John Puma: 0:22
Hello, everybody, and welcome to Sake Revolution. This is America’s first sake podcast. I’m your host, John Puma from the Sake Notes, also administrator over at the Internet Sake Discord, and I also run the Reddit r slash sake community.

Timothy Sullivan: 0:36
And I’m your host, Timothy Sullivan. I’m a Sake Samurai. I’m the director of education at the Sake Studies Center, as well as the founder of the Urban Sake website. And every week, John and I will be here tasting and chatting about all things sake and doing our best to make it fun and easy to understand.

John Puma: 0:54
That’s right, Tim, and thank you for coming by for yet another week. I don’t know how I lured you into this. You keep coming back no matter what I do. It’s pretty impressive. Mm

Timothy: 1:06
Well, John, I’m so excited to welcome another guest. We’re going another interview this week, but we’re starting a series of interviewing non Japanese people who have worked at Japanese sake Breweries before. I think I’m someone who’s done that, and I’m always interested to learn people’s motivation to take on that pretty challenging task for themselves.

John Puma: 1:32
Yeah, one might, one might say you were probably the first guest on our show in that series. We just didn’t know it yet. And we also have to workshop that name. I think that people who worked at sake breweries, it just doesn’t roll off the tongue. but you know, we’ll, we’ll figure that out. And hopefully maybe our guests have some ideas and we can, we can, bounce a few off. Uh, so Tim, can you introduce this wonderful person that is in the chat with us right now?

Timothy Sullivan: 1:55
Yes, I’m so happy to introduce my friend, Benoit Champagne. He is a Thank you. consultant and owns a company in Quebec, Canada, called Nijikai Sake. He’s an advisor for brewers who want to export to Canada. And he’s lived in Japan and has a tremendous story. So I’m so excited to welcome Benoit to the podcast. Welcome, Benoit.

Benoit Champagne: 2:22
Hi Timothy. Hi John. Thanks for having me on the show. It’s really nice you thought about inviting me. It’s a really high privilege. I love your podcast and I hope we’re going to have a fun time talking sake

John Puma: 2:34
today oh, so you’ve listened to us before then.

Benoit Champagne: 2:36
Of course I did.

John Puma: 2:37
Oh, wow. Now the pressure’s on.

Benoit Champagne: 2:40
It’s not my native tongue, but my native language, but I love listening to you guys and I hope you’re not going to be too rough on my language skills

John Puma: 2:50
no, you sound great.

Timothy Sullivan: 2:50
Absolutely. I can’t wait any longer. I have to ask you about a couple things on your resume here. We want to find out how you got into sake, how you wound up in Japan. And one of the things on your resume here that caught my eye is that you have a Toji Guild certificate from the Nambu Toji Guild. Super interested to hear about that. So please give us a bit of your background. How did you get into sake and how did you get to Japan?

Benoit Champagne: 3:21
Well, actually it’s a long story. I’m try, I’m gonna try to resume it, but, I was a student from the MBU Kaga show. It’s a scholarship, the Japanese government gives to students who are studying their research program or their master degrees. And I was in Niigata, which is the capital of Sake. I’m sure. Uh,, Timothy is a, great, lover

John Puma: 3:42
I’m surrounded.

Benoit Champagne: 3:45
And perhaps more than half of my friends were having this part-time job in a Sake brewer near, the university or near their hometown. And they were inviting me, in, in their breweries to just experience the culture around it. And that’s how I went to, to the sake industry. And now today, not s I’m sorry, but, the brewery where I was hired is Urakasumi, which is not in in Niigata, but it’s a brewery that I approach because I’m a huge fan of the Urakasumi Zen products that perhaps most of, our listeners are already know about. And and through Urakasumi, I participated in this brewing program, the Nanbu Toji program, which is the biggest guild of of brewers in Japan. And one funny story about this is that my my boss at the time, Mr. Saura, he he did not expect me to to pass the certification because it’s I don’t know if you already know it, Timothy or John, but, Passing a nanbutouji, it’s 70 percent pass and 30 percent fail. Now, I was really thinking I would be in the 30 percent because of my Japanese, but I don’t know how, but I got the certificate, so I’m really happy, and I’m really proud of of this, and now I’m a Nanbu toji brewer. Not a toji, but a brewer.

John Puma: 5:07
you got to start somewhere.

Benoit Champagne: 5:08
Of course.

Timothy Sullivan: 5:09
that is amazing. And that was all in Japanese, right? The exam and the instruction.

Benoit Champagne: 5:14
Exactly. There’s actually a rule in Nambu Toji where you are not allowed to write in Hiragana or Katakana, so you have to write your answers in kanji.

Timothy Sullivan: 5:23
Oh my God. Wow.

John Puma: 5:27
Tim, have you ever done that?

Timothy Sullivan: 5:28
no. no. I didn’t even, this is on another level. I cannot even

John Puma: 5:36
That, this concept fills me with terror. I’ll tell you that right now.

Timothy Sullivan: 5:40
that is so absolutely impressive. So you started working for Urakasumi and you did only brewing work or what was your work at the brewery?

Benoit Champagne: 5:50
At first they thought, as a foreigner It’s more it’s actually needed to know some brewing skills in order to introduce sake to the foreign market. So I did more than half a year in the brewery before going abroad. But actually, I think all people at Urakasumi thought from that point it’s not a matter of being a foreigner or being a Japanese. Perhaps every salesman should actually brew sake before going on the road, which I totally agree on. A new learning that they made through hiring me and a learning that I made through being hired by them.

John Puma: 6:28
Wow. That’s pretty cool. I like that and that’s like a good, method. I think it’s a good idea. So I’m glad that they came to that conclusion to I think more, maybe more breweries should adopt that. I like that a lot.

Benoit Champagne: 6:39
A lot of foreigners are starting to actually get this brewing experience. It’s actually great too,

John Puma: 6:44
yeah, we’re seeing it more and more. So when, getting into sake, we all have our moment. We all have that moment where the sake speaks to us and we have the aha. This is the beverage. Tell us about your aha moment.

Benoit Champagne: 6:58
I think it was when I visited an Niigata brewery. It’s called Imayatsukasa, which you probably know. But there’s this moment where the Kuramoto just opened a tank and he he threw at us with the the tank cover a draft of air of smelling uh, fermented sake. And I was like. Oh, I like that smell. This is for me. So I think that was the moment. I don’t know for you if you have a particular one each or anything.

Timothy Sullivan: 7:28
That’s great. I think you’re our first convert to sake by smell,

John Puma: 7:32
Yeah, I think so. That’s amazing though. That’s pretty great.

Timothy Sullivan: 7:38
but I’ve had that experience too, where a brewer lifts the lid off the tank and waves it, and like this waft of ginjo aroma just smacks you in the face. That’s awesome.

John Puma: 7:49
Yeah, I think that if you weren’t, if you weren’t a sake fan going into a situation like that, once you have that, it’s like, you can’t, how could you not? How could somebody not love sake after that?

Benoit Champagne: 7:58
Running on what Timothy said, I think that draft of Ginjo aroma is it’s super hard to describe, but once you have it, you’re like, okay, that’s what ginjoka is. You don’t need a wine glass to feel it anymore. You understand?

John Puma: 8:11
I agree. I totally agree.

Timothy Sullivan: 8:14
we’d love to pick up where your story left off in Urakasumi Brewery. So you’re working there, you did your training, you worked probably both in sales and as a brewer, is that right?

Benoit Champagne: 8:26
In my last years, of course, when COVID hit, it was a bit different, but I was mostly on the road, so two, three, four countries each month. That’s harsh on the jet lag. It’s a constant jet lag. But I came actually back to Canada, not because of any problem in Japan is just a family reasons. So I’m really still attached a lot to Urakasumi. I’m still I’m, they’re still my customers, so I still help them with representation Canada, and it’s still a product I have in cases at home in my cellar,

John Puma: 8:59
That’s nice.

Timothy Sullivan: 9:02
That’s awesome. So you wound up back in Canada. Can you explain a little bit? About the company you started in 2022, Nijikai Sake, what you’re doing there in Quebec and how you’re helping brewers to export sake.

Benoit Champagne: 9:19
At first when I came back, I saw there are so many people trying to get sake in, but with state’s monopoly, I don’t know if our listeners know about this, but Since it’s state controlled, there’s a really high conservatism into going to new beverages. Quebec is actually 10 to 20 years late on the United States market as of now. I thought if there’s so many people trying to get in it, Inside the country and still no ways to actually buy it, having one or more player coming in is not going to help anyone. I thought the best way to contribute to the industry as a whole was to advise people, especially on how to come to a market like Quebec, where everybody thinks it’s in English, but there’s like French rules governing. Thanks. you’re labeling, so you need to have the language skills to get into the market and get the laws done. So the idea was actually to support breweries first, and then educate the market second, towards the understanding of sake. And it’s actually been really really good in the past two years. Never ran out of of work, like we say.

John Puma: 10:37
That’s a good thing. I think that’s great. So you mentioned that over in Quebec, you’ve got a very, you’ve got a state run thing which is a, it’s a case of some states here in the U. S. as well. New York is not one of those, but I guess what are the I guess the pros and cons of that. Obviously some of the cons are that you’re beholden to them and you’re things will be, there’ll be slow bringing new things to market, but there are any benefits to the system or is it just something that that, that gets in the way sometimes?

Benoit Champagne: 11:06
I would say from a state’s perspective, yes, there’s, there are benefits. If you look at the systems like in in Scandinavia, they they’re actually managed by by the health ministry. So it’s a way to control how alcohol is managed through the health system in those countries. In Canada, it’s the economic the Ministry of Finance. It’s more about making money. That is the objective. So if the States makes money out of alcohol sales, they actually finance the education systems, the healthcare indirectly, etc. From a brewer’s perspective, the big merit out of this is if you have one customer to manage for a whole area like this, They buy a lot at one order, so it’s really easy shipments once you get your your road going. However, starting is the harsh part. It can take years to be able to get into the market. And perhaps one of the huge cons is that they manage sake like they man like they manage wine, so they don’t know about the refrigeration part.

John Puma: 12:14
hmm. Mm hmm.

Benoit Champagne: 12:15
We cannot and we will never have namazake in the next, perhaps, 20 to 30 years unless they change this. We cannot have super high quality Junmai, Daiginjo preserved as it was in Japan. We need to make sacrifices on quality, which is a huge cons that we have both in Ontario and Quebec, I think.

John Puma: 12:35
Wow. Oh, wow.

Timothy Sullivan: 12:37
What’s the experience like for a consumer to buy sake in Quebec? Are the liquor stores run by the government? How does that work? If I’m just a person on the street and I want to go buy a bottle of sake, what’s that

Benoit Champagne: 12:50
oh, it’s there’s a lot of stores in Quebec, so for the population, I think there’s 450 ish stores. Around the territory for just DSAQ in Quebec. So it’s really easy to go get the bottles that are available, or you can also do the online purchase, which is also very easy. However, to get a good choice on what you have, it’s always the same products that’s going to be there. And it’s mostly the same brands. I think more than half of the sakes are managed by three national brands. And actually, COVID was positive in some ways because they relaxed the rules into the bottle sellings, making restaurants being able to to sell just to sell bottles by themselves. Of course, they have to buy through the the state monopoly, but they can choose what they want to buy through different agencies, and so they are the one who are mostly providing the good quality stuff, the the go to sake bottles so it’s most of the agents have their Take their restaurants listing where you know where the bottle shops are, you orient the customer towards them and not towards the monopoly, most of the time.

John Puma: 14:10
So you already mentioned that you’ve you that you still have a Urakasumi close to your heart But who else do you represent over there? Who else do you do business with so to speak?

Benoit Champagne: 14:20
The company that actually encouraged me the most and to which I’m going to be forever grateful is Zaku. Shimizu Seizaburo Shoten, located in Mie. And I actually knocked at their door first when I started my business and say, you know, I am a huge fan of your sakes. And I actually already sold around the world with the Shimizu couple, which are so lovely. They’re perhaps one of the best human beings I know. and they actually said yes, and in a week, they’re like, yes, help us promote sake, help us promote the Mie culture as a whole. And and yes I’m very proud to represent them since two years now. I’m also working with Nihonsakari recently I’ve started working with Heaven Sake. There’s also the world’s best sommelier, who’s also a Quebecer, a friend of mine, so I’m helping him with his sake brands, Essence 5 and Tanaka Chartier. So a lot of brands here and then to promote, and they all became more friends than customers, actually, over the years, I think. I all have them close to my heart now.

John Puma: 15:34
Oh, that’s awesome

Timothy Sullivan: 15:35
That’s great. You mentioned that you help brewers in Japan kind of position themselves for the Canadian market. But what, you also mentioned education, which I’m really interested in, what type of education do you do? And, And how does that happen?

Benoit Champagne: 15:50
Everyone knows about Michael Tremblay. Everyone knows about John Gauntner, which are kind of mentors to me in terms of sake promotion. And I realized in Quebec, there’s no such thing as sake education for professionals. So if you speak English, or if English is a harsh language for you, it’s hard to get grasp on the crucial information you need, because it’s mostly in Japanese or in English. I started this year to to give a very advanced sake professional course in Quebec. Which was actually a very good success in April when I first gave it. And now I’m doing the second semester in September. So we are going through all the brewing process all the service methods. I already heard in one of your podcasts how you you were talking about the etiquette of sake sake service. So this is my pleasure to see my students. Do it do it in their stores, right? So there’s a microbrewery called Ile de Galles in Montreal, and they all took my class and each time I go in and grab a beer with them, they’re getting their buck lower than mine and say, Oh, look, I can do it myself now. I am very impressed about your modesty.

John Puma: 17:05
Great. I think that is a wonderful time to take a moment here and let’s taste some sake. Now you mentioned that that a a brand that you’re very fond of is Zaku. So that is what we’ve got today. We found a bottle that all three of us were able to get our grubby little hands on. And and honestly, like I’m a big fan. So any excuse to get some extra Zaku, I’m really excited. So thank you by the way. And uh, Tamiya, you want to tell us what we’ve got today?

Timothy Sullivan: 17:34
it’s all right, I’m going to introduce the stats for this sake. So as we said, the brand is Zaku. The particular sake we’re tasting today is Honotomo Junmai. The brewery name again, this just rolls off the tongue. It is Shimizu Seizaoboru Shoten. How did I do?

Benoit Champagne: 17:57
Almost. Seizaburo,

Timothy Sullivan: 18:04
Seizaburo Shoten.

Benoit Champagne: 18:06
A japanese. You’re perfect.

Timothy Sullivan: 18:09
And again, this is a Junmai. The rice variety used here, we have Yamada Nishiki and Ukon Nishiki. And the yeast is association number 1401. The alcohol percentage is 15%. Rice polishing is 60%, our SMV is plus 5, and we have an acidity of 1. 7. So the next step is for us to open our bottles and pour this into our wine glass. So let’s do that now.

John Puma: 18:39
I’ve got a sake competition silver medal on mine.

Benoit Champagne: 18:43
Actually, Zaku wins so many competitions, I’m, even representing them, I have a hard time to keep track of.

John Puma: 18:52
Yeah. Tim, that was a hearty pour. Do you like the sake?

Timothy Sullivan: 19:04
It was all for the, it was all for the audio, John. I did for the audio.

John Puma: 19:09
All right.

Benoit Champagne: 19:11
That’s the perfect

John Puma: 19:12
That’s what he says. But we know the truth. Yeah,

Timothy Sullivan: 19:17
we do, Benoit, is we look at the color. We look at it in the glass, and we’d love to hear your comments because you’re the expert here with this brand.

Benoit Champagne: 19:26
Actually I would say in a good WSET three way to say things. It’s a very good pale lemon green color. It’s not too transparent, but the, the um, the purity, there’s no there, there’s no whatsoever in wine when you would say tannins, but like a residues of rice is really pure really clear. Um, I think that’s, that wraps it up for the

John Puma: 19:47
yeah not

Timothy Sullivan: 19:48
perfect. Let’s give it a smell. Oh wow, that’s lovely.

John Puma: 19:54
I think I did.

Benoit Champagne: 19:59
actually they have another product called Gennotomo, who’s brewed really similarly, but they use just a different yeast. It’s the 701, which is mostly used in the brewing industry. But having this 1401, which is completely different profile, you get two sakes that are completely different. Really interesting to compare together. We couldn’t find the genotomu in the U. S. For the interview, but I think having the honotomu is brings you more into the the lichis, I think, if my pronunciation is correct. Also the floral, the perhaps a little vanilla I usually feel. I don’t know if it’s if it’s common to you guys. I

Timothy Sullivan: 20:43
there’s a very subtle perfumed note here, so I think vanilla ties in with that very well. I get a little bit of a peach, peach aroma as well. What about for you, John? This,

John Puma: 20:58
Is my main take away from this.

Timothy Sullivan: 21:00
this was one of those moments where you plant the thought in John’s head and then

John Puma: 21:05
And I go, Ooh I choose to believe vanilla.

Timothy Sullivan: 21:07
All right. Let’s give it a taste.

Benoit Champagne: 21:12
Could go on and on with

John Puma: 21:13
Yeah.

Timothy Sullivan: 21:14
it’s very sophisticated. It’s very elegant. And the word that keeps coming to mind is layered. So it’s not a simple, straightforward word. Flavor. Or aroma. There’s a lot to explore, but the whole time it’s still very elegant.

Benoit Champagne: 21:36
My personal liking about this type of product is actually taking the balance with a layer of umami. I don’t know if that joins your thought, but a lot of wine lovers will go straight up with the balance on sugar and acidity. Whereas when you put the third value into that balance equation of umami, of savoriness, It changes the whole experience. And that, I think that’s why because I don’t know if you realize, but it’s brewed like a Junmai Ginjo, but it’s a Junmai. But I think that strong umami is the reason why it’s so obvious. You get this, you can chew the y the rice in the sake almost, even if it’s brewed with that polishing ratio of 60%.

John Puma: 22:24
That’s really nice.

Timothy Sullivan: 22:26
John and I have called a lot of sakes ricey in the past, and this has a trace of rice flavor through it. But it’s so well integrated and so balanced that I wouldn’t call this a ricey sake, as its primary characteristic, but the umami and the rice is there to balance the peach and the lychee fruity flavors, and it’s just really good.

John Puma: 22:55
Yeah, I’m still getting that vanilla that we talked about earlier, the vanilla aroma. I get a little bit of the taste as well, but I also get some really nice citrus notes. I can’t be more specific, unfortunately, and just not that developed yet. And, but that, that, that umami, that riciness pardon the term is still is present throughout and it’s really nice. It grounds it in an interesting way. It stops her from getting too ginjo.

Benoit Champagne: 23:21
I’m actually sharing, like, all three of the tastings about this. I feel like the longer you keep it in the mouth before swallowing, I think these peach notes become a little bit more obvious coming in the end. But at first, it’s I would be on John’s side here, and it’s like super like vanilla, lychee, flowers and stuff. That’s what comes to mind. One funny story, I talked with Uchiyama-toji, who’s who’s the master brewer behind all the Zaku products, and he’s a geek in terms of studying the chemistry behind sake. And he’s a man of few words, like we say. One question I like to ask Ji is, is what for you is the most important part in brewing sake because. Most like the traditional way to say is so the Koji, the moto, and then the Moromi is in order the most important. But some would say, oh, it’s cleaning the rice. Some would say no, it’s the polishing. So it’s a thought that evolved with the modern times and each have their specific moment. When I ask Uchiyama-Toji, he just replied. filtration. And he’s it’s all about the moment when you do the filtration. And he never added anything else. For him, it’s it’s super clear. You’re supposed to understand. But each time I drink different Zakus, I get this feeling where like the time where you stop the moromi and the timing until it gets in the bottle changes so much the product. And one good example is the impression version of the Zaku series. So you have the same product, the Honotomo, where you have just a different bottling period. But then it becomes almost as if it was nama, because you have that bubbly like CO2 feeling remaining in the back. You have different aromas coming in because of the the ways the air moves in mouth. Then I’m like, it’s the same product. It’s just a filtration timing difference. How can you explain this? That I, like it’s a phrase that, that haunted me since I visited Zaku last time. If you have insights about this, feel free to share. I’m still in the enigma on that one.

John Puma: 25:44
we’re gonna need people to write in on that and let us know if they’ve got any thoughts on that.

Timothy Sullivan: 25:49
My only thought on that is that the timing of, again the stopping the fermentation, pressing, filtering can have a tremendous impact on the texture of the sake. And I think that comes through with Zaku really well. We’ve talked about the flavor and the aroma, but the texture is also super elegant. And it’s the perfect balance between being a little rich, but not overdoing it. So I think my guess would be that the filtration step is so important to get that Zaku texture. Is

Benoit Champagne: 26:24
perhaps leaving it too long as well. The tendencies to go get it dry and then dilute it to water. Not doing this, but having the exact moment where you should have the sake completed in the eyes of the Toji allows you to get that umami, that absence of dilution that you need to get the proper balance in the end. That, that’s, that was my first conclusion on that. That saying Mr. Uchiyama But uh, but again it’s a question of interpretation, maybe

Timothy Sullivan: 26:56
it’s in Mie Prefecture, right? And is it a large brewery or a smaller brewery?

Benoit Champagne: 27:03
It’s actually I think it’s production capped, but it’s a small brewery, so they don’t want to increase their volume anymore. They’re satisfied with what they have, and they want to just improve the quality of each bottles. But the city where it is, it’s called Suzuka. It’s right in the middle of your way to go to Ise Jingu, where famous sun goddess Amaterasu is enshrined.

Timothy Sullivan: 27:31
Yeah, is it a cult sake in Japan?

Benoit Champagne: 27:35
What do you mean by cult sake? Sake.

Timothy Sullivan: 27:40
in English when we say cult sake, we mean a sake that is a little bit harder to get and a lot of people want it and people like hunt it down and really search for it. And it’s a object of desire for sake nerds.

Benoit Champagne: 27:56
It feels like so because of the the unabundance of production. But if you just take a step in Suzuka, which is not really far from Nagoya I think it’s a 30 minute ish by train then you have zaku. Anywhere. They really promote their sake locally, they make sure it’s there.

John Puma: 28:17
One of my

Benoit Champagne: 28:19
But still, being local and like, inaka, so like, um, countryside, they’re still accessible via Nagoya, which is one of the biggest cities in Japan. Really easy to get access to.

Timothy Sullivan: 28:33
Alright. Benoit, I feel like I learned a lot about Zaku and about what’s going on in Quebec, Canada for sake distribution right now. I really have to say, I appreciate your dedication to spreading the word of sake under somewhat challenging conditions there. Before we wrap up, I want to make sure our listeners can learn more about your work and what you’re doing in Canada. Can you share any websites or social media where people can learn more? And

Benoit Champagne: 29:05
Yeah, sure. Nijikaisake.com is basically where I do my things. I have the Instagram, same name of course non French speakers is going to be harsh, but I answer in English, no trouble. As for my work it’s mostly uh, training, assisting translating all that’s to know about sake, but uh, I’m also As a small fan myself of Japanese culture, I’m bringing in the famous Tsugaru Bidoro, the handmade glass from Aomori, the chopsticks from Fukui called Style of Japan, so I’m bringing in some collector’s items here and then. That’s also very nice to see on Instagram if you want to enjoy.

John Puma: 29:49
Nice. That’s awesome.

Timothy Sullivan: 29:51
before we go, I have to ask you one other quick question. Your last name is Champagne. Have you, if you had to choose, would you choose a bottle of champagne or a bottle of sparkling sake?

Benoit Champagne: 30:02
I’m a converted. I’m a converted. I only have sakes in my fridge.

Timothy Sullivan: 30:07
Yes. All right.

Benoit Champagne: 30:12
right now I don’t have a single wine bottle or beer bottle in my fridge, but I have at least 50 sakes.

Timothy Sullivan: 30:18
All right.

John Puma: 30:19
Fifty. That’s right.

Benoit Champagne: 30:21
At least. At least.

Timothy Sullivan: 30:24
All right. That was the correct answer, by the way. All right. Thank you. Benoit, thank you so much for joining us. It was a pleasure to talk to you and I hope you’ll come back another time.

Benoit Champagne: 30:34
Of course, it’s always a pleasure to talk to you, even when you’re in Montreal, come and say hi. It’s always a pleasure to talk to you guys.

John Puma: 30:42
I’ll have to get over to Montreal sometime.

Timothy Sullivan: 30:44
Yeah. And so thank you, Benoit. And I want to thank our listeners as well. Thanks everyone today for tuning in to Sake Revolution. Now we’re a listener supported show, and if you would like to show your support for Sake Revolution, the best way to support us right now is to join our community on Patreon. If you’d like to learn more, please visit Patreon.com/SakeRevolution.

John Puma: 31:08
And another way that you can Support us. If you have a moment is to go over and leave us a review at Apple podcast, Spotify, charm, whatever platform you’re listening to our show on, go over there and tell people what you think it’s going to bring up a little bit of awareness about our show, which we really do appreciate. So on that note, please grab your glasses. Remember to keep drinking sake and Kanpai.