Sake Revolution

Season 1, Episode 15. It's been said that the process of making sake can be done in 10,000 different ways.  Talk about versatility!  As our series on Sake Production methods continues, we're going to learn about three, no... wait, make that four more of those 10,000 ways.  This time we're looking at Pressing.  When the mash is fermented, we need to separate the newly created sake fr...

Season 1, Episode 14. In our continuing Sake Production Series, we are now in the home stretch! The main event, or you could say the "Main Mash"! Today John and Tim are taking Moromi, also known at the main fermentation mash.  This 25-30 day fermentation period starts with a four day process known as "Sandan Jikomi".  These first four days of the Moromi see all the ingredients...

Season 1, Episode 13.  Call it Shubo, or Moto, or Seed Mash, or Fermentation Starter or Yeast Starter... it's all the same thing!  In sake production, shubo is the step where fermentation actually begins and the goal that this step is actually to create a healthy vibrant yeast colony for the main mash.  To expand the number of yeast bit by bit, we need this stepping stone of a process to get...

Season 1, Episode 12. Join us this week as we keep things caliente and chat with our good friend Chizuko Niikawa-Helton about one of her favorite topics, Hot Sake!  Chizuko is the president of Sake Discoveries, a New York based Sake PR company as well as a Sake Samurai. First, we learn how Chizuko discovered sake and ended up in the Big Apple and how her fashion industry experience helped her succ...

Season 1, Episode 11. Our Sake Production Series marches forward with John and Tim exploring Koji - the magical fungus among us that is needed to make sake. Koji is a friendly mold that we grow or propagate onto sake rice. This mold gives off an enzyme that breaks down starch into sugar.  We need sugars for fermentation.  Rice starch as it is won't ferment.  Koji, this molded rice is created...

Season 1, Episode 10. Since we’ve learned about sake ingredients and sake classifications already, we thought it might be fun to look at the sake production process. We’re starting with what is called “raw materials preparation”. This encompasses rice washing, soaking and steaming. These three distinct steps all work together to prep the sake rice for fermentation. Support the show

Season 1, Episode 9. What is nigori sake? Cloudy, Murky, Coarse, Milky... there are lots of ways to describe what we call "nigori" sake.  This of course is the milky-white, and sometimes sweet, cloudy sake you may have seen around.  But, don't enrage the Samurai... there is one word we don't use to describe it... that is "unfiltered".  With the rice starch sediment fl...

Season 1, Episode 8.  Ninjas are notoriously hard to pin down, but we were very lucky to recruit the nicest ninja in NYC to join the Sake Revolution and to sit down for an interview and kanpai.  That Ninja, of course, would be Chris Johnson, the Sake Ninja.  Chris tells us how the sake ninja title came to be.  I won't give it away, but you may be shocked, shocked I say, to learn it does invol...

Season 1, Episode 7. An in-depth survey of American sake podcast hosts has concluded that "Nama" sake is awesome. Well, that survey was just Timothy and John, but if you don't know about Nama yet, you are in for a treat and you are welcome in advance.  Nama literally means "raw" and refers to sake that is unpasteurized.  Skipping the pasteurization heat-treatment step of s...

Season 1, Episode 6. Who doesn’t love a potluck? Well, I think lots of people don’t if you end up with three different jello salads, but we lucked out with our potluck: Three fantastic sakes to taste and profile. How did we get so, em, lucky? It must be the good luck brought in by our very first sake interview guest! Today we’ll be talking with sake pro and talented sake brewer Mr. Ben Bell. Ben i...

Season 1, Episode 5. For every yin there is a yang, for every sunrise a sunset and for every Junmai sake classification, there is a Non-Junmai classification.  Alcohol added sake is referred to generally as " aruten " style sake. Just as we have 3 grades of premium sake for the Junmai "pure rice" styles, we have three grades of premium sake for the alcohol added styles.  In thi...

Season 1, Episode 4. For this week "Junmai" is the magic word.  It literally means "pure rice" in Japanese and refers to those styles of sake that are made with rice, water, yeast and koji only, with NO added alcohol allowed.  Timothy and John explore the three classification grades of Junmai sake from the entry level grade (Junmai) to the middle grade of premium (Junmai Ginjo)...

Season 1, Episode 3. The rise of Covid-19 has John and Timothy recording remotely and sipping socially-distanced sake.  In our last episode, we discussed the four main ingredients in sake but did you know there is actually a 5th optional ingredient as well? We are talking about " Jozo Arukoru " a.k.a. Brewer's Alcohol!  It's true! Some sakes have distilled alcohol added, and so...

Season 1, Episode 2.  Welcome aboard for the second episode of Sake Revolution. This week, join our intrepid hosts, Timothy and John, as they tackle the mysteries of what ingredients it takes to make sake! We’re going to go over each of sake’s four main components and how they impact the taste and feel of the sake you enjoy! This week’s sake tasting is a stand-out Junmai Ginjo from Yamagata, the M...

Season 1, Episode 1. Welcome to America’s First Sake Podcast. Power to the Sake People! Join your hosts sake otaku John Puma and sake samurai Timothy Sullivan as they explore the world of Japanese Sake. This podcast will help you know where to get started with sake. Every week, we’ll teach you something new about sake in a fun and easy to understand segment, we call the “Sake Education Corner”. It...