In this episode of Sugidama Podcast, I sat down with Oliver Hilton-Johnson from Tengu Sake and discussed and tasted amazing sake from the Noguchi Naohiko Sake Institute. If you want to know more about Noguchi sake before buying or ordering it, this episode is for you!
The wait is over and Season 4 is on with a lot of interesting interviews, breweries overviews, tastings, special episodes and even a competition together with London Sake, which will be announced later. In this episode, I am talking to a bunch of very cool people I met at the British Sake Association Grand Tasting of Sake in October 2022.
In this episode, I share observations from the IWC Sake judging this year and the following Award Winning Sake Tasting event at the Embassy of Japan. You will also hear Oliver Hilton-Johnson from Tengu Sake, who was in Episode 09, Marie Cheong-Thong, the Chairman of the British Sake Association, who was in Episode 32, Muneki Matsumoto, President and CEO of the Tosa Brewing Company, a maker of the famous Keigetsu sake, Tracey Delaney from The Sparkling Sake Brewery we talked with in Episode 28, and Robin Sola, the owner of the Sorakami Sake.
Discussing modern sake trends with legendary Jim Rion and Andrew Russell from the excellent Sake Deep Dive Podcast.
In this episode, I am talking to Tom Wilson, a master brewer and owner of the first UK sake brewery, Kanpai London. Kanpai represents a modern approach to sake brewing but follows the same philosophy as most brewers in Japan for hundreds of years: to make the best possible sake.
Sake is not a very easy topic. If you want to understand it well, you need to do some studying. You can buy a book or two about sake and read them. You can go to sake events and probably join a sake promoting organisation such as the British Sake Association. Finally, you can go to a sake course and get a sake qualification. My guest for this episode, Marie Cheong-Thong, a certified WSET sake, wine and spirits educator, freelance writer and the Chairman of the British Sake Association among other titles, is talking about all these options as well as about plenty of other sake related topics.
In this episode of Sugidama Podcast I am talking to Nancy Matsumoto and Michael Tremblay about their new amazing book Exploring the World of Japanese Craft Sake. How the book was conceived, how it is to write a book together, the key points, discoveries and people. Listen to our conversation and buy the book! It's a joy to read.
Soboshu, the sake brewed by monks played a very important role in the development of sake brewing techniques in medieval Japan. The monasteries possessed many key components necessary for successful sake-making: economic power, skilled labour force, scientific knowledge and strong political clout. However, it all was ended by Oda Nobunaga, who saw temples as a threat to his rule.
There are many pleasures in sake you start appreciating only with time. When your first aha moment has passed and you went through the ginjo stage, you start looking beyond your comfort zone. There are many types of sake that you start discovering: nigori, junmai, koshu. But namazake is probably the most exciting discovery you make. It still has this whiff of exclusivity despite refrigerator trucks and sake fridges.
The new interview with Naoki Toyota and Tracey Delaney from The Sparkling Sake Brewery based in Cambridgeshire. Inspired by nature, Naoki went to study sake brewing in Nara, the birthplace of Japanese sake. After returning to the UK, he went on the mission to create the sake, which would express the beauty of UK nature.
