straightforward, the category is anything but.

The content of this show tends to stick very close to the core categories of its namesake: sake and shochu. However, when it comes to umeshu, in order to fully understand the depth and breadth of what’s out there, we have to open up the conversation to the wider world of drinks and spirits.

To help us unravel its nuance and mysteries, this week we’ve recruited Todd Van Horne. Having a long history in Japan, focusing primarily on food and fermentation, he’s found himself smack in the heart of Japan’s “ume country” – Wakayama – where he wound up working with an ume producer creating, blending and transporting umeshu to the global market. The number of non-Japanese taking up roles as sake brewers here and there is on the rise, but in the world of ume and umeshu-dedicated individuals, Todd is indeed an outlier.

From the significance of ume in the Japanese diet, to the beverage’s historical position as a do-it-yourself creation, this week your hosts Rebekah Wilson-Lye, Christopher Pellegrini, and Justin Potts join forces with our special guest to try and cover all you’ll need to know to start discerning what questions to ask about that next bottle of umeshu that you encounter in the wild.

Please help new listeners discover Sake On Air by leaving us a review on Apple Podcasts or whatever service you depend upon for your podcast enjoyment. Reach out to us at questions@sakeonair.staba.jp with any thoughts, feelings or kind words about the show. You can follow us on  Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook as well, and if you’d be so kind, don’t forget to subscribe to us over on YouTube.

Thanks for listening this week, and thanks for choosing sake and shochu.

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 a co-production between Export Japan and Potts.K Productions, with audio production by Frank Walter.

Our theme, “Younger Today Than Tomorrow” was composed by forSomethingNew for Sake On Air.

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Since hosting Sake Future Summit 2020 back at the end of November, we’ve since gone and spliced up that nearly 30 hours of dialogue and nearly as many programs into individual videos to help make topics, speakers and conversations easier to find and enjoy.

Having been conducted with a visual component, viewing these on the official Sake On Air YouTube channel is arguably the best way to take in a lot of these discussions, however there are a lot of great ideas and conversations that we felt ought to translate just as well to an audio-only format. That’s why this week we’ve decided to weave together segments from some of those sessions into a podcast.

For our listeners that have already exhausted everything from the actual Summit, this will likely be revisiting familiar territory. But for those that missed out on a lot of the programming, hopefully this will serve as a meaty digest of the depth and breadth explored, as well as prompt you to go back and visit or revisit the great conversations that are all archived over on our YouTube channel.

It’s worth noting, however, that a little more than half of the programming for the Sake Future Summit was comprised of interviews, tours, presentations and discussions conducted with individuals entrenched in the Japanese side of the industry, and as a result, were conducted in Japanese. On YouTube, all of those discussions have been translated, subtitled and made available and accessible. However, due to their nature, that means that roughly half of the programming is still tethered to YouTube. If you’re so inclined, we highly recommend checking those out, as well. It’s material that we feel uniquely privileged to have been able to organize and deliver, and offers a great deal of insight into the topics and conversations permeating the Japanese sake and shochu industries.

In this episode you’ll hear from hear:
– A convincing argument for selecting sake over wine with local Taiwanese cuisine with Wolfgang Angyal (President & CEO of Riedel Japan Co. Ltd.) and Michael Ou (Owner/chef of Hanabi Izakaya; President of Ho-Wei Sake Imports in Taiwan).
– How dedication to the craft of imo (sweet potato) shochu rises above all with Stephen Lyman (Author and Shochu Specialist), Tekkan Wakamatsu (Master Brewer-Distiller at Yamato Zakura Shuzo), and Maya Aley (Shochu Expert).
– About the true motivations behind saving a sake brewery through unprecedented partnerships with Marcus Consolini and Yasutaka Daimon of Daimon Brewery.
– Tips for getting the most out of Imo, Kome, and Mugi shochu with your food, both at the bar with Shingo Gokan (Founder of SG Group) and Joshin Atone (Brand Manager for SG Shochu), as well as at home.
– Why the future expansion of koji outside of Japan is potentially more exciting and dynamic than here in the homeland, with Jeremy Umansky (Chef/owner of Larder Delicatessen and Bakery; Author) and Koichi Higuchi (Director of Higuchi Matsunosuke Shoten Co., Ltd.)
– How music legend Richie Hawtin took what he’s built through ENTER.Sake and brought a new vision to life in the midst of a global pandemic with Sake 36.
– About ways to interpret and untangle the increasingly confusing relationship between mugi (barley) shochu and Japanese whiskey with renowned author and journalist, Brian Ashcraft.

With the Sake Future Summit, we recognize that we tried to thread the needle a bit, by hosting a mix of rather industry-centric discussion, alongside a good deal of more light-hearted entertainment focusing on the simple enjoyment of sake and shochu. Our thought was that, the people, places, processes and activities surrounding these amazing drinks are just inherently. Our hope then is that, whether you’re just getting to know what sake and shochu have to offer, or have long been committed to these koji-born beverages, you’ll agree.

If you enjoy Sake On Air, help new listeners discover the show by leaving us a review on Apple Podcasts or whatever service you depend upon for your podcast enjoyment. You can contact us at questions@sakeonair.staba.jp with any thoughts, feelings or kind words about the show. Go ahead and follow us on  Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook as well, if you’d be so kind, and don’t forget to subscribe to us over on YouTube.

Thanks for listening, and thanks for choosing sake and shochu.
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 a co-production between Export Japan and Potts.K Productions, with audio production by Frank Walter.

Our theme, “Younger Today Than Tomorrow” was composed by forSomethingNew for Sake On Air.

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Anyone who has heard of a little country by the name of “Japan” has probably heard of “Kyoto”. Anyone who has sat through a formal sake education program has probably heard of “Fushimi”, the small region of Kyoto often touted as one of the historically defining regions of the entire category. Nine times out of ten, when referring to Kyoto in the context of sake, that person is probably commenting on the historical role and influence of Fushimi in some form or another.

Here at Sake On Air we’ve yet to dedicate an entire episode to any specific sake-producing region: until now.

While we could have started with any one of hundreds of the unique and fascination regions across Japan, kicking off this new experiment with Fushimi came about for two reasons. The first, it’s a region that gets emphasized more than just about any other (aside from maybe Nada, in Hyogo Prefecture), but also seems to get glossed over rather quickly. The region’s “significance” is praised, but the examination into what that significance is often leaves a bit to be desired.

The second reason is that we were able to connect with a well-qualified individual that was up to the challenge. This week we welcome a very special guest, sake educator, writer and researcher, Ayuko Yamaguchi. Being a resident of Kyoto, Ms. Yamaguchi’s commitment to doubling-down on the sake stories close-to-home has led her on an endless journey scouring Fushimi’s contributions to the world of sake, both historically, as well as in the present.

Joined by Christopher Hughes, Sebastien Lemoine, and Justin Potts, this week the team takes a deep dive into what’s largely considered to be one of the industry’s most influential sake-producing regions and ask the question: Does it live up to the hype?

If you enjoy Sake On Air, you can help new listeners discover the show by leaving us a review on Apple Podcasts or whatever service you depend upon for your podcast enjoyment. You can contact us at questions@sakeonair.staba.jp with any thoughts, feelings or kind words about the show. Go ahead and follow us on  Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook as well, if you’d be so kind, and don’t forget to subscribe to us over on YouTube.

We that hope everyone’s 2021 is off to a sake and shochu-fueled happy and healthy start. Japan is still under a State of Emergency as of the recording and release of this episode, which means that we’ll be continuing to conduct our recordings at a distance, with “on the road” updates kept to a minimum. That being said, we’re going to continue to do what we can to keep all of our listeners updated and in-the-loop. If there’s a topic you’re keen to hear us explore amidst the current climate, do let us know. While we can’t make any promises, we like to do what we can to deliver.

Thanks for listening, and thanks for choosing sake and shochu.
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 a co-production between Export Japan and Potts.K Productions, with audio production by Frank Walter.

Our theme, “Younger Today Than Tomorrow” was composed by forSomethingNew for Sake On Air.

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How many of our listeners are familiar with amazake? Despite having clear progenitor qualities to this show’s favorite beverage, this non-alcoholic, koji-fermented drink hasn’t quite amassed the international mindshare of its intoxicating cousin – yet.

Although the core principle and function in preparing and making amazake shares a great deal with the early stages of sake-making, probably one of the biggest reasons it has taken a while to reach the global stage is the fact that Japan more or less forgot about it themselves. For a number of reasons (discussed in the show), over the past few generations amazake in Japan has largely come to be equated with a sake-kasu-based drink pumped with sugar and served warm for a small handful of ceremonial or celebratory occasions. While plenty delicious in its own right, it’s also entirely different from “traditional” koji-fermented amazake of the kind that has reclaimed space across Japan’s supermarket shelves just in the past decade.

The producer largely credited with helping to re-create and prove the viability of the incredibly delicious, yet largely-forgotten amazake market, is Hakkaisan.

Regular listeners and those hovering in the sake sphere will most likely be familiar with Hakkaisan brand sake. Despite being one of Japan’s largest sake producers, their dedication to small-batch production, high-quality in their most affordable lines (futsushu, honjozo), along with truly exceptional ginjo-styles, has made them a mainstay both in Japan, as well as in countless markets across the globe.

What many of our listeners may not know is that Hakkaisan also has separate operations (known as, Sennen Koujiya) that create all sorts of fermented food and beverage products of incredibly high quality emphasizing local jobs and ingredients. The merging of the craftmanship and competencies from across these multiple endeavors came at a perfect time, resulting in a venture into amazake production that was transformative both for the company, as well as national mindshare surrounding this traditionally and culturally significant beverage.

For this week’s show we’re joined by Shoko Baba, who is the International Marketing & Sales Section Chief with the team at Hakkaisan based in Japan. Both a teacher and a student of the wide world of Japan’s fermented foods and beverages, her role at Hakkaisan extends far beyond sake or any one specific market. With a hand in the many ambitious frontiers of both Hakkaisan’s international and domestic project development, along with being a relentless advocate of Japan’s culture of fermentation, Shoko has seen Hakkaisan’s amazake frenzy at its peak and is gearing up for its future in new markets outside of Japan.

This week Marie and Justin join our fantastic guest to discuss the cultural and functional relevance of amazake in Japan, its evolution over time, its perceived health benefits, relationship to sake, popular uses, and the process through which Hakkaisan made Japan a believer in the importance of this incredible beverage all over again.

You can help more listeners discover Sake On Air by leaving us a review on Apple Podcasts. Feel free to also contact us at questions@sakeonair.staba.jp with any questions, comments, or insights. You can follow us on  Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, or subscribe to us over on YouTube.

We’ve got a lot in the works for 2021 that we can’t wait to share with you all. Here’s to a great deal more sake and shochu love in the year ahead.

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 a co-production between Export Japan and Potts.K Productions, with audio production by Frank Walter.

Our theme, “Younger Today Than Tomorrow” was composed by forSomethingNew for Sake On Air.

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Any of our listeners that tuned into Sake Future Summit 2020 will likely already be familiar with the brilliant work of this week’s guest, Hotel de Crillion Chef Sommelier, Xavier Thuizat. In that session, together with Marco Pelletier (of Vantre), we looked at what it will take to insert sake into the upper echelon of the French dining experience.

One crucial topic we didn’t touch upon, however, is the unprecedented sake competition Xavier established which thrust him into the sake industry limelight. That competition, as likely many of our listeners are familiar, is Kura Master.

Having been wooed by the world of sake, and then for years worked painstakingly in order to integrate it into some of the world’s most illustrious wine programs, in order to further raise the bar and expand the reach of the category he saw a need to create a standard that spoke to the individuals at the front lines of the French dining experience–sommeliers–thus gathering mindshare for sake on France’s strictest stage: the dining table.

For this episode, our eloquent and thoughtful in-house Frenchman Sebastien Lemoine takes the reigns, while Chris Hughes and Justin Potts co-pilot a fascinating conversation exploring what it takes to create a world class beverage competition from the ground up, along with the decisions and reasoning that led to Kura Master taking the form that is has today, and what we can expect in the years to come.

You can find our previous interview with Xavier from Sake Future Summit 2020 inside the event’s playlist on our official YouTube channel, along with an additional 30 hours of sake and shochu-inspired exploration. Whether you’re settling in for a long, quiet holiday, or cracking a celebratory bottle of sake to ring in the New Year, you should be able to find something amidst that sake marathon to enhance your appreciation of what went into that special bottle of koji-inspired alchemy.

If you find a moment this holiday, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. We’d also love to have you reach out to us at questions@sakeonair.staba.jp to share with us what you thought of the show in 2020. You can follow us on  Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, or subscribe to us over on YouTube.

Wherever you may call home, the wildness that defined 2020 surely touched all of our listeners in some capacity. With eyes on the year to come, we’re going to keep seeking out and creating ways to help make sake and shochu a more meaningful and enjoyable element to define good times ahead.

Thanks so much for all of our listeners and supporters for sticking with us – and with sake – throughout this turbulent year. We can’t wait to do our part in boosting the number of reasons to “Kampai!” in 2021.

Here’s wishing you all a very Happy and Healthy New Year from the team at Sake On Air.

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 a co-production between Export Japan and Potts.K Productions, with audio production by Frank Walter.

Our theme, “Younger Today Than Tomorrow” was composed by forSomethingNew for Sake On Air.

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An exploration into the various types of drinking vessels and related wares that have for centuries shaped the service and enjoyment of sake is one of the most frequently requested show topics that we get.

That’s why this week we’re thrilled to (finally!) welcome Robert Yellin to the show.

Owner and curator of Robert Yellin Yakimono Gallery in the heart of Kyoto, over the past 30+ years Robert has dedicated himself to the exploration of the world of yakimono – literally “fired things,” referring specifically to Japanese pottery and ceramics – a life’s work that has made him one of the world’s leading non-Japanese experts in the field.

Robert’s expertise extends far beyond just the world of sake-related wares, however this week we hone in on an array of enthralling (and largely) sake-specific works, discussing history, types, regional styles, and more.

Conducting our interview at a distance via ZOOM, entirely by chance Robert was visited by an artisan colleague packing a suitcase of extraordinary works just as we began recording. If you notice a bit of banter in the background, that’s it. (We may have to try and get a short video segment from this recording up on our YouTube channel sometime in the coming weeks, as well…!)

When it comes to drinking, serving, and enjoying sake, there really is no “right” or “wrong” way to go about it. However, if you have the curiosity and access to explore, experiment and integrate the world of yakimono into your experience, it opens up an entirely new world as deep and enriching as the liquid itself. If this week’s visit with Robert doesn’t spark that interest, we don’t know what will.

Sebastien Lemoine, Rebekah Wilson-Lye and John Gauntner are piloting this week, with Justin Potts occasionally playing the role of the annoying backseat driver. Ready your tokkuri and settle in.  

We now have almost all of the sessions from Sake Future Summit 2020 conveniently compiled into a playlist on our official YouTube channel for your holiday enjoyment. If you missed out (and there are a few that YouTube cut from the primary recording), we’ve got you covered. The remainder should be up in time for the holidays.

Please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, and reach out to us at questions@sakeonair.staba.jp if you have any questions, comments, thoughts, suggestions, or messages for us here at the show. You can follow us on  Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, or subscribe to us over on YouTube.

We’ll have a bit more Sake On Air for you before we close out 2020. Until then, have a happy and healthy sake and shochu-filled holiday. Thanks for joining us this year.

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 a co-production between Export Japan and Potts.K Productions, with audio production by Frank Walter.

Our theme, “Younger Today Than Tomorrow” was composed by forSomethingNew for Sake On Air.

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Last January Sebastien and Justin travelled to Shodoshima, the island of kioke, shoyu, and olives, located off the coast of Kagawa Prefecture of Shikoku Island in Western Japan.

The purpose? To take part in the Kioke Summit hosted by Yamaroku Shoyu. Why are we visiting a shoyu (soy sauce) maker for an episode of Sake On Air? A quick internet search for any combination of the key words above will tell you why, but here’s the gist: With almost no one left in Japan (which means, in the world) that possesses the skill and knowledge for crafting large-size kioke (wooden tanks) used for the fermentation and storage of sake, soy sauce, miso, vinegar, and occasionally other fermented beverages and flavorings, Japan is at risk of losing a massive element of its microbial DNA. That includes the character, quality and originality that makes Japanese regional cuisine—and Japanese cuisine in general—the delicious wonder that it is.

Owner of Yamaroku Shoyu, Yasuo Yamamoto, took it upon himself to develop a means of reversing that trend. For years he and a dedicated team bound together both locally and across Japan have been honing those woodworking skills themselves and then training others around Japan that are in a position to reinstate kioke into their production. The future of Japan’s kioke (and if you haven’t caught on yet, the flavors that define Japan) is at risk of being lost and Yamamoto-san and team are close to being the last bastion.

For years Yamamoto-san and team have been hosting what they call a “Kioke Summit,” where those in the industry come to learn the craft and share the culture of kioke. Back in January, for the first time they opened the event up a bit more to those on the periphery of the industry and hosted something more akin to an actual summit, with guest speakers, panels and lectures spread across several days with kioke construction serving as an ongoing backdrop.

The incredible work, energy, passion and sense of community is something above and beyond what any of us could have imagined. Sadly, we can only transmit a fraction through the airwaves, but I think our sense of awe of the entire ordeal shines through in our discussion.

And fret not, as we are indeed discussing sake and shochu as well, in the context of kioke. We touch on the input from participating breweries and distilleries, including Kenbishi, Aramasa, Satsuma Shuzo, Yamanashuzo (makers of Okutamba) and more. Plus, Sebastien pays a visit to the island’s only sake brewery, Morikuni, and shares a bit of his experience.

We’re lucky to be joined again this week by Jamie Graves, Japanese Beverage Portfolio Manager for Skurnik Wines & Spirits and previous guest from Episode 16, who made the trek to the island with us. He tells us about his trip to Kenbishi the week prior and the unexpected discoveries and chance meetings from throughout the Summit.

Speaking of Summits, for those of you that missed out on, Sake Future Summit 2020 back on November 21-22, we’ve begun to upload and archive the various sessions from that informative and inspiring weekend into a playlist on our official YouTube channel. The remainder are scheduled to go up over the next couple of weeks, so do check back occasionally and share

Day 1 YouTube Archive: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqP_2k2S7iE
Day 2 YouTube Archive: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQu2XcwtxpY
*Note that due to YouTube’s streaming and archiving restrictions five sessions did not get included in the Day 1 archive. Some of these have been uploaded to the playlist already, with the remainder scheduled to go up in the coming weeks.

We somehow managed to produce more programming over a weekend than we do in an entire year for the show. That being said, the podcast is where our home is! If you appreciate what we’ve put out into the world, please do leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, or reach out to us at questions@sakeonair.staba.jp. You can follow us on  Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, or subscribe to us over on YouTube.

Only a month left in 2020.
Here’s to hoping the remainder of your year is filled with sake, health and happiness.

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 a co-production between Export Japan and Potts.K Productions. 

Our theme, “Younger Today Than Tomorrow” was composed by forSomethingNew for Sake On Air.