Sake On Air

Sake is out this week and Shochu is in! Christopher Pellegrini takes the hotseat to interview his partner in crime, Stephen Lyman .   Stephen Lyman is the founder of Kampai.us and the East Coast instructor for the Sake School of America Certified Shochu Advisor Course . Currently based in Fukuoka city on the island of Kyushu, Stephen now splits his time between Kyushu and New York. Every seas...

We’ve been telling you that it was coming (since last autumn!) and this week we finally delivered. We’re joined this week by none other than Natsuki Kikuya , founder of Museum of Sake , one of London’s foremost curators of the local sake industry. Why a “curator of sake”? The depth and breadth of Natsuki’s work and relationship with sake is difficult to categorize into a preexisting job descriptio...

This week’s show title tells you all you need to know. For those of you unacquainted with Masumi Sake , the brilliant Nagano-based craft of Miyasaka Brewing Company, you’ve come to the right place.   And there’s no one better equipped to deliver the goods on this topic than Keith Norum , a name synonymous with Masumi internationally . A long-time Suwa local and Miyasaka Brewing Company vetera...

We decided that it was about time we sat down and hashed it out over something that is becoming an increasingly divisive topic in the sake world: to aruten or not to aruten? That is the question that John , little Chris , big Chris , and Justin pose to one another, as well as our listeners, in this week’s surprise release of Sake On Air. For those unfamiliar with the concept, both junmai and arute...

What does it take to realize a dream of American craft sake? And even more specifically, Brooklyn craft sake?   This week Chris Hughes and Justin Potts catch up with Brian Polen , co-founder and president of Brooklyn Kura , New York’s first sake brewery, on his (relatively) recent trip to the sake island in the pacific.   Having officially opened to the public in 2018, the trail being bl...

We’ve got a new twist on an old formula this week.   In the interest of fairness, after having done a Shochu 101 episode , we thought it only made sense to give Sake the same treatment.   However, unlike Shochu, the “basics” of sake have been well-treaded in many forms across books, videos, blogs, lectures and other media. It didn’t make sense for us to just rehash the same material that...

A bit of a small miracle, we managed to get the entire Sake On Air entourage in the same room at the same time. A first for the show, we have John , Sebastien , big Chris & little Chris , and Justin all together on the mic together this week!   In Japan, the sake and shochu industries are now just as turbulent and dynamic as any beverage category on the market. Since that action doesn’t a...

Japan has absolutely exploded as a food and dining destination, but how is it as a sake destination? Sure there’s more than enough incredible sake to go around, but will you be able to find it? Are there specific regions or locations scattered across Japan that are accessible and offer the kinds of unique sake experiences and discoveries that make it worth the trip? What can we expect from “sake t...

It was time to lay the groundwork for our up-and-coming explorations into the worlds of shochu and awamori. Welcome to Shochu 101 – class is in session. After picking the brains of a few bartending alchemists on the subject , we decided to put the Shochu Pro himself, Mr. Christopher Pellegrini , in the hotseat for 60 minutes in order to break down the fundamentals of both shochu and awamori. For t...

In recent weeks we’ve had the opportunity to sit down with some exciting guests for special events and interviews, and this week is no different. First, we’re finally giving some much-deserved attention to the world of shochu this week. Better yet, we were able to round up an amazing group of bartenders, mixologists and all-around beverage specialists that have been resetting the standards for qua...

As promised, we’re back again for two straight weeks of live interviews straight from Aoyama Sake Flea , the bi-annual celebration of sake and craft culture , hosted in collaboration with Tokyo’s iconic Farmers Market @ UNU (United Nations University). This week, Sebastien and Justin are first joined by Dimitry Bulakh , director of twelv. , Japan’s (the world’s!?) first premium organic sake bar, l...

Over the next couple weeks (yes, we’ll be going weekly for a short stint!) we’ll deviate a bit from our standard format, but that’s because we have something special lined up!   The fine folks at Aoyama Sake Flea , the bi-annual celebration of sake and craft culture , hosted in collaboration with Tokyo’s iconic Farmers Market @ UNU (United Nations University), reached out to the Sake On Air crew t...

EP 2 – State of the Industry: Japan How in the world did we get here? Where exactly are we? Where is all this headed? These are the themes that Christopher Hughes , Sebastien Lemoine and Justin Potts share, ponder and discuss on this episode of Sake on Air. From tax laws to land reform, market perception to distribution, we try to apply a bit of context for the current state that the sake industry...

And characters they are indeed! We’re giving ourselves one more “warm-up run” before we really dig in, so we thought it only made sense to round the team up at the bar and pass the tokkuri as we reminisce and share, “How did I get here?” stories. Plus, we wanted our listeners to get to know exactly who it is that will be guiding them on these twice-a-month journeys into the depths of the sake and...

Episode 0 – Sneak Peek   Welcome! You’ve just stumbled upon a “sneak peek” at the new Sake On Air podcast, what is soon to be a bi-weekly production examining the stories, people, questions, and future of sake and shochu directly from Japan.   Recorded at the Japan Sake and Shochu Information Center , located in the heart of Tokyo, your hosts and members the SAKE 2020 team are setting ou...