Minneapolis. San Francisco. Austin. Denver. New York City. Boston. Seattle. Nashville. Portland (Oregon). Kittery. San Diego. What do all these places–and a few more in the US–have in common? They are all the home of a mini-sake brewery, run by local folks with a passion for sake. Add to that Canada (Toronto and Vancouver), New…
I love blind tasting. It truly excites me. Admittedly, I do not get that many opportunities in which a sake is placed before me and I am told absolutely nothing about it. When that does happen, though, it is a most enjoyable experience. Why? Because there are no wrong answers, and there is no assessment…
There are many roads to sake knowledge. At least that’s what my Sake Today cofounder and worldwide sake educator John Gauntner is fond of telling me, and he’s right. By that he means there are multiple educational opportunities out there for sake. He encourages people interested in learning more to pursue the methods that seem…
My connection to Japan started in the late 1980s, before I ever dreamed of travelling there. One of my first encounters involved three electronic music instruments that started regurgitating all the synthetic sounds I had come to love on my favourite electronic “Detroit Techno” records of that time: the Roland TR909 drum machine, the TB303…
The Japanese archipelago, stretching far from north to south, east to west, has several distinct climates depending on the region. The people that live in those respective regions also lead different lifestyles, accounting for differences in food culture in particular. The unique character of those food cultures persists today and in similar fashion the flavors…
I have been buying sake from the same shop here in Kamakura for over twenty years now. Sure, I buy sake regularly at other places, too. I am always searching for enjoyable sake shopping options that offer selections other than those with which I am familiar. Still, there is this one shop in particular where…
A recent social media post by a sake brewer who travels the world proactively promoting his product described a couple of sake events in London at which he appeared. He then, after the modern literary equivalent of a pregnant pause, stated confidently, “The pace at which sake is growing in popularity is accelerating appreciably.” While…
You just never know how things will go. When we embarked on this Sake Today project, I admit we were facing the unknown. The time seemed right, and a good dose of luck and providence seemed to be involved as well. Sure, sake seemed to be gaining in popularity, but was there enough interest to…