junmai ginjo

Episode 161. This week, John and Timothy explore another brand profile: Masumi from Miyasaka Jozo in Nagano Prefecture. Most well known as the birthplace of Association Number 7 sake yeast, Masumi has a long history dating back to 1662.  Located on beautiful Lake Suwa, Masumi is a brand that is well known outside of Japan.  The brand name of "Masumi" means transparency or truth and traces its origin to an ancient bronze mirror, which is a treasure of the local shrine and is the proverbial "mirror of truth".  Masumi also recently updated their label design and sake portfolio to tie into their legacy as the home of number 7 sake yeast - a yeast that has gone on to become the most widely used sake yeast in the industry. Let's explore the flavors and history of Masumi together!  #SakeRevolution

Episode 156. Again this week, we revisit our field trip to the American Craft Sake Festival held this year in Charlottesville VA and bring you another U.S. sake brewer interview. This time, we get a two-for-one as we interview Blake Richardson and Nick Lowry of Moto-i Sake Brewery, which is based in Minneapolis, MN. Founded by Blake in 2008, Moto-i has been creating delicious sakes that are served locally and super fresh on tap. Blake works as Toji and Nick tells us how he graduated from customer to Lead Brewer, following his passion for making great sake. It’s a fun and friendly conversation culminating in a tasting of their delicious flagship Junmai Ginjo “Another Dalliance”. Listen in and be sure to visit the Moto-i Brewery, taproom and restaurant if you are anywhere near Minneapolis – it’s not to be missed! Special thanks to SBANA, the Sake Brewers Association of North America, for organizing the festival and to North American Sake Brewery for hosting the event location. Look for other interviews from the American Craft Sake Festival in coming weeks. #SakeRevolution

Episode 149. This week we return to another fun and sake-rich prefecture: Gunma! This area is home to onsens, national parks, record breaking tunnels and some pretty darn good sake.  After we first touched on this region in episode 8, we thought it deserved another visit and a bit more exploration of their food, culture and traditions.  We'll taste a much loved sake from Ryujin Shuzo, makers of the Oze no Yukidoke brand.  This sake features the much beloved Omachi sake rice and snow melt water from the oze plain that springs from a well guarded by a dragon!  It's a delightful brew that will have us returning to Gunma again and again in our glass!  Keep an eye out for more prefecture profiles soon! #sakerevolution

Episode 148. Did you know that there is a booming business in skincare products made from sake? In this episode, we dive face first into the world of sake beauty products, from the use of sake in your bath, to sake kasu used to soften skin and finally to the science behind kojic acid and how it's used in a variety of commercially available sake skincare products. We also slap on a  Japanese sake face mask to the test out sake skincare for ourselves. Hopefully we'll finish up the episode moisturized and refreshed. We finish by toasting our success with a special sake featured in a previous episode - Toyo Bijin Junmai Ginjo Karakuchi, also known as Asian Beauty. So, if you're ready to learn about the fascinating connection between sake, cosmetics and skincare, you won't want to miss this episode!  #SakeRevolution

Episode 147. How do you like them apples?! When we discovered the Kinoene "ripe apple" Junmai Ginjo sake from Iinuma Honke Brewery, we knew we need to take a bite and find out what this unique sake is all about.  This took us on a journey exploring yeast, acidity and some pretty extreme fruity flavors.  It may very well be a case of comparing apples to oranges, but this fruity confection of a sake does share some traits with a typically bright and crisp white wine.  The secret here is malic acid - often found in wine - which is given center stage in this sake.  This type of acidity brings us to the delicious intersection of sweet and sour with a bright fruity flavor that will have you asking "how did they do that!?"  If we can have it sake form, we'll be glad to enjoy an apple a day to keep the doctor away. #SakeRevolution

Episode 144. This week, we “think pink”! Hanami is the Japanese tradition of picnicking under cherry trees in full bloom. It’s a treasured seasonal pastime in Japan that is carefully tracked and timed for friends and family to enjoy blossom viewing at its peak. The cherry blossoms represent the fleeting nature of beauty and how it is worthwhile to stop and admire these natural displays as they will soon fade and flutter to the ground. Traditionally, sake is enjoyed under the trees as well, with especially lucky vibes should a blossom petal float into your sake cup. Timothy tells of his experience in Japan when he enjoyed hanami and also about the day he knew for sure that hanami season was over. Before its too late, let’s enjoy hanami together! #SakeRevolution

Episode 142. Stop the presses! Sake is back again in the news recently and we wanted to take a look at some of the latest newsworthy sake headlines hitting our shores.  This week, we'll discuss the New York Times' declaration that "Sake is Booming in America" and talk about their comprehensive take on sake.  We'll also look at a report out of Japan that the 1.8L Issho-bin or magnum bottle size for sake is falling out of favor.  Lastly, we'll discuss the BBC's take on the global rise in sake sales outside of Japan.  Listen in to get our two cents the latest sake headlines as we revisit our series on sake in the news!  #SakeRevolution

Episode 141. When you think of Washington DC, What pops to mind?  Maybe the White House? or perhaps the picturesque cherry blossoms around the Tidal Basin each spring?  If this week's guest has her way, when you think of DC, you'll soon think of "sake"!  Reiko Hirai is the founder of DC Sake Co - an online sake retailer serving the Washington DC area.  She's also an event planner and a strong voice working to promote sake in our nation's capital. This year marks Reiko's first annual Spring Sake Festival in DC with an upcoming event happening on April 6th 2023 that is not to be missed. We toast with one of Reiko's favorite sakes, Fukucho Junmai Ginjo, to celebrate the coming of spring and to celebrate sake in Washington DC! #SakeRevolution

Episode 135. Ready, Set, GO! This week, John and Timothy explore another brand profile: Gokyo Five from Sakai Shuzo in Yamaguchi Prefecture. Yes, we are returning not only to Yamaguchi, but also to the town of Iwakuni for this week’s episode. The town is famous for it’s 5 arched Kintai Bridge and Gokyo “GO”  FIVE (Go means 5 in Japanese) is a fun brand that explores seasonality and highlights the brewery’s dedication to “kioke” or wooden sake brewing vats. While breweries across Japan abandoned wooden vats to use for fermentation decades ago, Sakai Shuzo is bringing back this tradition coupled with a kimoto fermentation stater for good measure. The resulting sakes are educational to learn about and absolutely delicious to taste. Let’s GOOOO! #SakeRevolution

Episode 130.  Join us this week as John and Timothy go down the rabbit hole in search of what could be described as the most unique sake yeast out there!  This takes us over 100 years back in time to the establishment of the first olive trees in Japan planted in the rural Sanuki region of Kagawa Prefecture which we learned went on to become the nation's epicenter for olive oil production.  To boost slumping sake sales, the Kagawa Sake Brewer's association decided in 2016 to leverage their region's famous fruit to create a new style of sake. And thus, Sanuki Olive Yeast was born.  Finding the right strain of yeast took years of research, but finally, an alcohol tolerant yeast propagated from olive leaves and fruit was established.  Would you roll the dice and try a sake made from olive yeast? And does it actually taste like olives??  We promise you'll be surprised! We sure were! #SakeRevolution

Episode 129. This week we focus our spotlight on sake and stories from another prefecture: Yamaguchi!  Well known in Japan as the home to the poisonous but delicious Fugu (Japanese blowfish aka pufferfish), there are a number of outstanding breweries in the Prefecture. Located on the far western tip of Japan's main Honshu island, Yamaguchi is not close to Tokyo, but does have easy access to Hiroshima. To dip our toe into the wide world of Yamaguchi sake, we taste the stunning Gangi Mizunowa Junmai Ginjo. This expressive and fruity brew elegantly layers pineapple, mango and a whisper of floral notes to create a silky smooth and enjoyable aroma and flavor.  But does it pair with Fugu?  Listen in and discover a bit of what Yamaguchi sake has to offer. #sakerevolution

Episode 128. Week in and week out, our standard gear for tasting and evaluating sake is a simple wine glass. This works really well and almost everybody has one nearby. But in Japan, there are a wide variety of shapes, materials and sizes used to make cups for drinking sake. That got us wondering if we should take some other cups out for a test drive and compare them to our usual stemware. This week we are exploring an icon in modern design - the Sori Yanagi Sake Glass.  With a solid glass foot, and a clear, minimalist bowl, the Yanagi glass is perhaps the most ubiquitous sake cup design of the post war period. How does this design stack up agains our standard wine glass?  tune in this week to find out! #sakerevolution

Episode 121. This week, we shine the sake spotlight on a region of Japan that is virtually unknown to most sake fans. We’re talking about Kagoshima, the volcanic, sub-tropical home base of “imo” sweet potato shochu on the southern tip of Kyushu island. Despite being a world famous mecca for distilled shochu, two of the over 100 distilleries in Kagoshima have ventured into sake production giving us a sake lifeboat in this vast ocean of shochu. Today we’ll be tasting one of them: Tenbu sake from Nishi Shuzo, a distillery founded in 1845. The remarkable point here is that they only received their sake brewing license in 2020 making this one of the youngest sake breweries around. How does sake that is made by shochu distillers actually taste?  Well, let’s dive in and explore the sake from one of the most unlikely places in Japan: Kagoshima! #sakerevolution

Episode 114. With the recent heatwave, there was one kind of sake that kept grabbing our attention.  Not just cold sake, but super-chilled "Mizore" sake.  Mizore means sleet in Japanese, and this word describes perfectly the sake slushies we made ourselves for this week's episode.  Sake slushies are made by freezing one cup sake or a small bottle to about 25 degrees F without letting it freeze solid.  When the sake is then agitated, it transforms by magic into an icy, cool and super refreshing sake sorbet-like treat.  Listen in as John and Tim get super chill and enjoy their first homemade Mizore Sake slushies.  #SakeRevolution

Episode 113.   A-ha moments are not one and done.  This week, John and Timothy explore a sake brand that was a sake "A-ha 2.0" for them both.  Perhaps a bit less well known in Japan compared to some other so-called cult sakes, Kamikokoro is a brand from Okayama that is winning new fans around the world.  Kamikokoro has harnessed the power of their renowned local fruit - Yume Hakuto White Peaches - to take their sake to the next level.  The Kamikokoro Tokagen Nama sake tasted in this episode uses yeast from the peaches to express a deep and rich fruitiness that steers clear of tropical notes to focus in on stone-fruit and citrus.  And if you're interested in Japanese peach folklore, you'll surely want to first sip some sake and then listen in to our retelling of Momotaro, the legend of the boy born from a peach who teams up with a monkey, dog and pheasant to defeat a bunch of Orge bullies. Lets explore the power of Kamikokoro's peachy sake. hashtag peach emoji!

#SakeRevolution

Episode 112. When it comes to sake controversies, there is one topic that can give "hot sake vs cold sake" a run for its money - and that is "sake cocktails!" Love them or hate them, cocktails made with sake are an up and coming way for new consumers to get their first exposure to sake.  Since this is a somewhat controversial topic, we found the perfect subject matter expert to walk us through the the ins and outs of sake cocktails - Mr. Kenta Goto!  He is an award-winning bartender with two eponymous cocktail bars: Bar Goto in Manhattan and Bar Goto Niban in Brooklyn.  Kenta gives us his take on the role of sake in cocktails and teaches us how to marry sake wth other cocktail ingredients to create a balanced drink.  And even better, he guides us on how to mix our own sake cocktail live on the podcast! This experience leaves John and Timothy shaken AND stirred as they reevaluate everything they thought they knew about sake in cocktails.  If you feel somewhat muddled yourself when it comes to sake cocktails, this week's episode will help you find the sake cocktail that's just right for you. #sakerevolution 

Episode 102. Who needs a vacation?! If you’re having visions of swaying palm trees and ocean sunsets, this episode may be just what the doctor ordered! This week, we live vicariously through John’s recent trip to Hawaii and his visit to Islander Sake Brewery, makers of Hawaii’s only local sake. John wouldn’t leave us high and dry, so we also get to taste a fruity and zippy Kitashizuku Junmai Ginjo sake from Islander, hand carried by John from Hawaii for this episode. It’s a rare treat that gets us musing about terroir in sake and exploring a bit of the fascinating and century-old history of sake in Hawaii. Join us as we explore the true spirit of aloha together! #SakeRevolution

Episode 96. Listen at SakeRevolution.com.  What's the first thing that pops to mind when you hear the word "Miyagi"?  Well, Daniel-san, if you're our age, it might be Mr. Miyagi's "wax on, wax off".  But we are digging deeper to discover the real Miyagi - Miyagi Prefecture that is! And, by listener request, we'll be exploring some of the brands and sakes that are a part of this fascinating and resilient region. With only 25 breweries total, Miyagi suffered a major blow during the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami.  Six of the 25 breweries were completely destroyed. With the support of sake lovers, government support and a lot of hard work, all of the effected breweries were rebuilt and are back in business.  There is so much to love about this interesting prefecture.  Our sake tasting takes us back to Katsuyama Brewery, which is well known for it's rich, fruity and luxurious styles of ultra-premium sake.  This delicious brew has us looking forward to our next trip to Miyagi. #sakerevolution

 Episode 88.  This week, something a little different! Back in Oct 2021, John and Timothy were guests on the Japan Eats! Podcast, hosted by our friend Akiko Katayama.  As we take a week off for the holidays, enjoy this replay of our visit to Japan Eats!  The topic was: "You found out you like sake - Now What??"  We had a great time talking with Akiko and we hope you'll enjoy the listen!  We'll be back to our regular format next week.  Until then, Happy New Year and, as always, kanpai!

Episode 87. With 2021 drawing to a close, it's time to take a look back at the sake year that was.  Join us this week for some casual sipping and some discussion on the highlights, surprises and challenges of this past year's sake adventures. But we're not only looking back, we are also looking ahead to 2022 and coming up with a new set of our annual Sake Revolution Resolutions - setting our sake goals for the year ahead.  Did you have a favorite Sake Revolution Episode from this year?  Let us know in the comments and we look forward to another year of great sake and many kanpais.