Episodes

Thanks for tuning in to Part 2 of our special focusing on the current impact of COVID-19 on the sake and shochu industries. If you haven’t yet listened to Part 1, where we interview a number of significant individuals with unique perspective on the industry here in Japan, that’s a great place to start. You can find that here. Slightly different from Part 1, this particular recording is more discussion-based. This time around several of your regular Sake On Air hosts, including John Gauntner, Se...

This week, we’re bringing you a double episode exploring the impact of COVID-19 on the sake industry here in Japan, and how that impact is beginning to reverberate through the international market. The entire nation of Japan, while never undergoing a formal lockdown, was officially placed on State of Emergency status as of April 7th, a state which continued until May 31st, with the country gradually easing restrictions in phases over the several weeks that followed, leading to a complete reopen...

While this summer has certainly been a lot of things for many of our listeners, we hope that one thing which has been a defining mainstay throughout the summer of 2020 has been sake. Summer is gradually winding down a bit at this point, but we thought it was about time we did a (semi-)timely episode that celebrates the sake of the season. For summer, that’s natsuzake. Literally “summer” (natsu) “sake” (zake), this relatively recent entry into the seasonal release calendar has rapidly garnered f...

This week’s episode is precisely what you’d assume it to be: the crew talking shochu. It had been a bit too long since we’d last done a real shochu-centric show, so we decided to drag Christopher Pellegrini into the studio to update us on some of the latest industry happenings and also humor our questions and musings. While we do get down into the nitty-gritty a bit, this week’s show is actually very casual and free-form. Instead of focusing on something very specific, taking a little time to ...

Although we’re all still grounded here in Japan, this week we’re getting off the island for a visit to the great Pacific Northwest to chat with Andrew Neyens, the one-man-band behind Seattle’s Tahoma Fuji Sake. Between stints at some of Toyama’s most exciting and inspiring breweries, including Fumigiku Shuzo (makers of Haneya) and Masuda Shuzo (makers of Masuizumi), as well as attempts to scratch a similar itch at craft beer producers in the greater Seattle area, Andrew finally settled upon mak...

With LINK, Pernod Ricard made their first foray into the world of sake. Bringing together the craftmanship and nuance of Chivas Regal with the pioneering spirit of Toyama’s Masuda Shuzo – makers of Masuizumi – the company in charge of many of the world’s most iconic labels in spirits set out to bring an unprecedented proposal to the world of sake. But why sake? And why now? This week Sebastien and Justin welcome Marketing Director for Pernod Ricard Japan, Yann Soenen, to discuss this and more. ...

Here it is! The final installment of our “Know Your Hosts” series, introducing our listeners to the minds and motivations behind Sake on Air. For the first half of this week’s show, we have Rebekah Wilson-Lye in the hot seat. Currently the head of international marketing and public relations for Japan Craft Sake Company, we delve into not only the personal journey that led her from New Zealand to the Izu Peninsula, but also her evolution in the industry as she went from school teacher, to gourm...

Like most all of our listeners, we’re keeping rather close to home these days. The nature of things makes it a bit challenging for the team to gather and record, but on the bright side, it’s given us the time to dig through the archives and finally get around to editing some of our on-the-road interviews that have been gradually piling up over the past several months. Starting this week, we bring you “Sake-On-Air-On-The-Road”! For this week’s show, Big Chris (Hughes) is interviewing Tony Mitche...

This week we’re tackling arguably one of the most misunderstood segments of the sake world: Kanzake, often simply referred to as, Hot Sake. For a complex web of reasons, the quality and general nature of hot (or warm) sake is still shrouded in generations of preconception and misconception. However along with an aggressive reexamination of “Why?” in relation to lost practices in food and beverage, kanzake is in the midst of a mini-resurgence, particularly in Japan. Over the past decade, not on...

To all of our listeners: thank you for your patience. As much as we go out of our way to include awamori as part of the broader shochu conversation, despite many months of listener requests, we have yet to do an entire episode dedicated to Okinawa’s incredible indigenous spirit. Until now! The progenitor of the entire shochu category, the now geographically indicated Ryukyu Awamori has been deeply tied to the lifestyle and culture of the Okinawan people for at least the past 600 years. With o...

As promised, we’re coming right back with Part 2 of our exploration into what goes into paving the way for a brand new sake brewery outside of Japan. We continue our conversation with David Joll, owner and head brewer at Queenstown’s, Zenkuro, along with Matthew Shaw, co-owner and head brewer Melbourne Sake, which if all goes according to plan, should be opening its doors in the relatively near future. You have the same SOA crew as last week, with Marie Nagata, Chris Hughes, Justin Potts, and ...

It now feels like eons ago when, only just last month, the global sake community seemed to have all flocked to Japan for the final days of the winter brewing season. My how the world has changed… It was during this time that we managed to catch up with David Joll, owner and head brewer at Queenstown’s pioneering sake brewery, Zenkuro, and Mathew Kingsley-Shaw, co-owner and head brewer at the soon-to-be Melbourne Sake. The Sake On Air team of Marie Nagata, Chris Hughes, Justin Potts, and Sebast...

Continuing with our Meet Your Hosts series, this week we bring you interviews with another pair from the team here at Sake On Air. First up we have Marie Nagata, interviewed by John Gauntner – a bit of an interesting dynamic, as it was Marie’s participation in John’s Sake Professional Course and the community of sake lovers and sake-curious who shared that experience with her that initially lured her down this path, as you’ll hear her describe. Essentially, a Jedi Master interviewing his young ...

This week we zone in on sake in the U.K. as we welcome the founder and owner of Tengu Sake, Oliver Hilton Johnson to the show. Oliver’s carefully curated portfolio and user-friendly communication are just a handful of the reasons that Tengu Sake has been selected as the Specialist Merchant of the Year in the Sake category for the International Wine Challenge four years running. From Oliver’s first forays into the sake business to the exciting developments happening throughout the sake in...

This week it’s time once again to take a moment to get to know the team here at Sake On Air. We first aired one of these episodes back in October (Episode 27), where you got to know Sebastie Lemoine and Christopher Pellegrini; aka, “little Chris”. This week you’ll be hearing from Christopher’s sake-inspired counterpart, Chris Hughes (aka, “big Chris”) along with our quiet champion behind the scenes, Shuso Imada. Despite his relatively short amount of time based in Japan, Chris’s personal ...

What exactly is the scent of sake? For our final episode of 2019, Chris Hughes, Rebekah Wilson-Lye, and Sebastie Lemoine gather to discuss the nature and role of aroma in sake. Seeing as how the smells that we experience impart so much influence on our perception of taste and our associated memories, this is a topic that arguably carries as much weight as any in the dialogue of sake. From personal experiences to systematic judging, a bit of the science of sake to the evolution of aroma...

We’ve been doing this for an entire year (and then some) already! To commemorate we decided to get the entire cast together (minus John, sadly, who was fully there in spirit) to talk about the nature of the show itself, as well as address a few audience and listener questions, in front of a small live audience in Tokyo back on November 25th. The format this week is a bit unique, as the show was designed to be an enjoyable listen, but also to speak directly to a live audience. For those t...

It was right around this very same time last year that we sat down with a whole slew of splendid bartenders and mixologists to discuss shochu following their tour across Kyushu. This week, we’ve done it again! Only this time instead of trying to squeeze a large group into a single episode, we pulled aside a single specialist – the one-and-only Philip Duff – to explore shochu in the context of the greater spirits landscape. Philip has a long and storied history in the world of bartendin...

Sake On Air has taken the show on the road! Well, sort of. The gang isn’t all here, but Justin recently spent a bit of time in the Pacific Northwest and along the way managed to sit down with a few of the individuals helping to shape the future of sake in the region. While in Portland Oregon for the annual Portland Fermentation Festival Justin sat down with sake samurai and vice president of the sake category for Young’s Market Company, Marcus Pakiser, together with SakeOne sales and marke...

Over the past year of doing Sake On Air, believe it or not, one of the most highly requested show topics that we get from our listeners has been for us to do a deep-dive exploring the backgrounds and stories of your regular hosts here on the show. Originally a bit hesitant – the entire purpose of the show is to provide a voice to those in and around the industry that are underrepresented – we realized that we’ve been doing this for quite a while now without ever properly communicating to ...

This week’s episode is especially timely, as Justin managed to squeeze in an interview with Stephen Lyaman to coincide with the launch of his brand new book, The Complete Guide to Japanese Drinks, co-authored together with Chris Bunting, author of Drinking Japan, which released October 1st in the U.S. and is already largely available internationally thanks to Tuttle Publishing. Those familiar with Stephen’s work may associate mostly with Japan’s beloved indigenous spirit, shochu. Sake O...

Cody Brailsford is a rather rare breed. Now fuku-toji (assistant head brewer) as of this recording, at Watanabe Sake Brewery, makers of Hourai brand sake in the small countryside town of Hida Furukawa in Gifu Prefecture, Cody has been toiling away in the brewery for well over a decade. As more sake breweries open across the globe, and as breweries in Japan gradually open their doors (and minds) to the prospect of greater diversity in the brewery, the number of non-Japanese people workin...

This week’s episode is exactly what the title says: an interview with Shinichiro Shimizu, the president of Shimizu Seizaburo Shoten, better known as makers of the incredibly popular brand of sake, ZAKU. Zaku has taken both Japan and the world by storm in recent years, being awarded top accolades in just about every sake competition under the sun, while simultaneously establishing itself as a staple on the drink menus of many casual dining izakaya, as well as appearing regularly on the drink men...

When you start talking sake (or shochu), you don’t get too far in before finding that you need to address koji. That’s what Justin, (big) Chris and Sebastien set out to do this week. As Japan’s magical mold, Aspergillus oryzae, begins to gain traction, not just throughout the world of brewing, but in the culinary realm and the larger movement reexamining the power of fermentation, the number of questions is rising right alongside the rising interest and excitement – and there’s a lot of be excit...