Episode 77. October 1st is the biggest day of the year for us – it’s World Sake Day! 2021 saw Sake Day reemerge from the cancellations of last year and there was an array of in-person events happening from coast to coast. This episode is a recap and overview of some of those events. Mark your calendars now if you’d like to get involved with sake day next year. We also get in our usual sake tasting with two fresh and delightful brews: Dan Junmai Ginjo from Sasaichi Brewery and Gangi Hitotsubi from Yaoshin Shuzo. They are a delicious way to button up our Sake Day experiences and to look ahead to an even bigger sake day next year!

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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: 01:09 Sake Day 2021 Recap

Here are some links to The Sake Days mentioned in our episode:

Sake Day East
https://www.sakedayeast.com/
Sake Day East is a celebration of Nihonshu-No-Hi, “the Day of Sake”, marking the beginning of the Sake Brewing Season. Wine and Sake Experience invites you to join us at Garage B at The Charles River Speedway to taste, learn and enjoy sake! Sample various styles of Sake from multiple brewers.

Sake Day USA at Brooklyn Kura
https://americansakeassociation.org/sake-day-usa-2021/
Sake Day is October 1st, the one day every year the world comes together to celebrate our favorite beverage: SAKE!
If you’d like to join in on the fun, you can take part in Sake Day USA. There are two ways to join us. Join us in person…There will be sake tasting games with our Local Sake Somms and Sake Samurai. Snacks and light appetizers are also provided. There will be a cash bar to enjoy Brooklyn Kura sake throughout the night. If you’re not in NYC or miss the ticket sales, you can join in on the fun. Grab a sake and log onto our livestream to us in the tap room by visiting our free Livestream. Anyone can join and we’ll be checking in with our online visitors throughout the night.

Sake Day San Francisco
https://www.sakeday.com/
SAKE DAY is the largest and longest standing Nihonshu no Hi sake celebration outside of Japan and is sponsored by True Sake. Ticket proceeds will benefit a non-profit organization. The event occurs every October 1st or the closest Saturday to that date, lasts for 4 hours, is attended by over 1,000 guests, and does not charge vendors/exhibitors a table fee. Guests receive a commemorative tasting cup, program, and have access to tasting over 300 imported and local craft sake, including the ceremonial Welcome Sake.

Sake Day San Diego
https://www.instagram.com/sandiegosakeday
San Diego’s largest sake celebration with our friends at the Japanese Friendship Garden, Beshock Ramen, Setting Sun Sake Brewing Co., and our sponsored guests: SakeOne, Hakutsuru Sake, and Fifth Taste Sake.Things to look forward to: An San Diego Sake Day 2021 event taster glass. Tasting the largest varieties of Japanese and American sake. A traditional cedar sake barrel opening ceremony “Kagami biraki.” Meet the local sake brewers and sommeliers to learn everything about sake.

North American Sake Brewery Sake Day
https://www.pourmeone.com/events/
COME PARTY with us for our Year 3 Anniversary on World Sake Day!!! We’ll be having a cornhole tournament, a sake pong tournament, and an origami competition! Win prizes like NAS t-shirts, hats, bottle openers, coupons, & other fun stuff!

Sake Day Bushwick Brooklyn
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/world-sake-day-bushwick-tickets-172257445657
Celebrate with us the first Sake tasting event in Bushwick this October 1!!
Experience amazing Sake, discover delicious japanese foods with chef pop-up as well as artist market pop-up!! Featuring sake from @katosakeworks, @kubota (distributed by Kyodo Beverage) @gosakeman, @skurnikwines

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Skip to: 14:57 Sake Introductions

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Skip to: 19:14 Sake Tasting: Gangi Hitotsubi Junmai

Sake Tasting: Gangi Hitotsubi Junmai

Alcohol: 15.5%
Brewery: Yaoshin Shuzo
Classification: Junmai
Prefecture: Yamaguchi
Rice Type: Yamadanishiki
Seimaibuai: 60%
SMV: +3.5
Acidity: 1.9
Brand: Gangi
Importer: Mutual Trading (USA)

View on UrbanSake.com: Mutsu Hassen Isaribi Tokubetsu Junmai

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Skip to: 23:23 Sake Tasting: Dan Junmai Ginjo

Sake Tasting: Dan Junmai Ginjo

Brewery: Sasaichi Shuzo
Classification: Junmai Ginjo
Acidity: 1.6
Alcohol: 16.0%
Prefecture: Yamanashi
Seimaibuai: 60%
SMV: +3.0
Brand: Dan (旦)
Importer: Sakeman

View on UrbanSake.com: Dan Junmai Ginjo

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Skip to: 32:33 Show Closing

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

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John Puma: 0:21
Hello and welcome everybody to Sake Revolution. This is America’s first sake podcast. I’m your host, John Puma from the Sake Notes. Also the administrator over at the internet sake a discord do come by and join us for a drink sometime, but on the show. I’m the guy who is not the sake samurai.

Timothy Sullivan: 0:45
And I am your host, Timothy Sullivan. I am a sake samurai. I am also a sake educator as well as the founder of the Urban Sake website. And every week John and I will be here tasting and also chatting about all things sake and doing our best to make it fun and easy to understand.

John Puma: 1:04
So Tim happy belated Sake Day.

Timothy Sullivan: 1:09
Yes, sake Day is just passed. And for those of us who are sake fans, it is Cinco de Mayo St. Patrick’s day Hanukkah, everything rolled into one, right?

John Puma: 1:22
uh, yeah, I think it is a, really greatest use of go out with your sake, living friends and sip some sake together. Uh, and this year I feel was extra special. Because there were so many events that didn’t take place in 2020, and isn’t that right?

Timothy Sullivan: 1:43
Yeah. I mean, 2020 was a huge challenge with the pandemic. And I think this year, October 1st, 2021 was like our first steps out of this bad situation. And there was a number of events happening in person and, you know, it might be fun to kind of talk about what happened. Where sake was being celebrated around the country and review how sake day was celebrated this year in 2021. How about That

John Puma: 2:14
great. Uh, sounds extra great because I went to two different, uh, sake day celebrations on two different codes.

Timothy Sullivan: 2:24
Wow, That is dedication right

John Puma: 2:26
dedication right there.

Timothy Sullivan: 2:28
Okay. Well, the, the, I happen to know you went to the west coast to celebrate sake day a little bit early in San Francisco, and I am dying to hear about what you experienced there. So The first stop we’re going to make on our little review of sake day events is going to be sake day. San Francisco.

John Puma: 2:49
Yeah. So, Had been thinking about going to sake day, San Francisco for many years. And part of this is that I’ve never actually never been to San Francisco before.

Timothy Sullivan: 3:02
Oh, my.

John Puma: 3:02
Yeah. Uh, so, you know, sake, it makes a great excuse to go places that you’ve ever been. So yeah, sake, it brings people together. And, uh, in this case, knowing it was one week before the, you know, proper. sake day, uh, it seemed like a little extra incentive to go over. And on top of all of that, we had a lot of people from the sake discord that were going to the event. It seemed like a really great opportunity to see a lot of these people in person, in some cases for the first time. And these people had been drinking with for over a year now, since the pandemic started and it’s, it was just, you know, let let’s go out there. Let’s have some drinks with all these wonderful people. And celebrate the idea that we can get together and celebrate, and I’ll say sake it in San Francisco was wonderful. It was a great, great event, um, over at the Kabuki hotel in, uh, Japan town in San Francisco. Uh, first thing first, I’m going to say my takeaway from San Francisco is no one in San Francisco has calves that are below average. there are so many Hills. Just walking around your calves are like the granite by the, by the end of a week there it’s, it’s insane. they always show you the pictures of the Hills in San Francisco. They six days stories about this Hills in San Francisco. And you always think that it’s not, that’s an exaggeration. It’s not that, but no, it’s not exaggeration. That’s exactly how it is. Maybe worse

Timothy Sullivan: 4:34
Yeah, so that the city has a built-in StairMaster.

John Puma: 4:39
No, it doesn’t have a built-in StairMaster. That’s the problem. It is just this, it’s just a mountain with pavement. It’s insane., but you’re burning off all those sake calories

Timothy Sullivan: 4:51
Yes. Very

John Puma: 4:52
that, you know, and then you go and drink more sake.

Timothy Sullivan: 4:54
So that was on September 25th, I

John Puma: 4:58
correct,

Timothy Sullivan: 4:59
yeah, that’s awesome. And then, uh, how was the event itself? Was it crowded? How many vendors were there? What was your, what was your whole experience going to sake day san Francisco?

John Puma: 5:09
So it was, it was spread across three different ballrooms, uh, kind of varying size. It was pretty crowded. They did reduce the ticket sales in order to alleviate concerns over, over COVID, which I thought was really classy move. Um, they made, uh, they made you get into queues ahead of the table. So people would be crowded around the tables.

Timothy Sullivan: 5:32
Yeah.

John Puma: 5:33
Cause you know, these things, sometimes people just kind of, you know, you find the sakes over there and your go, you go straight for it. But now in this case, and, and most people did really, um, uh, by the rules.

Timothy Sullivan: 5:44
Um,

John Puma: 5:45
bum rush, any of the tables, it was all very controlled. People were really chill. Um, and you would go up and talk to me all about sake have your sips and enjoy yourself. It was a lot of fun. I got to taste a lot of things that, um, we don’t really get on the east coast. I didn’t realize there was a, a variance in the coast. And a coastal sake selection. And so it was a lot of fun to try some things I hadn’t had before. Um, you know, have some familiar, sakes see people on the industry side that I haven’t seen in, in a very long time. It was a really, really fun experience. I would, I would definitely go back again. It was a great time.

Timothy Sullivan: 6:25
Yeah. I’ve I much to my chagrin and embarrassment, I have never been to sake day. San Francisco. I’m hanging my head in shame right now, but I’m happy to hear the good experience you had. We’ll have to prioritize this next time when the pandemic is more winding down and we’re traveling more. I would love to get out there.

John Puma: 6:49
It’s, it’s definitely is a good time. I think you’d like it, I think you’d get a kick out of it and you know, maybe, you know, maybe the, uh, maybe one day we’ll have a sake revolution table.

Timothy Sullivan: 6:58
oh my God. That’s such a great idea. I know I would love it. That is awesome. Well, okay. That was a good kind of first step. into, into world sake day territory. And then next we can talk about. The event that we were at together on the actual day, which is October 1st. And we had an event at New York state’s first sake brewery, Brooklyn Kura. So they have a taproom in industry city, Brooklyn, and we set up an event there. We had about 40 people. It was indoor outdoor event. And we had a really good time. Did you enjoy that sake day event at Brooklyn Kura?

John Puma: 7:44
I did. I did. so as part of the event, we were, uh, you know, bringing people in. pouring sake for them, telling them a lot about their sake and at the same time, balancing that with a live zoom event. And a bunch of us were taking turns, doing the zoom bit while drinking also. So, and it was, a great time and similar to my experience in San Francisco, one of my biggest takeaways was how great it was to see everyone.

Timothy Sullivan: 8:12
in Person. Yes.

John Puma: 8:15
it was really, really a treat. And I, I underestimated, I truly underestimated how much that would mean to me. And so when it happened, I was just, it was, it was really great. It was, uh, you know, you get those moments where you just kind of look at that and you’re like kind of a little overcome and it’s like, wow, like these are, these are some people that I’ve been, uh, doing things with for. This entire, really rough time, this whole pandemic, this event was for the American sake association And this group ran a lot of zoom events last year. You know, we worked very closely with all these people and to be able to be there in person and kanpai with them. For the, for the first time in such a long time was just. Yeah, it was really great.

Timothy Sullivan: 9:05
it was really great. It was very heartwarming and very special to see a lot of sake friends. But what I liked is that we sold tickets to the general public and we had. Thirty-five or 40 people come. And some of them we knew from the industry, but some were just consumers interested in sake. So we were still able to do our mission, which was sake education, getting people to taste sake, answer questions. We did some blind tasting games and that was a lot of fun. And that was interspersed, as you mentioned with these zoom. So we had a live zoom going for two and a half hours. And we had people joining us from all over on the zoom and we would periodically check in with other sake events the

John Puma: 9:53
Do you want, do you want to go through a list? Cause some of those seem like they were really big events. I really enjoyed seeing.

Timothy Sullivan: 9:59
Yeah, it was, we were at Brooklyn Kura and we were checking in with all these other events over zoom. We had a ranged to zoom with people at each event to kind of check in, say, hello, see what was happening there and kind of all stay connected. And I have to say most of the events were bigger and more elaborate than what we had going at Brooklyn Kura.

John Puma: 10:22
Yeah, I think the very first one that we did was the, uh, was the one up in, in new England and the, in Boston. And that was crazy. I couldn’t believe how many people were there and how big it was. And it just seemed like such a great time. And seeing all these people getting out there and enjoying sake was so wonderful,

Timothy Sullivan: 10:42
Yeah. That was a sake day. East Sake day east

John Puma: 10:46
was such a great looking show.

Timothy Sullivan: 10:49
Yeah.

John Puma: 10:49
know, not that I was jealous. Right. I was very happy what we’re doing, but, but it, it, it did seem like a really good time over there. Uh, well, what else was there, Tim?

Timothy Sullivan: 10:59
Yeah. Well, sake day east was the first, uh, place we zoomed with. And, um, Monica Samuel’s, who’s been a guest on the show. She was out in Boston and she gave us a five or 10 minute tour, walked us around and it was a huge indoor outdoor space. Like they really went all out. It was amazing. And then.

John Puma: 11:20
that was grilling. It looked like a lot of fun.

Timothy Sullivan: 11:22
Yeah, a lot of fun.

John Puma: 11:25
we also visited with our friends over at Moto-i in Minnesota. They were on the rooftop of the establishment, having a big kanpai with everybody over there. we had the. group over at setting sun in San Diego

Timothy Sullivan: 11:42
Yep. We visited with San Diego They were doing a pretty big sake day celebration sponsored by setting sun and they. A lot of things happening. They had swag, they had merch. They had

John Puma: 11:59
Yeah. You get on that

Timothy Sullivan: 12:00
group. Yeah. It w it looked, uh, mainly.

John Puma: 12:07
Yeah. And then, uh, I believe also there was the other event in Brooklyn.

Timothy Sullivan: 12:11
Yes, there was two events in Brooklyn. There was ours at Brooklyn Kura, but there was also one at Mika in Bushwick, Brooklyn. And that was arranged by sake man. We’ve had sake men on our podcast before we’ve had a sake man and they did an amazing event at this very large event space. I’ve never been there, but John, you were telling me that you’ve been to Mika before.

John Puma: 12:39
Yeah. it’s a Japanese restaurant, but it has like Uh, pool table. They had a shuffleboard table. It’s a very, very big, big, big space. A very it’s like, I think it was like a warehouse

Timothy Sullivan: 12:52
our tour was given by the sake boss. If you have not seen the sake boss, you’ve got to get yourself to YouTube or you can, you can check the show notes at SakeRevolution.com or just search for sake boss on, on YouTube. And you will see some super slick, super engaging and very fun videos on sake. So sake boss gave us a tour.

John Puma: 13:17
Yes. The tour was great and it looked like it was a hell of a time over it.

Timothy Sullivan: 13:22
Yeah. that was amazing. And we had one more check-in so I can’t believe all the places we visited Boston, San Diego, Bushwick, Minneapolis, and last but not least, we also visited with north American sake brewery in Charlottesville, North Carolina. So we had a tour with friend of the pod, Andrew Sento fante who’s the head brewer at north American sake brewery. And they were doing a three-year anniversary event for their brewery. So they opened three years ago and they gave us a little tour of what was happening at their space as well. So this was a lot of fun. And it was so nice to check in with everyone. And I think it ties in with that theme you were talking about like seeing people we haven’t seen in a long time taking a moment to connect and be together and celebrate everyone’s love for sake together. So it was a really heartwarming day and, um, really enjoyed it.

John Puma: 14:25
Yeah it was really, really great. And I, you know, it looked forward to the, the next time we can do something like this. I really, for me, and I think for a lot of people in north America, this was the first series of sake events since the pandemic started and sake is back. So, um, before we forget Tim, we should most definitely also make sure we include some sake tasting in today’s episode

Timothy Sullivan: 14:51
What could honor sake day more than tasting some

John Puma: 14:55
sake. Yes.

Timothy Sullivan: 14:57
So today’s going to be a potluck episode where we each bring a wild card sake of our choice, no theme, no agenda. We’re just celebrating sake. So let’s dig into our sake fridges and see what we have in.

John Puma: 15:15
Ha. I like these episodes. Cause a little fun. Like it’s a little kind of play outside of the outside of the rules a little bit. All right. So what did you find tim?

Timothy Sullivan: 15:26
I’m, I’m going to have a sake that I’ve never had before. So we’re going to get my honest, true reaction to this. It’s from Sasaichi brewery and they are located in Yamanashi Prefecture. And this brand name is, is called Dan D A N

John Puma: 15:47
Yes.

Timothy Sullivan: 15:48
And that means daybreak. So, this is a sake that is a Junmai ginjo and the alcohol is 16.5%. Our rice milling rate here is 60% remaining. Uh, SMV is plus three and our acidity is 1.6 Oh, and this is not far from Mount Fuji. So I’ve heard that Sasaichi brewery uses snow melt from runoff of Mount Fuji. And I’ve, I’ve learned that Mount Fuji is volcanic soil and it acts like a giant Brita filter on the water that is collected around Mount Fuji. So it’s exceedingly soft water in these areas. So I’m really interested to taste the sake and see if I can. A little hint of the, um, the softness or hardness of this water through the sake.

John Puma: 16:44
Fantastic.

Timothy Sullivan: 16:45
Yeah. So, uh, that is my sake, Dan, Junmai Ginjo. And, uh, do you want to introduce us to your.

John Puma: 16:54
Yes. so I will be tasting Gangi from Yaoshin Shuzo. Now this is the Gangi Hitotsubi this is a Junmai Nama chozo and Yaoshin Shuzo is in Yamaguchi Prefecture. Yamaguchi. Dark horse, really showing up with some really sake. I want to say, you know, I mean, you know, there’s a couple of brands that you’re really think of when you think of Yamaguchi, but I want to say there’s a lot of, a lot of little guys that are rising out of that Prefecture that you need to keep your eye on. And this is definitely one of them. this, is using a Yamadanishiki rice. It is milled down to 60% of its original size. The sake meter value that. Dry to sweet. Is it plus 3.5? So we’re looking a little dry acidity is 1.9, a touch high, and this sake. Is actually aged for one year, which is a little bit longer. Well, quite a bit longer than your average sake.

Timothy Sullivan: 18:03
Yeah. Most sake is generally aged for about three to six months. So one year is a choice.

John Puma: 18:08
Yes. This is definitely a decision. Uh, now, now, are you familiar with this brand and this brewery?

Timothy Sullivan: 18:16
Yes, actually, I lived in Yamaguchi for three months back in 2011 and I, I did visit this brewery. So I have been to Gangi and John, I know you’ve done some research. So do you want to tell our listeners what Gangi really is? What it means?

John Puma: 18:38
well Gangi refers to the, uh, the piers that line, the nearby river.

Timothy Sullivan: 18:48
Yes. So there are very unique piers. There are actually steps that come up on the shore and the steps go down into the water. So it’s these very unique steps. Our special, I think, to this town where the breweries located. So the brewery brand name Gangi is named after these like step, like piers that go out into the local river.

John Puma: 19:12
Hm.

Timothy Sullivan: 19:14
Yeah. So, you know, why don’t you go first and let’s get your Gangi Junmai Ginjo into the glass, and I’m really excited to see what you. I have to say about this.

John Puma: 19:28
All right. I think I will. All right. So, uh, first things first, this is. Mighty clear, maybe, maybe a touch off-white and no haze to be seen. Really the Aroma is faintly fruity, like a little, very, very lightly fruity it’s it’s there. You have to really look for it, but pleasant in that way. It’s not overwhelmed. Now let’s give it a bit of a taste. so this is, this is interesting. This is, this presents, both the light is really light to me, but also there’s a richness to it. And so it’s a little subdued. In that way. Cause it is like, you know, there’s a faint, richness is a lightness, a very subdued relaxing sort of feeling to the sake, nice little acidity that flows across the whole taste. It’s pleasant. It’s very sippable. It is dangerously. So is dangerously sippable. very, very light and agreeable, but with that little bit of acidity and that richness, there’s definitely room for food here. Food’s not going to screw this up. It’s definitely a definitely a little bit of room to play around with, but I wouldn’t go too crazy with it. Um, my. Uh, as often my thoughts go to grilling the grilling of chicken. So yakitori is a, is a, is a no brainer for this. I’m thinking something maybe a little bit lightly salty like that.

Timothy Sullivan: 21:22
Um,

John Puma: 21:24
you know, nothing too crazy, nothing too flavorful, but something that’s going to go nicely with it. Like, you know, again, like, like yakitori, maybe some grilled fish would go nicely with this also. That’s good. It’s really nice. Also, you don’t need to have anything with this. You can just sip it. It’s great.

Timothy Sullivan: 21:44
Yeah. So do you think this sake would have been well received at any of the sake events we talked about for sake day?

John Puma: 21:53
Sadly, it was not present at any of the events I was at, but I think it would have been well received at all of them. I would, I would, have happily poured this for people at those offense, so they could be introduced to Gangi.

Timothy Sullivan: 22:05
Based on your description, this sounds like a real crowd pleaser style of sake, easy drinking.

John Puma: 22:11
the kind of thing I like to that’s kind of thing I like to drink as these, these crowd pleasing

Timothy Sullivan: 22:17
Yeah. Now th the one thing about your sake that has me interested is that year of aging. And I think if they age at a colder temperature that preserves the clarity of the sake and kind of mute. The impact of that aging, if you age at room temperature, you’re going to get more color and you’re going to get more umami and depth of flavor. So I would venture a guess that this was probably aged at a colder temperature. What, what do you

John Puma: 22:43
I mean, I think it would have to be because it has no, there’s no color, um, to it, it doesn’t, you know, a lot of ways that muting of some of the flavors. What I like about Hiyaoroshi also in a lot of cases. And we’ve talked about that before, how I enjoy that style of sake, the age for the season, and then they, you know, and then they put it out there and it, a lot of times it, you know, it’s at sake, that’s a little bit louder early in the season. And then by the time they really sit in the autumn, it’s calmed down, it’s quieted down. This is a very quiet sake.

Timothy Sullivan: 23:16
Hm.

John Puma: 23:17
Yeah. So not enough about the Gangi, although,

Timothy Sullivan: 23:21
Hm, never enough. Never

John Puma: 23:23
I can go on, but I do need to hear about this, Dan and I also want to hear your, like your, your live reaction to this. I like the idea that you’ve never tasted this before. It’s a rare treat.

Timothy Sullivan: 23:35
No pressure, no pressure at all. All right. So I have to talk about the label, which you can see in our show notes SakeRevolution.com, but this is another. Brand that has chosen a super graphic label. It’s a giant silver foil Kanji character, uh, Japanese calligraphy. That is the Kanji for Dan D a N. And there’s a charcoal and red color behind that. And it is just super graphic and in English at the very bottom, in small white letters that says Dan on it. So I think the label here is very impactful.

John Puma: 24:14
It’s a beautiful label. And I think that like, I’ve, I’ve seen other Dan labels before and they always follow that, style of there that symbol in the center and then different color combinations. And it’s always very striking. And this is.

Timothy Sullivan: 24:29
All right, I’m going to open this up. All right. Well, this is, very clear in the glass. Okay. The aroma is very soft and light

John Puma: 24:49
Um,

Timothy Sullivan: 24:50
and that I. Suspecting, that might be the case because they’re using this super soft water. So the water that they’re using, I would venture a guess is very, very soft, low minerality. And that generally as it does in Niigata translates to less impactful, more restrained, very elegant, but restrained aromas. So this has a very, very gentle fruitiness to it. W. Uh, that happens a lot, but I’m getting, you know, a peach. aroma a little bit. It’s not our standard tropical

John Puma: 25:30
Ooh, peach.

Timothy Sullivan: 25:32
a little Peachy. Yeah. And I’m very soft, like, um, plum peach, aroma, really lovely. Very, very gentle. And let’s give it. that is really good. So overall from start to finish, the flavor is clean and it has a very gentle kind of pitted fruit flavor to it like peach or plum that is very soft. Gentle in the background, just a hint of, of rice, maybe mochi rice, like a sweeter type of rice. But just, again, these are just kind of we’re wafting w we are wafting from the, from the other room. These are these are, uh, flavors and aromas that are treated with, uh, such a gentle touch to them. It’s airy in a way, the flavors are airy and the finish is clean. it’s relatively dry on the finish. There’s not much sweetness here. Our SMV is plus three, which is, you know, right in the neutral territory, but I’m picking up on very gentle, soft plummy peachy flavors, really enjoyable. A plus I am down with Dan.

John Puma: 27:02
You’re down, you’re down with dan?

Timothy Sullivan: 27:05
Down with Dan.

John Puma: 27:06
I got to say. So it sounds like these, these sakes are playing in kind of similar territory. They have that softness a little bit of dryness, uh, and just sound very, very sippable.

Timothy Sullivan: 27:22
Yeah, just really easy drinking soft and. This very much lives up to what I was expecting from this water profile that you get from this Mount Fuji filtered water. It has a reputation for being extra soft, very low minerality, and the intensity of the sake, which is very subtle ties in with that kind of water regionality for me.

John Puma: 27:55
Very nice.

Timothy Sullivan: 27:55
Yeah. I think for, for food, with the Dan Junmai Ginjo, there’s so many ways you can go. I really, again, I’m getting a hint of this mochi rice flavor. So I think anything rice based would be really good with this. Are you a fan of Japanese rice crackers?

John Puma: 28:17
Uh, yes, absolutely. I do enjoy those. A great deal.

Timothy Sullivan: 28:21
There is a wide range of rice crackers on the market in Japan. There, there is rice crackers of every, Uh, texture, intensity, coating, flavoring, uh, soy sauce. You name it. You can get a rice cracker with all kinds of flavorings on it. So. That was one of the things when I lived in Japan, Uh, one of my favorite things was to go to the convenience or the convenience store. And there would be like 20 kinds of rice crackers. And I didn’t know which one was, which, but you just kind of grabbed one and you bring it home and you’re like, oh, that’s shrimp or, oh, that’s, that’s wasabi rice cracker.

John Puma: 29:00
Uh, I’m, uh, I think it’s like rush tracker are easily my favorite style of a, of otsumami or like bar snack, you know, um, really goes with everything. And a lot of ways, I mean, the wasabi ones. Maybe stand out a little bit. I love that wasabi once I’m personally a big fan.

Timothy Sullivan: 29:18
Yeah, John, that is such an important word that you just introduced us Otsumami, Otsumami you go to Japan, you have to know this word. You mentioned it’s. Snacks that go with sake, like, like a sake appetizer. So Otsumami really good little bites of food that are very often served when you order sake and a bar or restaurant. And, uh, I think the rice crackers have different flavors and profiles is something I’m kind of just craving that salty bite to go along with this sake. So that’s what that’s, what’s popped to my mind. Uh, you know, a little. Fun snack. And in the Western world, we don’t have as much access to rice crackers, but you know, an alternate would be potato chips, something like that.

John Puma: 30:11
I am definitely looking for rice crackers around me and I can’t find any that drive me crazy.

Timothy Sullivan: 30:18
So I got a question for you, John, to kinda wrap things up here. Where do you think we will be? sake day Do you think we’ll, we will be out there kanpaiing across the whole country. Do you think we’ll have just a few events like we had this year? What do you think the story will be this time? Next year?

John Puma: 30:43
uh, I think they were going to have as many events next year, if not more. You know, I think it’s just, it’s upward from here. I think A lot of people had to hold it in for 18 months. and it was time till to let go and really get out there and celebrate this beverage that we all love so much.

Timothy Sullivan: 31:04
Yeah, I’m really excited to see what comes next year, October 1st, 2022. Mark your calendars, everybody, because this is the day that we all look forward to. So I’m very excited to see what happens next year and the years beyond. I want to remind our listeners that world sake day is exciting and fun, but for us, and hopefully for all of those listening every day is sake day. Isn’t it?

John Puma: 31:34
I mean, you know, it’s a full disclosure. It’s, it’s a Wednesday right now. And to me, it’s not sake day.

Timothy Sullivan: 31:41
Yes. sake day to me too. So. We can say that any day we want John day. I’m going to say it today. Happy sake day, John,

John Puma: 31:52
happy sake day him and saying that. Helps me forgive myself for not having a special episode up for sake day and I’m getting it up a week later.

Timothy Sullivan: 32:04
we don’t have to worry about that. This is a great look back on all the fantastic events that were happening. And I think when we rev up to next year, we’re going to see some really special stuff. So mark it in your calendars now and get ready.

John Puma: 32:18
I am. I am prepared.

Timothy Sullivan: 32:20
All right. Well, John, I really loved hearing about your Gangi sake from Yamaguchi and I had so much fun tasting Dan Junmai Ginjo.

John Puma: 32:30
Yeah. You got to save some of that for me. That sounds really good.

Timothy Sullivan: 32:33
thanks for tasting with me, John. And I want to also thank our listeners for tuning in we really do hope that you’re enjoying our show. Now, if you would like to show your support for sake revolution. The best way you can help us out would be to back us onPatreon. We are a listener supported show and the money we received from Patreon helps us pay for editing and hosting and all the sundry costs that are associated with running a podcast. And we appreciate each and every one of you.

John Puma: 33:04
And, uh, Be sure to subscribe wherever you download your podcasts and leave us a review. That is still a really great way to get the word out about the show. Also, you know, go and tell your friends, tell your families, you found this really great sake podcast. They really into sake day. What’s sake day is. Oh. And then tell them what sake day is. Then you get them into it for next year. That’s how.

Timothy Sullivan: 33:28
And as always, if you would like to learn more about any of the topics or sakes we talked about in today’s episode And we will definitely be putting up some photos of all the different sake days around the country, be sure to visit our website, SakeRevolution.com, and you can check out all the detailed show notes.

John Puma: 33:48
And for all of your sake question needs, we have set up an email address for you. You can reach out to us at [email protected]. So until next time, please remember to keep drinking sake, not just on sake day, but every day and Kanpai!

Timothy Sullivan: 34:11
Happy Sake

John Puma: 34:12
sake day, Tim.