Season 1. Episode 40. Today we focus on another “Sake Spotlight” – this time it is the far north prefecture of Iwate. This is a rural and and sparsely populated part of the country with a total of approximately 20 sake breweries total. Lots of snow and agriculture, too. Despite it’s remote location, sakes from Iwate have made their way around the world and Tim and John will taste two stellar examples of Iwate sake in this spotlight. We explore two well known Iwate brands – Nanbu Bijin and Tsukinowa. If you need a break from sake for any reason, be sure to try the gently competitive “Wanko Soba” challenge which is native to Iwate. Sake and Soba have ever had a better pairing! Join us as we dive deep into all things Iwate!

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Skip to: 00:19 Hosts Welcome and Introduction
Welcome to the show from John and Timothy

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Skip to: 01:49 Sake Spotlight: Iwate

Some sakes from Iwate:
https://www.urbansake.com/sake/?filter_prefecture=iwate

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Skip to: 08:11 Wanko Soba

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Skip to: 10:13 Sake Tasting Introductions

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Skip to: 13:46 Nanbu Bijin Tokubetsu Junmai

Nanbu Bijin Tokubetsu Junmai

Brewery: Nanbu Bijin Brewery
Classification: Tokubetsu Junmai
Alcohol: 15.5%
Prefecture: Iwate
Rice Type: Ginotome
Seimaibuai: 55%
SMV: +5.0

View on UrbanSake.com

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Skip to: 18:32 Tsukinowa Yoi-no-Tsuki Midnight Moon Daiginjo

Tsukinowa Yoi-no-Tsuki Midnight Moon Daiginjo

Alcohol: 16.5%
Rice Type: Ginginga
Seimaibuai: 50%
Prefecture: Iwate
Brewery: Tsukinowa Brewery
Importer: Sake Story
Classification: Daiginjo
Sake Name English: Midnight Moon
SMV: +2.5

View on UrbanSake.com

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Skip to: 27:05 Show Closing

This is it! Join us next time for another episode of Sake Revolution!

John Puma: 0:22
Hello everybody. And welcome to Sake Revolution. This is America’s. First sake podcast. I am your host, John Puma from the Sake Notes. Also the administrator over at the internet, sake discord. Do come join us sometime. And I’m also that guy on the show. Who’s not a sake samurai, just the sake nerd that we have around these parts.

Timothy Sullivan: 0:43
And I am your host, Timothy Sullivan. I am the sake samurai. I’m also a sake educator as well as the founder of the Urban Sake website. And every week, John and I will be tasting and chatting about all things, sake and doing our best to make it fun and easy to understand.

John Puma: 1:00
that is right, Tim. And, uh, welcome back again how have, your sake. New year’s resolution has been coming along, have you been getting outside that comfort zone? Well,

Timothy Sullivan: 1:10
I have, I tried to get out of my comfort zone as often as possible, at least once a day.

John Puma: 1:15
That’s that’s nice. I like that. I’ve been continuing to, to buy locally. I’m trying to try to influence some places to get some more, to expand their sake lists. That’s my goal to get some extra stuff in the neighborhood, uh, and still, still getting on there and exercising every day. Live in the sake man lifestyle.

Timothy Sullivan: 1:34
Well, we have kept up our resolutions for one week, so I think,

John Puma: 1:38
well, you know, I think every step counts, right?

Timothy Sullivan: 1:42
Step by step.

John Puma: 1:43
Every journey. Um, so, uh, what do we, what are we doing today,

Timothy Sullivan: 1:49
Well, we are headed up North. We’re going to be doing another spotlight of a wonderful sake prefecture. And today we’re heading up North to Iwate

John Puma: 2:01
fantastic. I have never been to iwate.

Timothy Sullivan: 2:04
Well, uh, just so our listeners have some idea. If you’re on the main Island of Japan and you go up North, Iwate is kind of the second, most Northern prefecture. It’s on the Pacific side of the main Island, just South of Aomori prefecture. So it’s very Northern, it’s very rural sparsely, populated snowy, cold and agricultural. So it is a very remote place to get to for sure.

John Puma: 2:32
That, that sounds very Northern Japan, I’ve always wanted to get over there, but it just, it just never worked out.

Timothy Sullivan: 2:41
yeah, it is this part of Japan has about 20 sake breweries. So it’s a little bit on the smaller side, but no slouch by any means.

John Puma: 2:51
All right. Okay. And, I know this is. That’s silly question, Tim, have you been to iwate prefecture?

Timothy Sullivan: 2:59
I’ve been to iwate. I have, I’ve been

John Puma: 3:02
question would be. How many times have you been to you? They

Timothy Sullivan: 3:04
I’ve been to a wate at least three times.

John Puma: 3:07
Alright, so you’re, you’re an expert,

Timothy Sullivan: 3:09
Not really.

John Puma: 3:10
at least on this show. You are,

Timothy Sullivan: 3:12
I’ll take that.

John Puma: 3:15
I think I took a train through it once, but that’s about it.

Timothy Sullivan: 3:18
Yeah. So. It’s a really beautiful place. It is, as I mentioned, quite rural, and the place that I visited three times is Nanbu Bijin, sake brewery. So Nanbu Bijin is the, the makers of Nanbu Bijin sake. And they are a very well-known sake producer in the export markets. So they’ve been exporting their sake for a long time and the president of Nanbu Bijin and Mr. Kuji, he is a big, big. Proponent of making sake, a world beverage. So he sends his sake everywhere, Europe, the middle East Africa, South America, and the U S he literally travels the world promoting sake.

John Puma: 4:01
and on top of that, he is quite a character for those who, who are those who have ever met him or seen footage of him? He is a very, very, uh, I don’t know. I think think jolly individual is a, is a good way to describe him.

Timothy Sullivan: 4:15
Well, his nickname is Mr. Sunshine of the sake industry. That’ll do it.

John Puma: 4:20
Yeah, I think so. And I, for what it’s worth, I think that whenever I think of Iwate sake, the thing that pops into my head, the first thing that pops in my head is always Nanbu Bijin. And that’s probably from, you know, from living here in New York and know they’re, they’re a very big brand here and they export a lot of their products and they’re very, well-regarded they’re good stuff.

Timothy Sullivan: 4:40
Yes. I think if you live outside of Japan Nanbu Bijin is probably the most famous sake from Iwate there because of their really, um, progressive, attack of trying to export as much as they can. However, they’re not the biggest brewery in Iwate.

John Puma: 4:56
And who

Timothy Sullivan: 4:57
Uh, Asabiraki is the largest brewer in prefecture. But I think Nanbu Bijin has made a. Bigger splash outside of Japan and they’ve done their export work for years and years and years. So they got that name recognition because of that. I’m actually going to be. Tasting one of the sakes from Namu Bijin today. I have the Tokubetsu Junmai from Nanbu Bijin, which is a very, very well-known sake I’m sure you’ve had it before John.

John Puma: 5:30
Oh, I ha that’s, that’s kind of like their staple sake That’s a kind of in my head, it’s one of those things, like, it’s one of those sakes that you want to put in front of somebody who’s never had sake before and they’re going to be like, Oh, sake I can do this. This is wonderful. It’s a, it’s a crowd pleaser. I

Timothy Sullivan: 5:45
And not only that, but the Tokubetsu Junmai, from Nanbu Bijin and also won the IWC championship sake award, I think back in 2017. So it’s, it’s a truly award-winning sake as well. Yeah.

John Puma: 6:02
Uh, I’m, I’m sort of taking a page out of your book today, Tim.

Timothy Sullivan: 6:07
Are you stealing my resolution?

John Puma: 6:09
I’m stealing your resolution in a way, My understanding is that the sake I’m going to be drinking is very much in my comfort zone, but. Uh, I’ve never had it before. So, uh, when I opened up the sake and I tasted it, it’s going to be the first time I’ve ever tasted this sake live on the air with you.

Timothy Sullivan: 6:27
Wow. So we’re going to get a true unvarnished reaction from you.

John Puma: 6:31
Yeah, absolutely.

Timothy Sullivan: 6:33
Fantastic. Well, the only other thing I wanted to mention about iwate and I don’t think you can have a discussion about Iwate Sake without talking about the Nanbu Toji Guild. So are you familiar with Toji guilds? Do you know what they are?

John Puma: 6:50
I mean, I, I can put two and two together and I know what I know what a Toji is. I know what a Guild is. So unless it’s, unless something’s being lost in translation, I think I got it. But please, um, W what specifically is a Toji Guild?

Timothy Sullivan: 7:06
Well, as you know, John Toji means master brewer and they have a number of guilds in Japan where brewers can actually kind of go to school and get a degree or a certification to become qualified as a master brewer to work as a Toji in Japan, you do not require any degree or any certification. You can be promoted to master brewer by the brewery president. And, uh, having a certification from a Guild is an optional route to go. But that having been said, the Nanbu Toji Guild from iwate is arguably the most famous brewing Guild in Japan. So they have a very, concrete method for making sake and a style that is unique to that region and very famous in Japan and a number of a well-known Toji have studied with the Nabu guild. So it’s one of the hallmarks of that region, for sure.

John Puma: 8:05
Well, that’s interesting. I didn’t know that. See, we all learn on sake revolution. so what else did they have over there?

Timothy Sullivan: 8:11
Well, one thing that I got to experience when I went to Iwate was a really funny way to eat soba soba noodles.

John Puma: 8:19
I absolutely love soba noodles.

Timothy Sullivan: 8:21
I do too. And I thought I would love this. It sounds great on the surface, but it was a little bit challenging. It’s called Wanko soba

John Puma: 8:30
Wanko?

Timothy Sullivan: 8:30
Wanko w a N K O Wanko.

John Puma: 8:34
I am not familiar with that. Tell me about Wanko

Timothy Sullivan: 8:36
Well, you get a little red lacquer bowl and. The server puts a little bit in your bowl and then you slurp it down, like literally one mouthful, and then she refills your bowl again. And you take another bite and then she refills your bowl again. So it’s bite by bite, by bite of soba. And I think you, you have to try to reach a hundred bites. There’s something like that.

John Puma: 9:02
It’s like a lot of pressure to somebody standing there and their

Timothy Sullivan: 9:05
over you.

John Puma: 9:06
put noodles in here. But what are the noodles like though? They hot. They

Timothy Sullivan: 9:10
Oh, cold. Yeah. There’s a little bit of broth, but it’s about slurping the noodles down bite after bite, after bite, after bite, after bite.

John Puma: 9:17
So it’s an endurance challenge.

Timothy Sullivan: 9:20
It’s like Iwate competitive eating. Yeah. And it w it was very, it felt very high pressure for me. So I didn’t really love it, but it was very fun to try it. And, uh, I, one of my great memories from visiting the wate.

John Puma: 9:38
All right. All right. This sounds like something I can do at home. I just needed to convince my wife to stand over me with a pot and started pouring soba in a bowl for me over the course of probably an hour, because it’s 105. Is it a hundred?

Timothy Sullivan: 9:51
I think I’m making that up, but

John Puma: 9:53
Oh, okay. All right. An indeterminate number of bites

Timothy Sullivan: 9:57
As many, as many as possible. I think that’s the goal.

John Puma: 10:00
The challenge. See how many you can do.

Timothy Sullivan: 10:02
Yeah. And, uh, we’ll put, we’ll put, uh, a video of Wanko soba eating in the show notes. So please check that out.

John Puma: 10:10
Excellent. I actually want to see this video now, do we have a video of you eating one wanko soba? Oh, that’s Oh, come on Tim. We gotta, we gotta make this happen for our audience.

Timothy Sullivan: 10:24
I have, I have a shred of dignity left, so I didn’t allow it.

John Puma: 10:28
not after we’re through with you.

Timothy Sullivan: 10:33
So what you mentioned a little bit about your sake why don’t you give us the rundown and introduce your sake first? John

John Puma: 10:40
Okay. Sure, the name of the brewery is Tsukinowa, and the sake is tsukinowa yo no tsuki midnight moon is what they’re calling in English. Uh, and it’s Daiginjo. So it’s that high Polish alcohol added style but the interesting thing about the alcohol added here, Tim. It’s not neutral spirits, thump, thump out. So yeah, I know that we, in the, in our, uh, episode on Junmai versus aruten, we kind of went over that. It’s a neutral spirit that is added, and in this case, it is actually rice shochu that they distill in house, and that is the alcohol that’s being added to this

Timothy Sullivan: 11:30
wow. That is not common anymore. And that that would have been the old school way to do it. 200 years ago, they didn’t have Brazilian sugar cane, uh, imported from Brazil,

John Puma: 11:42
I guess not.

Timothy Sullivan: 11:42
just distillate of sugar cane. So they would use rice shochu. So that’s really interesting that that’s what they’re using to fortify this sake to make it an alcohol added style. Very, very cool.

John Puma: 11:54
Yeah. it is 16.5 alcohol by volume. So just I’ll touch high, 50% milling. And the interesting thing is it uses a rice called, ginginga, which is apparently a, locally created, rice. That’s sort of their goal was to make, uh, any iwate. Specific rice, it has a sake meter value of plus five. So we’re looking at something, a touch dry, but really not, it doesn’t, it doesn’t seem like it’s going to be, uh, moving the needle very much on dryness. But as I’ve mentioned, I’ve never tasted this sake before, so I’m excited togive it a shot.

Timothy Sullivan: 12:35
Excellent.

John Puma: 12:37
Okay. And you’ve got that. Nanbu Bijin Tokubetsu Junmai, the famous. Nanbu Bijin Tokubetsu Junmai.

Timothy Sullivan: 12:44
world famous. Now I know, uh, it’s interesting. You brought up that unique sake rice Ginginga and I know that Nanbu Bijin uses that rice for another sake they make. So Nanbu Bijin has a Junmai Ginjo that uses Ginginga sake rice, and the rice that they use for the Tokubetsu Junmai that I have with me today is called ginotome. So it is a second. Iwate local rice that they use,ginotome, I think is even more rare. And I was told that they actually grow it around the brewery. So this is a hyper-local Iwate rice that they use for this Tokubetsu Junmai, the alcohol for my sake is 15.5%. The rice milling of that Ginotome 55%. The SMV, how sweet or dry the sake is, is a plus five. So we’re looking at a lightly dry sake and the acidity is 1.6.

John Puma: 13:46
All right. Well, um, Tim, why don’t you take us on a journey of the award winning Nanbu Bijin Tokubetsu Junmai.

Timothy Sullivan: 13:54
All right. Excellent. So I’m going to go ahead and open this up, give it a pour. All right. So I’ve got it in my glass. Now let’s give it a smell. Okay. Yay. So this sake is well-known for being very fruity and this nose, this aroma is definitely holding up to that

John Puma: 14:24
Hmm.

Timothy Sullivan: 14:27
very much, a complex fruit salad type of smell. We’ve got some pineapple, we have some melon, we have some strawberry. Apple and pear, it’s a wonderful mixture of different engaging fruit aromas, very limited rice aroma, nothing lactic, earthy, or umami driven, much more fruity Drinkable… and you mentioned it being a great sake for beginners. I think this. Lines right up with what you said before about that, and being, uh, being a Tokubetsu Junmai our special Junmai, the rice Milling’s 55%, as we mentioned that sense, the sake not terribly expensive. So I think you get a very, the fruity, luscious aroma for a really affordable price. And that’s another thing that makes it very approachable for beginners. So I’m going to go ahead and give this one a taste. Hmm. So it’s smooth, balanced, but primarily fruity. So the aroma carries through to the flavor. There’s a bit of a lingering finish and this doesn’t have the super velvety. Silky smooth texture. You might get in a Daiginjo or a Junmai Daigino, but it is smooth enough and really enjoyable.

John Puma: 15:50
Smooth enough, Tim Sullivan. Sake Samurai

Timothy Sullivan: 15:56
It is, uh, really enjoyable. And for the price, it is a steal, it is a steal. The quality is really high for the price. So if you’re looking for an approachable, easy to love, easy to drink, delicious smooth sake you’re going to enjoy this. And again, it won the IWC championship award. So this was awarded like best in show at the IWC, a wine challenge a few years ago. And, uh, you just can’t, you really can’t beat it. It’s just easy to love and the label has butterflies on it. So it’s very easy to recognize. Very easy to recognize on the shelf.

John Puma: 16:37
Very distinctive, although. Although my understanding is they are currently going through a labeling change.

Timothy Sullivan: 16:42
you got

John Puma: 16:43
I, when we were in Japan in February, we went to an, a what a prefecture antenna shop and for those at home, uh, who are not aware antenna shops are, these little prefectural shops in located mostly around Ginza. In Tokyo and they sell local goods like fruits and packaged foods and stuff like that. And sake from various prefectures and we happened to be at the iwate shop and. They had these Nanbu Bijin, bottles and I’m ticking. I’m feeling like, wow, this label is beautiful. What is this all about?, and, uh, inquired with some people in the States, uh, who are familiar, with such things and found out this was just new labeling new branding for the company. And the new labels are color coded with the, um, they have the Nanbu Bijin. Like Kanji the logo for the brewery on it, but also the family crest of, uh, of Kuji-san’s, family

Timothy Sullivan: 17:44
yeah. Their labeling strategy was a little bit all over the place up

John Puma: 17:48
it was, it really was.

Timothy Sullivan: 17:49
I’ve seen a picture of the new labels you’re talking about and they’re beautiful. They’re

John Puma: 17:54
they’re beautiful. Simple, easy to understand.

Timothy Sullivan: 17:57
And, you know, color coded and every, every grade has a different color and they’re really beautiful. So it’s going to be fantastic.

John Puma: 18:05
Yeah. I’m of the opinion that when you do something like that, where you do color coding to do like your grade or maybe your rice type or something like that, it really makes it easy, if you don’t know a lot about sake you can say you had the one with the red label, the Nanbu Bijin with the red label and then, or the blue one or whatever, and then you can easily get that again. And also, if there’s one that you haven’t had yet, you’re like, Oh, I haven’t tried this blue one yet. And then it gives you something to try. It’s a, and it promotes the brand in a really interesting way.

Timothy Sullivan: 18:32
Yeah. I’m really excited to see how that new labeling strategy is going to be received. Yeah. So, John, how about you? I’d love to, uh, get this raw unvarnished, take on your sake You’ve never had before, so let’s, let’s

John Puma: 18:48
get the midnight moon bottle. And, uh, this actually comes, uh, kind of partially wrapped in newspaper. So let me set that aside. And

Timothy Sullivan: 18:57
and your bottle has a beautiful orange label. Doesn’t it.

John Puma: 19:00
it does. It’s a nice, it’s a nice deep orange, almost like a, it was like a burnt Sienna for the art nerds out there. So one thing I’m noticing on the nose is a little bit fruitiness, but also, uh, a nice little like steamed rice push behind it. So it’s kinda like you, you, you have the fruitiness first and right behind that is this, this, this. Wafting rice. I don’t know if it’s gentle wafting rice in the other room though, but it’s definitely rice. Yes. Right. So the, the, that, that subtle fruitiness in the, in the aroma, isn’t that present in the taste. but I do have kind of a nice bit of sweetness, which not expecting given that this was a little bit on the drier side. So a tinge of sweetness that ricey-ness comes through, but it’s. It’s not cloying. It’s not, uh, it’s not aggressively ricey. Nice mouthfeel, a little bit silky and light and a nice little. Hit of acidity kind of near the end on that, which I think is one of those. Where does it, if he hits you usually hit. Um, so it’s really nicely balanced. It’s a, this is, this is a nice sake It’s not as, uh, it’s not as decadent as a lot of other daiginjos that I’ve had. Uh, but it is definitely tasty. This is nice. I gotta, I have to marinate on this a little bit too.

Timothy Sullivan: 20:35
Yeah, that, that sounds really fantastic that, it’s not, they’re not just trying to make a fruit bomb. That is like, super silky, smooth and fruity and boom, that’s it. It sounds like they’re bringing a lot of nuance in there and a lot of layered flavors, which gives you more interest, more depth of flavor and can make us a really more approachable in a lot of ways, especially those super premium grades.

John Puma: 21:01
Hm. Yeah, it is nice that this is a little different, like, yeah, I do. I do have a type, you know, and I do gravitate towards those, those fruit bombs that that you mentioned earlier. Um, you know, I like that light fruity kind of thing. That’s or big, big fruity kind of thing. I like fruity. It’s not about that. Um, But yeah, this is, this is really nice. That sweetness than the front that I was thinking about now that I’ve kind of sip it a few more times, honey. That’s what it is. So it was a little bit honey, and then like some rice and, uh, And then it kind of settles in with some acidity. It’s this really interesting. It, a lot of this is complex and I am up to the challenge I’m digging

Timothy Sullivan: 21:49
well, you know, I did mention that I had the good fortune to visit. Iwate a few times. And every time I visited, I was headed to Nambu bijin brewery. So I’ve had the good fortune to visit this brewery three times. And I did want to tell a little story about how they entertain their guests because.

John Puma: 22:10
Uh, is it a wanko soba challenge?

Timothy Sullivan: 22:15
there’s no Wanko soba. Thank goodness. But they do things a little differently. I visited many, many breweries. And when you show up at a brewery as a guest, it’s not uncommon if you’re in invited guests from the industry or media or, you know, in the business in some way, they’ll. Uh, host you and take you out to a wonderful dinner, or they’ll host you for a beautiful formal dinner in their company tatami room. And it’s not uncommon to have a kind of a high-end luxurious experience and what Nanbu Bijin does, which is incredibly fun is they invite you to party in the breweries employee break room.

John Puma: 22:59
That sounds dangerous.

Timothy Sullivan: 23:01
They have a, they have a, uh, coal fired. Stove in there in the corner to heat the room. They have some banquettes around and the rest of the people sit on milk crates or sake crates that have been turned over as little seats and they order in some sushi and then they heat sake on the coal little coal pot, belly stove in the corner. And it is incredibly fun. All the brewers join in and. They welcome you. And they do some, uh, oyster shucking outside as well. And it is incredibly fun, but casual, low key approachable. And you feel like one of the people who works the brewery and the two young children of Kuji-san, the, the young kids that live at the brewery come out and. Tug at your sleeve and practice their English with you. And it is incredibly fun and very casual and approachable just like their sake So I think it’s a great representation of the way they treat their guests. They also craft sake to match that really approachable and fun.

John Puma: 24:13
that sounds, yeah, it sounds like they’re living that a, that sakeman lifestyle. They’re working hard, drinking, hard, playing hard, That sounds really nice. I mean, I’ve, I’ve been to breweries, not, not nearly as many, and, it’s usually a fairly formal experience, so I’ve never been invited to the break room to, to, to sip sake, uh, with the crew, you know, that’s, uh, that sounds like a really special experience.

Timothy Sullivan: 24:37
Yeah, it, it was great. And to make it even more special, one time I visited, they had just received the news that day, that the brewery had won a gold medal for one of their sakes. So everyone was in an extra celebratory mood and it was absolutely just so much fun. Everyone was ready to celebrate and welcome us. And it’s just one of the, one of the fondest memories I have from a brewery visit,

John Puma: 25:06
what does a Nanbu Bijin brewery celebration feel like? What’s that? What, what goes on with that? Or is that something that’s outside the scope of what we can discuss on a podcast?

Timothy Sullivan: 25:16
Well, it was. Lots of celebrating lots of sake flowing, delicious local foods arriving, and people just pouring sake for each other, chatting, having fun, just really comfortable. You know, the thing that pops to mind is like, you know, a neighborhood barbecue kind of atmosphere, but with lots of sake and. Gold medals

John Puma: 25:47
Lots of sake and gold

Timothy Sullivan: 25:48
award sake and Goldman.

John Puma: 25:52
excellent. Excellent. Uh, I have to get up there eventually. That sounds like a really fun

Timothy Sullivan: 25:56
it is absolutely fantastic. And it’s a really small town I’ve as I’ve stayed there a few times, and there’s not a lot going on in the town. So the sake brewery is really, you know, one of the cornerstone businesses in this town, John, I know you like to go to snowy places, right? You went to Hokkaido this year.

John Puma: 26:14
I, I, you know, this, this past, uh, past year when we were in Hokkaido in February, it was the first time I’d ever been to Japan the winter time. And it was magnificent. I absolutely fell in love with it. So I’m excited to do that again.

Timothy Sullivan: 26:30
Yeah. Well, you watch, they can deliver on that snowy dream if you, if you

John Puma: 26:36
that sounds wonderful.

Timothy Sullivan: 26:37
Yeah. And having, having sake warmed on the pot belly stove in the, in the Brewer’s break room is, is really magical. So you have to

John Puma: 26:46
That’s just that’s that’s so you went to Nanbu Bijin what’d you do? Oh, I sat in the break room and had warm sake with brewers. What that sounds like it’s a fantasy that doesn’t happen. That’s amazing.

Timothy Sullivan: 26:59
It’s a different way to approach it. And it was just so much fun.

John Puma: 27:02
That’s really, that’s my kind of hospitality. I like that.

Timothy Sullivan: 27:05
All right. Well, thank you so much to all our listeners for tuning in. I hope you enjoyed our little discussion of Iwate. If you’d like to show your support for Sake Revolution, one way that you can really help us out would be to take a couple of minutes and leave us a written review on Apple podcasts. That’s one of the best ways for us to get the word out about our show.

John Puma: 27:26
and if you were like me and can’t get on to Apple podcasts, please tell a friend. And be sure to subscribe wherever you download your podcasts so that every week when we upload a show, it’ll magically show up on your device of choice and you will not miss an episode.

Timothy Sullivan: 27:45
ways to learn more about any of the topics, the breweries or the sakes we talked about in today’s episode, be sure to visit our website, SakeRevolution.com. To look at all the detailed show notes.

John Puma: 27:58
and if you have a sake question that you need answered, prefecture. As you’d like for us to explore, sake brewery celebrations. You want us to talk about? We want to hear from you. Please reach out to us. That email address is [email protected]. So until next time, please remember, keep drinking all of that sake and Kanpai!