Episode 106. With his family’s sake brewery on the verge of closing for good in 2003, Tadayoshi Onishi, at the age of 27, retooled the type of sake they were making by launching a new brand and a new flavor profile. Their “Jikon” label soon gained recognition for its zippy and bright texture all while being approachable and easy drinking. Since then, Jikon has been very much in demand with a limited supply causing some to label this a hard-to-find “cult” sake. Luckily for us, there is some Jikon distribution in the States, so we couldn’t resist looking into this brand for ourselves. Listen in and join us as we explore the world of Jikon sake!

#SakeRevolution

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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: 02:36 About Kiyasho Shuzo and “Jikon”

About Jikon from Skurnik Distributors:
“6th generation owner-brewmaster Tada Onishi took over his small family sake brewery in 2003 at the age of 27, and began to search for a way to distinguish his sake. Bucking prevailing trends he trusted his own taste and began to produce a bright and slightly acidic sake with incredible layers and depth from his extremely careful koji making. The results have produced one of the most awarded sake of recent years, sought after by both connoisseurs and chefs who appreciate its vibrant energy and subtle nuances of texture and flavor.”

Kiyasho Shuzo video:

Find Kiyasho Shuozo/Jikon on Social Media
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jikon_sake/
Website: https://kiyashow.com/english.html
UrbanSake: https://www.urbansake.com/sake-guide/kiyasho-shuzo/

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Skip to: 13:56 Sake Introduction and Tasting: Jikon Tokubetsu Junmai

Jikon Tokubetsu Junmai

Brewery: Kiyasho Shuzo
Classification: Tokubetsu Junmai
Acidity: 1.7
Alcohol: 16.5%
Prefecture: Mie
Seimaibuai: 60%
SMV: +2.0
Rice Type: Hattannishiki, Yamadanishiki
Brand: Jikon (而今)
Importer: Skurnik (USA), That’s Life Gourmet Ltd. (Canada)
View on UrbanSake.com: Jikon Tokubetsu Junmai

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Skip to: 29:55 Show Closing

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

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John Puma: 0:22
Hello, everybody. And welcome to Sake Revolution. This is America’s first and only weekly sake podcast and I am your host, John Puma from the Sake Notes. Also the admin over at the internet Sake Discord. Everybody’s favorite place to hang out and chit chat about sake. And on the show, there is a regular guy and there is a Sake Samurai, and I am the regular guy.

Timothy Sullivan: 0:51
And I am your host, Timothy Sullivan. I am a Sake Samurai, sake educator, 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: 1:10
ah, Tim, you know, you know what I really like, uh, you know, what gets me excited as a, as a sake.

Timothy Sullivan: 1:17
What’s that

John Puma: 1:19
Uh, I get really excited when popular, really popular brands over in Japan finally make their way over to the States,

Timothy Sullivan: 1:30
you mean like cult brands, right?

John Puma: 1:32
Cult brands, like the ones, the kind of, the kinds of brands That, when people go to Japan, they come back and they’re like, oh my God, where can I get such and such? And you’re like, well, you kind of can’t, I’m sorry. And then suddenly one day that’s no longer the truth and you can get these cult brands and you spread the cult.

Timothy Sullivan: 1:56
so what cult are you in John? I’m dying to know

John Puma: 1:59
Oh no, I I’m. I’m actually in, uh, any, any sake cults? I don’t think I’m in the Sake Revolution cult. Definitely. Uh, what about you? Are you in any sake cults that we need to know. about? No.

Timothy Sullivan: 2:12
So that has me thinking that we are going to be exploring a cult brand today.

John Puma: 2:18
Yes. Yes. It is time for another branded episode of Sake Revolution.

Timothy Sullivan: 2:26
All right.

John Puma: 2:27
Yeah. What if one of my favorite series that we do here, because I do think it’s a lot of fun when we get into these brands like this, we get in the nitty gritty of why they’re so popular.

Timothy Sullivan: 2:36
All right. Well, tell us what you know about the brand we’re looking at today.

John Puma: 2:41
Today’s brand. Tim is Jikon

Timothy Sullivan: 2:47
Jikon.

John Puma: 2:47
Jikon. Yeah. So Jikon is, one of those bottles, they always put in the window of the izakaya even when they don’t have it in stock.

Timothy Sullivan: 2:57
Um,

John Puma: 2:58
It’s one of those. We had this once you see to get your attention, because it is a very attention getting sake. It is a very popular, a little culty, um, kind of, kind of brand. And it does get people. It brings all the boys and girls to the yard and the yard is your, izakaya if you’re in Japan,

Timothy Sullivan: 3:20
So you are a fan. I take it.

John Puma: 3:23
they make very good.

Timothy Sullivan: 3:25
Okay. So what has your experience been with Jikon so far when you’ve had in Japan? Any memories about the taste or the profile?

John Puma: 3:32
Well, I actually had a flight of it once at a place in, um, in Shinjuku called Ganko Oyaji, which means like grumpy old, man. I think we might have talked about this place before on the show and I, that day. And it was like first night in Tokyo, you’re tired. You’re jet lagged. You are, nothing’s really working. Right. And I really didn’t love it. I’m being completely I had a flight and I didn’t, I Really. didn’t love it. And so I kind of went a little time after that thinking like

Timothy Sullivan: 4:04
don Don Don plot twists, ladies and gentlemen.

John Puma: 4:08
it was a plot twist, but, um, honestly I think it was me because, uh, a year later we came across it and somebody poured it for me. And I was like, this is this the same stuff. I can’t believe it. This is spectacular. And I, I, so I think it was just one of those things that when you, sometimes you’ve been on a plane for, you know, for 14 hours and you check in who deal with immigration, you check into your hotel. You’re not, you’re tired. Your taste buds are all out of whack from being in a flight for so long. I think that’s what it was because every other experience I’ve had with this brand since then has been really nice and really pleasant. Uh, Tim, what about you? Do you have any. pre arrival in the United States experiences with Jikon.

Timothy Sullivan: 4:49
I remember it. From Japan. I remember drinking it in Japan, but, and really liking it, but I don’t have specific memories of an experience, but I knew that it was a very coveted brand in Japan. People displayed it very proudly, as you said. And I remember it being kind of soft and gentle in overall profile.

John Puma: 5:15
yeah, definitely. Easy

Timothy Sullivan: 5:17
Drinking.

John Puma: 5:18
oh yeah. definitely. I think that, that’s the kind of stuff that gets culty in Japan, at least these days. I think that there’s trends. And I think that you’re going to see, that’s going to it’s it’s going to go probably a different way at some point.

Timothy Sullivan: 5:30
Yeah. So do you know what the name Jikon means?

John Puma: 5:33
I actually do not. Um, at one point in, in my really unfortunately brief self knowledge of Japanese, I noticed it is very similar to the word four hour,

Timothy Sullivan: 5:47
Oh,

John Puma: 5:47
but it is not the word.

Timothy Sullivan: 5:49
it’s not the word for hour.

John Puma: 5:51
So I actually do not know what it means.

Timothy Sullivan: 5:55
The English translation that the importer has come up with is called here and now. And it’s actually a word that ties to the Zen concept of living in the here and now or living in the moment.

John Puma: 6:10
Ooh, I like

Timothy Sullivan: 6:11
Yeah,

John Puma: 6:13
Not bad living in the here and now. Yeah. That’s a good name for your sake. sake.

Timothy Sullivan: 6:18
Yeah, so that’s, that’s the name. I did a little research into the brewery and the current owner slash toji and there’s some really interesting nuggets of information here. So. The brewery name. So Jikon is the brand name, but the brewery that actually makes this sake is called Kiyasho Shuzo and they were founded in 1818. And

John Puma: 6:46
Because of course they were.

Timothy Sullivan: 6:47
of course they were. And they’ve been going for six generations. This is Mie prefecture Nabari city, and it’s pretty far deep into. Mie prefecture. So mie prefectures on the Pacific ocean and it’s pretty far away from the ocean into the prefecture and kind of in a mountain valley area. And the current owner Toji president is Tadayoshi Onishi

John Puma: 7:18
oh, wow. So he’s doing both roles.

Timothy Sullivan: 7:20
Yes. And he’s at he’s the sixth generation and he took over in 2003 and get this at the age of 27 years old.

John Puma: 7:31
I mean, it can’t be, this cannot be a coincidence to him that when we talk about these cult brands, there’s almost always a story of a young person coming in

Timothy Sullivan: 7:44
Yes,

John Puma: 7:45
fresh ideas. Uh, and, and, and doing it their own way. Now, does the Jikon brand come with him or that exist beforehand?

Timothy Sullivan: 7:55
no. The Jikon brand was a new invention that was founded in 2005. So he took over in 2003 at the age of 27. And. The brewery when he took it over was very different than it is today. They were making about 100 Koku of sake. So about 1,800 liters of sake a year. So very, very small production and they were making almost exclusively futsushu or table sake. And he said the brand previously used to do lots of charcoal filtration and. Is very different sake. And he tried hard originally to sell this sake. And you know what he said in an interview, he said that he tried Juyondai, which is from your favorite prefecture. Yamagata that’s another cult brand

John Puma: 8:49
Yes. And, And. oftentimes in, in the store, uh, in the store, when. Right alongside the bottle. Look, Jikon is a bottle of Juyondai. So now they’re kind of, teammate’s almost in this, in this cult brand, uh, competition.

Timothy Sullivan: 9:05
Yeah. So when Onishi san tried on di the scales fell from his eyes and he was like, I’ve been trying to sell this futsushu. But what I really need to do is retool and just brew better sake. And that got him obsessed with becoming the toji making better sake and started his journey to creating jikon.

John Puma: 9:32
That’s really, really interesting, especially considering like, I think they always talk about how the,, the sales of futsushu. Every year. And the sales of the, of the more premium stuff tend to are tipping up every year. So he kind of saw which way the wind was blowing in a way in, in real time, it was like his, his sales for his futsushu were going down and he tasted this like really, really popular, premium sake and decided this was the way forward. This was the here and now perhaps.

Timothy Sullivan: 10:04
Yeah. So at age 27, he, he did take a course. At the national research Institute of brewing and they train. Up and coming next generation brewers. So he did go back to school, studied a bit about brewing, learned some from the previous toji. And then the thing that I love about this story about Onishi san is that he didn’t like retool the whole brewery and start making Jikon it has been step-by-step little by little he’s made changes. Year after year after year. And he added new equipment bit by bit and his approach. I heard someone describe it almost like an engineer, like starting to create this new brand, this new style and growing it over over many, many years. And he said it in interview and, uh, 2019 has last big acquisition for the brewery was buying a new rice steamer. And he says, now my all, all my needs are met for equipment. from 2003 to 2019 bit by bit, he changed things, added things, bought new equipment. And he said he got his dream rice steamer in 2019. And, uh, he’s been continuing to change. And I think that he will continue to. Tweak his Koji making pro. It just seems like that kind of, of engineer type brewer. Who’s always tweaking and growing and changing.

John Puma: 11:35
do we have any idea what his background was before he took over?

Timothy Sullivan: 11:40
Well, he did say in one of the interviews that he worked at a dairy facility before he got to the brewery. And that informed a lot of his ideas about how clean and hygienic to keep the brewery. So one of the things he did when he took over was he instituted new cleaning rules for the brewery, which enables this super lovely,

John Puma: 12:05
before before he started assembling the Kura of Theseus replacing one a little bit at a time, Tim,

Timothy Sullivan: 12:15
But isn’t that great. I think that perfection is the enemy of getting things done. Right? Don’t

John Puma: 12:19
is, it is. Um, that is something? that I think we should all be reminded of in many parts of our lives.

Timothy Sullivan: 12:25
he didn’t wait until he had his dream rice steamer in place. He created sake with what he had and improved it year after year. I think that’s amazing.

John Puma: 12:34
Yeah.

Timothy Sullivan: 12:36
And, you know, his philosophy was really, I got to make something that people will have a sip of and just love immediately. That’s the style of sake I want to make and it will sell itself.

John Puma: 12:48
That’s proved out.

Timothy Sullivan: 12:50
Yes.

John Puma: 12:52
I mean, it’s a very popular sake it’s, uh, not only is it very, you know, like I mentioned, it’s very popular in the secondary market because people have a really hard time getting their hands on it. If you Google up Jikon on like Japanese, like, like eBay or auction sites, like bottles go for a lot more than.

Timothy Sullivan: 13:09
Yeah.

John Puma: 13:10
It’s very unusual.

Timothy Sullivan: 13:12
Now we want to be clear that this sake is exported to the U S it’s a little hard to come by. You need to go to your specialty retailers to find it, but it is out there. You definitely want to seek it out. And you and I do not like promoting sakes or brands that are unavailable. What’s the point of that,

John Puma: 13:29
right? Yeah. We, we obtain these through completely legitimate means.

Timothy Sullivan: 13:34
This is not from the, the, uh, black market underground

John Puma: 13:36
No, no, nobody. Nobody’s stuck this in their luggage and brought it over for us. This was, this was, this was brought over on a container ship the way God intended.

Timothy Sullivan: 13:47
Refrigerated container ship.

John Puma: 13:48
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I would hope so. Uh, so Yeah, we’ve got some Jikon.

Timothy Sullivan: 13:56
Yeah. we do have one each coveted bottle of Jikon. And do you want to give us the information about which sake we’ll be tasting today? And tell us a little bit about

John Puma: 14:08
Certainly, this is the Jikon Tokubetsu Junmai. So their special Junmai, this is a pasteurized sake, by the way. Um, again, the brewery, as Tim mentioned earlier is, uh, Kiyasho Shuzo in Mie prefecture and this sake. is rocking a combination of Yamada Nishiki and hattan nishiki, rice, milled down to 60% of its original size. You’re a sake meter value is plus two. Very Well, balanced acidity is 1.7 and then your alcohol percentage is showing it’s a 16 to 16 and a half.

Timothy Sullivan: 14:55
All right. Jikon Tokubetsu Junmai and again, Tokubetsu means the special Junmai.

John Puma: 15:01
And, uh, and again, the Jikon is the here and now for today, Tim live for today.

Timothy Sullivan: 15:08
Yes, I’m totally Zen. I’m totally in the moment.

John Puma: 15:12
Excellent.

Timothy Sullivan: 15:14
All right, let’s get this in the glass. Oh, I’m getting wafting. I’ve poured it in the glass. It’s the aromas wafting.

John Puma: 15:34
From the other room or is it, is it right there?

Timothy Sullivan: 15:37
It’s right there.

John Puma: 15:41
Oh yeah.

Timothy Sullivan: 15:44
Okay. So we’ve talked about some melon in our days, John, on this podcast,

John Puma: 15:48
to our melon,

Timothy Sullivan: 15:49
we’ve talked about

John Puma: 15:50
our melon talk.

Timothy Sullivan: 15:54
but this is exceedingly melon-y. Don’t you think? Even for us.

John Puma: 16:00
so it’s a lot of melon and there is a very, even though this is pasteurized, this is a freshness to the aroma of the melon. Like very fresh melon. You know, You just slice that honeydew open.

Timothy Sullivan: 16:15
Yeah. Yeah. It, it smells super juicy and fresh.

John Puma: 16:24
Hm,

Timothy Sullivan: 16:25
I’m also picking up on a little bit of floral floral notes. Like if you think about white flour or orange blossom or something like there’s a little floral note in there in addition to the super juicy melon aromas,

John Puma: 16:41
I think I’m with you on that orange blossom specifically. um, but that’s, it’s really like a melon and orange. It’s a hint of orange. It’s very harmonious. I like.

Timothy Sullivan: 16:53
Yes. And along with the orange, maybe a hint of something citrusy too, if you think about lemon rind or lime, lime rind, something in there just has that balanced note of brightness, really a lovely aroma.

John Puma: 17:07
is, it is.

Timothy Sullivan: 17:10
And you know, Sometimes you sit on a sake and you get like a little sharpness. Up your nose from the alcohol level, but this is just soft and round. Like there’s none, no sharpness in the aroma at all. Just really gentle.

John Puma: 17:23
Uh, we should take a moment here. Had mentioned though. It is, just, a tiny shade north of clear. There is a slight, very, very slight bit of yellow. But it’s almost non-existent. It is, if you have the, the shading tool and Photoshop, you click it up once for, for yellow.

Timothy Sullivan: 17:47
Oh my God. What a nerd?

John Puma: 17:49
you know,

Timothy Sullivan: 17:52
Yeah, there’s a L there’s a, just a tinge of color here and also a tinge of bubbles in there. Like a little like, if it was charcoal filtered, it was very gently done is all we want to say.

John Puma: 18:04
Yeah. I think I mentioned to you before we started recording. I want to tell everybody else now that when you mentioned the bubbles, um, when I was getting my bottle earlier and grabbing my glass, I I’d put my bottle on the bar. And it was not quite level on her, a little bar mat and the bottle actually fell over. So I grabbed my glass. I came with the bottle to the table here to, uh, to do the show. And when I set the bottle down, I noticed I had a lot of bubbles like rushing towards the top. And I was like, oh, I know there’s a little more, uh, a little more gas in here than I expected.

Timothy Sullivan: 18:39
But it is pasteurized.

John Puma: 18:40
Yes, it is pasteurzied.

Timothy Sullivan: 18:41
we’re saying, all right, well, enough Jabber,

John Puma: 18:44
Enough enough. Jibber-jabber

Timothy Sullivan: 18:47
Let’s taste this puppy

John Puma: 18:48
all right.

Timothy Sullivan: 18:50
Hm. Now this is your kind of sake, I can tell.

John Puma: 18:55
Yeah. I want to say so it’s got all of that fruit that I really love all that melon that I really enjoy.

Timothy Sullivan: 19:00
Yeah.

John Puma: 19:01
I want to say over the past, two years that we’ve been doing this show something that’s become very important to me has become mouthfeel. I’ve become such a, just a nerd for texture. I really focus on that when I’m having my sake now, and this is. Not silky like your super premium, you know, low, super low polished percentage. Daiginjo is this is active and a little fizzy, those bubbles I was talking about. It’s still having a little fun in there

Timothy Sullivan: 19:33
Hm. So what, when you say texture, what, what type of texture are you looking for or responding to here?

John Puma: 19:41
right here? is. Very, very slightly, almost fizzy. I want to say slightly, I’m saying very, very slightly. And then I’m also saying almost fizzy. Uh, so, you know, it’s just a tiny bit of texture that, it’s not a, it’s not a sparkling sake in any way.

Timothy Sullivan: 20:04
not. No. Yeah.

John Puma: 20:06
But there is like, I’ll just a little bit in there that just kind of like dances across your tongue a little bit. And it’s really pleasant.

Timothy Sullivan: 20:14
Hmm. Interesting. When I think of texture in sake, I also think of the weight of the sake how it coats your tongue, how it coats your palate, the roof of your mouth. Some are lighter, more water, like some are super thick and velvety. And there’s a middle ground between those as well. So when we talk about texture, we also talk about our impression of the weight of the sake when we sip it. And the thing that really grabbed my attention when I sipped on this was actually, it is not as dry as I was expecting. It’s there’s a little sweetness there. An impression of sweetness, I’ll say, cause it is super Melon-y and super fruity. And when I sipped on it, I interpreted it more as a little bit on the sweet side versus on the dry side. So w where do you land John on the sweet versus

John Puma: 21:08
sweet to dry. I think the, I agree with you. it Is definitely not something I would consider dry. and there, there is a nice touch of sweetness here that is, you know, it just, just hits that tipping point towards sweet a little bit without really bowling you over. You know, I think, you know, uh, it’s, it’s well balanced. It’s, you know, there’s that th that is there and it’s not overwhelming.

Timothy Sullivan: 21:37
but it does feel kissed with sweetness. You know, it’s not. Uh, sweet sake, but there’s a hint of something sweet, especially at the front of the impression. And then the alcohol level is 16 to 16 and a half, which is higher than average. So you do get some weight and some structure. Alcohol and that balances out sweetness, of course. And then the acidity is a little bit higher too. I don’t get a overwhelming acidity. It’s all, it’s all balanced, but I think the little bit higher acidity, little bit higher alcohol are there to rein in that sweetness, which if they weren’t as high, I think it might, uh, come a little bit more to the forefront.

John Puma: 22:22
Yeah. Oh yeah. You’re, you’re a sweetness. Is there, your acidity is there and there they’re probably, you know, like you mentioned probably playing a little bit to balance each other out and it’s, it’s just so nice. It’s really well put together.

Timothy Sullivan: 22:36
Um,

John Puma: 22:37
It’s so interesting that this is somebody who like was selling a completely different style of sake. tasted. Essentially which way the wind was blowing and then was like, I’m going to do something like that. And I say something like that, because this is not the flavor profile of Juyondai

Timothy Sullivan: 22:55
No.

John Puma: 22:56
you know, I have had Juyondai. And, you know, while I recognize that both of them are very popular, sake is, uh, especially in their, in their circles. They’re, they’re different. They are very different. They’re both excellent. But they’re different. And I really liked that he was like inspired by it, but not beholden to it.

Timothy Sullivan: 23:18
Yeah, I think juyondai was the original cult sake way back the OG cult, sake.

John Puma: 23:26
I’ll get its own episode. One of these days, Tim, maybe if enough of it comes over,

Timothy Sullivan: 23:31
exactly. That bottle would be even harder to find than Yep. All right. So I’m going to ask you one of my favorite questions. What about food pairing? Now, this is not for me. This is not a simple one

John Puma: 23:46
um, No, this is, uh, I was kinda hoping you’d go first on this one actually, because

Timothy Sullivan: 23:51
hot seat Puma.

John Puma: 23:53
I, I really liked this. And even though it is a tokubetsu Junmai. It is to me, to my palate, it seems really delicate. And I am really worried about messing it up. And, uh, so I would stick to, your meals that are not going to get in the way too much. So, I would love to have this with, uh, some lightly salted chicken, like a yakitori style. Yeah, we haven’t touched on the yakitori in a while, Tim. Um, you know, I I’m personally, I’m a big fan of like, uh, chicken breasts. Yakitori with like little tabs of wasabi on it. sasami, very mild flavor and compliments, light sake very well, in my opinion. What about you? What do you think?

Timothy Sullivan: 24:45
Well, I think I’ve used this example before, but something also a little bit on the lighter side, I like the idea of having a salad with some type of fruity vinegarette on

John Puma: 24:59
Um,

Timothy Sullivan: 25:00
or, you know, sake said. melon-y citrus edge to them, just a scooch higher acidity. I love to have them with a salad with like a raspberry vinegarette or something like that. Something that has that fruity element to it, to compliment the sake. You could also put chicken on a salad like that and make a meal out of it. And maybe a few walnuts sprinkled in there for texture and a little bit of saltiness. And that type of meal is something I really like. It’s light. It’s not heavy. And for me, the fruitiness in the dressing would play really well with the delicious floral melon notes in the sake. What do you think of that?

John Puma: 25:42
Well, I’m gonna tell you something. I don’t think I’ve ever tried salad with sake before. I don’t think I’ve ever done it. And I think I need that this needs to be a little project for me. I think I need to try that.

Timothy Sullivan: 25:58
So your

John Puma: 25:59
Yeah, it’s my homework. I need to prepare a salad and pair it with some sake. I think that sounds like a lot of fun. I love having a salad at home, putting some chicken in it. Uh, you know, a little like, um, I don’t do so much with the walnuts, but that, that is interesting too.

Timothy Sullivan: 26:15
Yeah, just avoid some lettuce. There’s certain lettuces that have a real bitterness to them. And I don’t really like those in my salad too much, but like Mescalin greens or romaine lettuce.

John Puma: 26:27
Right.

Timothy Sullivan: 26:28
And let the vinegarette really do the talking. Some people put slices of citrus into their salads as well, little slices of orange or something like that. It’s really, I love those flavors with this type of.

John Puma: 26:40
That sounds nice. That sounds real good. All right. So I’ll, I’ll have some yakitori you have some salad. and report back. You’ll let me know how that turned out and I’ll, I’ve

Timothy Sullivan: 26:48
No, I’ll have yakitori you have salad.

John Puma: 26:51
All right. I kind of really still want the, I still want the Yakitori.

Timothy Sullivan: 26:58
Yeah, one, one thing I do want to say about food recommendations. When we talk about pairings, I try to talk about pairings in an overarching way and talk about general flavor profiles. Like a salad with a citrus vinegarette is a pretty broad category. There’s many, many ways you can go with that. I like to give pairing recommendations that are just general guidelines and go explore. And the same with yakitori yakitori is like a charcoal, grilled chicken. And there’s so many ways you can go with that. So these are in my mind, just jumping off points for people to explore.

John Puma: 27:36
yeah, since I’m fairly inexperienced with the science of. I try to think about what, when I do, when I taste a sake, what food it makes me crave. And that’s kind of where my mind goes when I’m, uh, when I’m thinking about these pairing ideas, what kind of food does it make me want to have right now? And I feel like it’s almost like a puzzle piece in that point that. I feel like if I have the food that the sake makes me want, then

Timothy Sullivan: 28:03
Um,

John Puma: 28:04
sake and the food are going to go well together. I don’t know if that’s true though.

Timothy Sullivan: 28:10
Yeah. Well, just dive in and try it. There’s very little. You can do wrong it’s a low risk activity. sake and pairing chances are very high. You’ll come out happy at the end of the meal.

John Puma: 28:20
Excellent. Sounds good.

Timothy Sullivan: 28:21
All right. So this was a great sake. So do you think Jikon has earned its status as a cult? sake,

John Puma: 28:32
I mean, I think it’s fantastic and I’m really glad to have it in the states now.

Timothy Sullivan: 28:35
lucky for us,

John Puma: 28:37
Yeah.

Timothy Sullivan: 28:38
definitely lucky for us that we can get it here. And the fact that they’re willing to share. They are kind of rare. sake with us is also a Testament to the wanting sake to become a global beverage, which I think that’s a dream of a lot of brewers over there.

John Puma: 28:55
Uh, That’s a very, very good point. I think a brand like this could easily sell all of their sake in Japan. And run through everything they make and, do really fine for themselves. But instead they’re making a conscious effort to send it overseas and get that reaction and build up even more interest in their brand. thats how you a build a brand, Tim.

Timothy Sullivan: 29:21
That’s a super great point, John. I love that, you know, it. You know, just sell it all in Japan, like you said, but wanting to spread the love and share his style around the world is just awesome. And we are the beneficiaries of that. All right. Wow. Well, another branded in the can. I love it.

John Puma: 29:41
Yes.

Timothy Sullivan: 29:42
We explored Jikon today and we definitely lived in the moment throughout this whole episode.

John Puma: 29:48
Yes, definitely a little bit, a moment. And, uh, I was going to be seeing how long that moment lasts this bottle in them, in our, in our apartment.

Timothy Sullivan: 29:55
Okay. All right, John. Great to taste with you. Great to explore this great brand from Mie. I also want to take a moment and thank all of our patrons. Thank you guys so much for supporting us on Patreon. If you’d like to become a patron yourself and support Sake Revolution, please visit Patreon.com/SakeRevolution.

John Puma: 30:17
And if you want another way to support us you can give us a review over on apple podcasts or. Podcast platform of choice that really still does get this podcast into new ears. We love that you guys are already listening, but we’re looking for new people too. so until next time, please remember to keep drinking sake and Kanpai.