Late last month, the sake of Yamagata Prefecture was officially granted GI (Geographical Indication) status by the National Tax Administration. This means that they have secured the right to call their sake “Yamagata” sake, and that no one else can do that. This is similar in letter and spirit to putting the term “champagne” on…
“Onko-chishin.” 温故知新 What’s old is new. There may be other translations and interpretations of the expression, but this is the most succinct and it applies in spirit to the sake world. Things cycle. Brewers experiment with new ingredients and methods. While some of those new things do end up being positive contributions to the craft,…
Sake and all that suffuses it is slowly seeping into mainstream media. The fact that there were three movies–all documentaries–about sake released over the past year is evidence of this. One of those is “Kampai! For the Love of Sake” (Japanese title: 乾杯！世界が愛する日本酒). It basically traces the “way of sake” or the path to sake…
As readers are surely aware, a series of earthquakes struck Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan’s four main islands, centered on but not limited to Kumamoto Prefecture. An extremely strong earthquake struck on April 14th, and an even stronger one two days later on April 16th. Moderately strong aftershocks were felt for days. Dozens lost their…
One rarely gets to hang out with a toji. ‘Hang out’ as in sit there and drink sake slowly over a few hours with someone whose life is so tied to sake that he or she has no idea when technical references to their everyday brewing problems go right over the heads of we mortals.…
At 7:30pm on the evening of October 1st in Japan, happy drinkers synchronized a nation-wide call of “kampai” via the internet and televised it from three locations: Tokyo, Hyogo and Saga. October 1st is “Nihonshu no Hi,” or “Sake Day,” and while the industry has celebrated this day since the early 1970s, this marked the…
The sake world is shining bright, though some dark corners remain. It is easy to lose perspective when so much is going well; perspective, in fact, takes effort to maintain. As brightly as sake seems to be shining overseas, it’s light is waning at home. Yes, sake is Japan’s national alcoholic beverage. To many, it…
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…