Episode 162 Show Notes
Episode 162. With 2023 drawing to a close, it’s time to take a look back at the sake year that was. Join us this week for some casual sipping and some discussion on the highlights, surprises and challenges of this past year’s sake adventures. Tim and John both let us know their favorite sake stories and their favorite episodes from the past year. Do you know which episode was our most downloaded from 2023? Let us know in the comments and we look forward to another year of great sake and many kanpais. Happy Sake New Year! #SakeRevolution
Skip to: 00:19 Hosts Welcome and Introduction
Welcome to the show from John and Timothy
Skip to: 02:18 Sake tasting: Brooklyn Kura Blue Door Junmai Nama
Brooklyn Kura “Blue Door” Junmai Nama
Brewery: Brooklyn Kura
Alcohol: 17.0%
Classification: Junmai Nama
Prefecture: US – New York
Rice: U.S. Yamadanishiki, U.S. Calroase
Brand: Brooklyn Kura
Seimaibuai: 60%
SMV: +3.0
Where to buy?
https://www.brooklynkura.com/collections/frontpage/products/blue-door-junmai
Skip to: 8:06 Revolution Resolutions
Skip to: 31:39 Show Closing
This is it! Join us next time for another episode of Sake Revolution!
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Episode 162 Transcript
John Puma: 0:21
Hello everybody and welcome to Sake Revolution. This is America’s first sake podcast. I’m your host John Puma from the Sake Notes I’m also the administrator over at the internet Sake Discord and Reddit’s r slash sake community
Timothy Sullivan: 0:35
And I’m your host, Timothy Sullivan. I’m 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: 0:52
Tim
Timothy Sullivan: 0:52
Happy New Year!
John Puma: 0:53
happy new year. Happy happy new year.
Timothy Sullivan: 0:56
Welcome to 2024. It’s, it’s amazing year so far, isn’t it?
John Puma: 1:01
It’s, uh, it’s, it’s a lot like 2023, to be honest, uh, but yeah, yeah, we are here. We’re, uh, we’re in our first episode of 2024. That’s exciting. Uh, and I think, yeah, and I think it’s a bit of a tradition around here that, uh, at the start of every year we kind of go over the previous year we talk about, um, you know, some things about the show. Uh, we talk about our prior years, uh, sake, revolution resolutions. And we talk about what we’re going to do for, for this year, for our little resolutions. Uh, so, so Tim, uh, not, not, not diving right into that kind of thing yet, because I think there’s an, I think there’s something else we can do a little bit differently today. And I think that is we can start with our Kampai,
Timothy Sullivan: 1:53
Let’s do that.
John Puma: 1:54
it is the new year, new year, new ideas. Probably just for this episode, but you know, it’s still fun. And even though we’re talking about, we’re using the word new an awful lot, uh, the sake we’re going to be tasting today is an old friend, an old standby, uh, for us on the show here. We’ve had, uh, this particular sake on the show several times, and it’s, uh, one of our local favorites, uh, Tim, what do we have today?
Timothy Sullivan: 2:18
Today, we’re going to be tasting the Brooklyn Kura Blue Door Junmai Nama.
John Puma: 2:23
Mmm, yes, yes, uh, I’m a big fan, and I, I think I might have mentioned this the last time we had it on the show, but as the years have gone on, because Brooklyn Kura has two flagships, they’ve got their number 14 and their blue door, and I was always a number 14 guy, I think over the past couple of years I’ve, I’ve gradually become more of a blue door guy, and I don’t know if that’s, I don’t know if the sake’s been changing or if I’ve been changing, but it’s been a lot of fun to, to be on the journey. is
Timothy Sullivan: 2:52
well, the blue door definitely brooklyn Kura’s flagship sake. And the name Blue Door, as we’ve mentioned before on past episodes, comes from the original taproom had a door that was painted blue. Now that I’m out at Brooklyn Kura more often, I can tell you that that original door is now black. But
John Puma: 3:15
the black door coming? Is it a hint? It’s an Easter egg?
Timothy Sullivan: 3:20
I think the Blue Door brand is going to stay the Blue Door brand for Brooklyn Kura, just because it’s so iconic. And the new tap room is all glass windows, so there’s no Blue Door anymore.
John Puma: 3:32
No more blue door?
Timothy Sullivan: 3:33
is a blue door of legend and myth, but, uh,
John Puma: 3:37
Legend and myth, I
Timothy Sullivan: 3:38
but the, the sake is as delicious as ever. So I think for our listeners who may not have heard us taste this before, uh, let me run down the stats real quick. So we have a 17 percent alcohol. This is a Junmai grade. It’s also a Nama unpasteurized sake. The SMV sake meter value is a plus three. They use two American grown rices to make this sake, Yamada Nishiki and Calrose. Those are milled to 70 percent and 60 percent respectively. So as you said, this is an old dear friend that we’ve tasted a few times on the show. And, uh, I’m excited to get some in the glass. So let’s pour it.
John Puma: 4:25
Yeah, I have to say, now that I know that the blue door is no longer a blue door, it’s nice that we’re having this to kind of send off the literal blue door in a way.
Timothy Sullivan: 4:36
Yes. Well, kanpai to the blue door. All right. All right. So we have our Brooklyn Kura Blue Door in the glass. This has a hint of yellow color, um, from being a nama and
John Puma: 4:58
And it’s not charcoal filtered, if I’m not
Timothy Sullivan: 5:00
that’s correct. Yeah, I think that’s correct. All right. Let’s smell this. Hmm. So I love the mixture of riciness and fruitiness on this sake.
John Puma: 5:11
That’s that is a, uh, a fun thing about it. And it’s a rice season. The fruitiness is a little, to me, a little on the jammier side. I got just a touch. It goes with famously with the rice.
Timothy Sullivan: 5:25
right. Well, John, we promised to kampai in the beginning. So here’s to 2023 and welcoming 2024. Kanpai!
John Puma: 5:36
Kanpai!
Timothy Sullivan: 5:38
Mmm. It does have a little bit of that jammy characteristic. You’re right.
John Puma: 5:44
Yeah, I think that when I, it’s like, um, on the aroma, the aroma informs my brain. Oh, the jammy style like that, that it’s like, because it’s a little bit of more of a tart. Fruit on the nose. My, my brain kind of translates that into, well, here comes the jammy, the jammy stuff.
Timothy Sullivan: 6:02
the thing I like about this particular sake from Brooklyn Kura is that it is the most rice forward of their standard lineup. And it has just a hint of riciness to it, a little bit more structure and body than their fruitier styles, and it’s really food friendly and it’s so nice to have a nama sake with a bit more heft to it that we can enjoy with food produced locally for us here in New York. So it’s a winner all around in my book.
John Puma: 6:36
Yeah, like I mentioned earlier, I’ve always been a big fan of this one, and I’ve become a bigger fan as time’s gone, as time has gone on. And again, I’m not sure if, if the sake has matured, because one thing that, you know, when you experience a local brewery from like when they get started and, you know, until three years out, I’m sorry, so five or six years out. Things change. It’s, it’s, it’s, it’s the nature of, of, of craft brewing and so seeing how it’s changed and, and, and again, also my own, um, my own personal tastes have probably changed as well. It’s been, been a lot of fun to see how the sake has grown and grown on me over the years.
Timothy Sullivan: 7:17
Absolutely. Yeah, it’s, it’s a really wonderful sake and I think a wonderful way to kick off the year for us, returning to an old friend.
John Puma: 7:26
Mm hmm. Yes. An old friend whose, whose namesake is now, is now departed.
Timothy Sullivan: 7:33
But isn’t, isn’t that a good lesson for moving forward in life? Like, nothing ever stays the same.
John Puma: 7:38
Change is the only constant.
Timothy Sullivan: 7:40
Change is the only constant and yeah, you have to welcome the new and honor those things that have passed on and I think it’s a good metaphor for the start of the year.
John Puma: 7:54
Yeah, I think so too. Um, so, uh, you mentioning this is a good metaphor for starting the new year, but let’s talk a little bit about the previous year first, before we go too far.
Timothy Sullivan: 8:06
Should we, should we flash back to our revolution resolutions for 2023? Do you remember what you resolved?
John Puma: 8:13
Um, so I actually didn’t. So I went and looked it up. Uh, so yeah, uh, that’s cheating. I realized, but hey, you know, um, what are, you know, if you have resources, you don’t utilize them. What’s the point? Uh, so at SakeRevolution.Com, I went back and looked and I saw that published on January the 7th, 2023. Episode number 133, uh, it’s called Wild Rice, Akamai. We talk about red rice in that episode. It’s, uh, it’s a funky rice, funky sake stuff. It’s really interesting stuff. That should have been extreme in addition to being wild rice. But we did talk about our, uh, resolutions because I think the previous week we, we went over the, we went over our 2022 resolutions and then we went, Oh wait, we haven’t actually thought of what we want to do for 2023 yet. We’re just going to, and we punted to the next week. And then there we are. And so you went with the, the very structured and attainable, goal of going to Japan. And I think we’ve talked about how that went.
Timothy Sullivan: 9:19
yep, spoiler alert, yes,
John Puma: 9:24
Timothy had not been to Japan since 2019. So his goal was to get over there. And then you did it three times.
Timothy Sullivan: 9:33
yes, I overcompensated,
John Puma: 9:36
You made up for lost time. Now, these weren’t all, um, these weren’t all leisure trips. I think only one of them was really,
Timothy Sullivan: 9:42
yes,
John Puma: 9:43
For yourself, but the other ones were business trips. They still count though. You get a little, you get a little time there. I imagine even when you’re working, but, but yeah, you, put your, you put your heart into it. You made it happen. now, I went with a vague sort of resolution. I wanted to just think more about pairing and be more aware of pairings with food when I’m having my sake. That’s very wishy washy, Tim. And I wish I would have come up with something better. on the plus side though, I do think I was more cognizant of that sort of thing when I’m sipping and when I’m eating, um, I think I made some notes about pairing along the way over the year, but it wasn’t the concrete quantifiable goal that yours was. So I commend you for coming up with something very direct and we’re gonna talk about how I’m gonna, how I’m gonna fix that for next year in my mind. But, uh,
Timothy Sullivan: 10:35
do you feel like you achieved your goal of doing more sake and food pairing? Because we, we talk about pairing almost in every episode we do. So I feel like we’ve talked about it a lot.
John Puma: 10:47
and I feel like I dipped my toe into it more than I had ever done before. It was something I was more aware of, but it’s, you know, it’s, it’s a lot harder to To say like, Oh yeah, I definitely completed that goal when it’s something so vague and pardon the term, wishy washy perhaps, you know, I feel like I, I wish I would have done something a little bit more quantifiable, a little more solid, a little more, direct, but you know, that, that’s, it’s good to learn from these experiences and. And then, you know, take the, take that knowledge into the next year.
Timothy Sullivan: 11:21
That’s a good lesson for this year.
John Puma: 11:23
It is in fact a really good lesson for this year. So, um, now speaking about 2024, Timothy, what are you doing? What do you want to accomplish this year? What’s your sake revolution resolution?
Timothy Sullivan: 11:37
Well, my revolution resolution for 2024, and I’m going to need your help with this one, John.
John Puma: 11:44
Oh, my.
Timothy Sullivan: 11:44
My resolution is to do some live shows of Sake Revolution.
John Puma: 11:54
2023. So congratulations.
Timothy Sullivan: 11:58
No,
John Puma: 11:59
understand what you’re saying.
Timothy Sullivan: 11:59
for, uh, this is for a new idea. I would love for us to do some live shows. In 2024, have an audience and interaction. And we did something, as you mentioned last year at the American Craft Sake Festival, and that was outdoors in less than ideal conditions and boiling hot.
John Puma: 12:24
And we still did a great
Timothy Sullivan: 12:26
we still, we did a
John Puma: 12:27
to toot my own horn, but I feel like those were good episodes.
Timothy Sullivan: 12:30
it, it gave me a taste of. Something we could do a little bit more. And I love it when you and I are just on the Zoom studio and chit chatting, but it was so interesting to have the live reactions from an audience. And I’d love to find an occasion or a time to do that again in 2024. So that’s my revolution resolution.
John Puma: 12:54
Hmm. All right. I like it. I like it. Um, and you’re right, I guess I am a big part of that one.
Timothy Sullivan: 13:00
I need your help. I need your help, Puma.
John Puma: 13:02
So if you don’t succeed, it’s my fault. So much pressure.
Timothy Sullivan: 13:07
And how about you, John? What is on tap for you for your resolution?
John Puma: 13:11
So I want to have something quantifiable. want to have something that I can measure. I want to have something that I can, you know, set out to do and accomplish. And I I In many things in my life, I’m less, uh, inclined to formal education. I am more, um, I am more somebody who, who learns by doing, by, by hands on, a little hard knocks education, I guess. Um, but I think that when you do that, there are holes in your knowledge.
Timothy Sullivan: 13:41
Hmm.
John Puma: 13:42
And so I want to plug some of those holes in my knowledge and I, for this year, want to do some formal sake education.
Timothy Sullivan: 13:52
Ooh.
John Puma: 13:53
Yeah, I haven’t decided exactly what it’s going to be yet. Doors are open to, uh, to ideas. Um, but I’m going to do some sort of a formal Um, sake education course, uh, this year, preferably something that has some kind of a test at the end. So we can see if I actually learned something. That’d be fun. And then I’ll come back and report about it on the show and see how it went.
Timothy Sullivan: 14:16
Well, I do know a very well regarded sake educator.
John Puma: 14:20
Do you, here’s the thing though. I, we can’t have any, um, we can’t have any, any bias from the
Timothy Sullivan: 14:27
no, no,
John Puma: 14:28
know, this has to be fair.
Timothy Sullivan: 14:32
Well, if you seek education elsewhere, JP, and you want to do a class with another teacher, I Hold no, um, what’s the word? Grudge.
John Puma: 14:43
You’ll hold no grudge?
Timothy Sullivan: 14:44
No grudge. you can, seek education anywhere, and I would be absolutely delighted. But if you want to join one of my classes, that would be great too. Hmm.
John Puma: 14:58
I will. You know, Brooklyn Kura is conveniently located in New York City. Well, good. I’m excited about this. I really, um, I want to see how it goes. I am a bad student. I have to tell you that right now, right off the bat in, in those educational situations, I am a poor, poor study. Uh, I, I learned by getting my hands on things I learned by doing, uh, so it’s gonna be really interesting to have to learn by, by listening and, and see if maybe perhaps in my, in my old age. I’ve, uh, I’ve learned a few new tricks, we’ll see. Heh heh
Timothy Sullivan: 15:31
Well, so, so the, the resolution is to take at least one Sake education class with a test.
John Puma: 15:38
Right, yeah. Some Earn some sort of a, perhaps, certification or something like that.
Timothy Sullivan: 15:43
All right. I like that.
John Puma: 15:44
Yeah. We’ll figure out the details and we’ll keep the sake revolution universe appraised of my progress. And let’s see how it goes. I’m excited about that. I’m a little nervous because now it’s like, I have, um, our, uh, you know, we have all of our listeners that I’m now being held accountable to. So, um, now that it’s out there, I’ve got to do it, right? So,
Timothy Sullivan: 16:10
This time next year could be a little awkward if you don’t. Yeah.
John Puma: 16:19
what we said we were going to set out to do last year and what we’re going to try and set out to do, this year, thought it’d be kind of fun to talk a little bit about how sake revolution went for us last year as a show, uh, cause we do have, um, we do have good, some stats our, so our host goes and sends us, um, I want to blame Spotify for this. So one of those, like kind of the idea of like Spotify wrapped, but they do it for your podcast when they’re, when you’re hosted on their platform. And it kind of like, they call it the podcasting recap, uh, and it has a couple of really interesting tidbits in here, Tim, what’s your, what’s your favorite on here?
Timothy Sullivan: 16:53
Well, they let us know what are the most popular cities for downloading and listening to our podcast and surprise, surprise, Brooklyn and New York are in the very, very top. And then we also have a lot of listeners in Tokyo, Japan, which is not so surprising, but kind of our number three. Listing is Seattle, Washington. So shout out to Seattle.
John Puma: 17:21
Yeah, you know, up and coming sake, city, I think, uh, I was in Seattle earlier this year. Uh, it was some really great places that had really good sake. So I was, I can, I can see that happening. That’s a blossoming sake city, perhaps.
Timothy Sullivan: 17:37
Well, I’m proud of Seattle for all the sake lovers. They’re downloading Sake Revolution. Thank you so much.
John Puma: 17:43
they also gave us a listing of our top episodes. So, you know, top episodes by download for the year. Um, and so the number one, uh, little bit of a surprise, back to school, uh, sake courses and certifications, which maybe I should go back and re listen to. Going into, uh, going into my, uh, resolution. this says to me that people are kind of looking at our show and being like, oh, where can I further my, uh, my sake education and
Timothy Sullivan: 18:10
yeah, yeah. I think there’s, there’s a real, pardon the pun, but there’s a real thirst for knowledge here. And, and I think that, uh, that, that episode idea was a really good one. Because When I go out to do events in person, people ask me quite often, Oh, where can I get a certification? Where can I take a class? So I thought that might be a popular episode, but I’m surprised to see it come out as the number one most popular episode from last year.
John Puma: 18:39
Yeah. Yeah., uh, number two was, um, rice advice, which was the, when we had, uh, Brandon Doughan from Brooklyn Kura on the show talking about, um, Uh, about sake rice. And what we did with that episode was we had two sakes that were more or less identical except for the rice that was used. Uh, I believe he was like trying to, recreate Blue Door but using a new rice. And so that was actually probably the last time we had Blue Door on the show. and it was a really interesting chat about just like how much of a difference rice makes in sake. Like we all know that rice is a huge, is a huge component of sake. It drives a lot of the flavor, uh, drives the texture, all these things. But it was really interesting to just like experience it in person and talk to the person that made it. That was a lot of fun. number three was exploring sake labels as a, that was a fun episode, Tim. I really enjoyed doing that one.
Timothy Sullivan: 19:32
Yeah, that, was fun, but I have to be honest when we were making it and recording it, I thought, how is this going to translate for people who are just listening to us talk about describing the way a label looks, but we made a point to put it all in the show notes. So I hope people went to the website, looked at the show notes and listened along and got a sense of all the visuals, but, uh, yeah, I think Sake Labels was a popular episode. I’m so glad to see it at spot number three.
John Puma: 20:01
Yeah, yeah. Um, the next one after that was the sake spotlight of Shiga Prefecture.
Timothy Sullivan: 20:06
Wow, that’s a dark horse.
John Puma: 20:07
Yeah, that surprised me a lot. That was a dark, very much a dark horse, uh, episode. Uh, that really, really, I was like, hmm, okay.
Timothy Sullivan: 20:15
do you know, what I think was driving the popularity of that episode?
John Puma: 20:18
please, tell me.
Timothy Sullivan: 20:19
We talked about the most disgusting food I’ve ever eaten in Japan. That was pretty graphic content.
John Puma: 20:27
Oh, my goodness. It, definitely was. It definitely was. I forgot about that. I have a trauma. I think I blocked it out. and then rounding it out. Number five was, the U. S. Sake Brewer Series. That, when we had Todd Bellamy on from, uh, Farthest Star Sake. Todd is a friend of the show. He’s been on a few times now, I think, but this was, I think, the first time we had him on. we talked a little about his new brewery, and sipped some of his, uh, some of his very good sake. So that was a fun one. I’m glad we got to have him on. I can’t wait to have him on again. So yeah, that rounds out, that was our top five, I, surprises, I want to tell you, I was surprised at these results, I thought it was going to be a little bit different, there were a couple that I’m not surprised to see on the list, but where they were surprised me a little bit, and then Shiga, that’s just such a surprise, it’s just, you know, just, we were having a fun time making that episode, and it just shows up that people really enjoyed it, that’s nice.
Timothy Sullivan: 21:18
yeah. So, John, that is the view from what our listeners downloaded. But I have to ask you, do you have any favorite memory or favorite episode from 2023 yourself?
John Puma: 21:33
Hmm. All right. So this is cheating a little bit, but being, uh, live on stage at the, uh, American craft sake festival, that was my favorite memory of the, of the year for the show. It was a great experience. I had so much fun doing it. And, you know, honestly, it’s made me open to doing live shows, uh, again, going forward and in 2024, so hopefully I can help you make your, your, your resolution come true, but yeah, like that, that for me, it was such a great experience minus the heat, but what are you going to do? Um, like it was just such a great time.
Timothy Sullivan: 22:09
Yeah, it was a great time. However, my thought on that experience, I really enjoyed it too, but I really felt like it was our first time doing anything live and in front of an audience and we were there for the whole day and getting up on the stage and we really didn’t know if we could get our audio equipment to like, you know, Hook up?
John Puma: 22:33
Yes, there was, there was an awful lot of, um. Uh, last minute, maybe not last minute, but there was an awful lot of where we think this is going to work. Let’s cross our fingers. Let’s say that. I think there was definitely, that was definitely a factor.
Timothy Sullivan: 22:51
But the flip side of that is it was an amazing learning experience, wasn’t it?
John Puma: 22:56
Yes, it was. And I think that future experiences of this nature, uh, are going to be a little smoother, a little bit less, uh, fraught. Uh, and it wasn’t on anybody else. It was, you know, it’s just when you’re doing something for the first time, you learn all the hiccups, you learn where the holes are, and you’re, oh, we didn’t think about that. And then here we are. Now we know.
Timothy Sullivan: 23:19
Totally. Yeah. It’s like you have, you, until you do it, you don’t know what you need to ask or what you need to prepare or what type of setups might await you in different recording locations. So it was a really good learning experience. And. You know, I’m proud of us for like, just going for it. Like we could have said, Oh, we don’t know how it’s going to work. Let’s maybe next year or whatever. But no, we went for it and we learned the lessons we needed to learn and we got some really good content out of it. So yeah, for me, that was a really good memory as well. And definitely a highlight for last year.
John Puma: 23:55
All right. But now that, that was. You know, a highlight, but what’s he, what is your, your, what is your full highlight? What is the, what was your favorite moment?
Timothy Sullivan: 24:02
Oh, well. This, there’s no question in my mind what my favorite memory from 2023 was, and that was putting John Puma in a sake kasu mask in our cosmetics episode.
John Puma: 24:20
Somehow that didn’t make my list.
Timothy Sullivan: 24:25
But you do admit your skin felt soft and supple after that episode.
John Puma: 24:30
Fine. Yes, it did.
Timothy Sullivan: 24:33
And if
John Puma: 24:34
So did my beard, Tim.
Timothy Sullivan: 24:37
If any listeners, uh, need a jump scare warning before they look at the show notes, please be
John Puma: 24:45
Oh my goodness.
Timothy Sullivan: 24:46
that there’s a photo of us with our sake kasu masks on. But I thought that episode was really fun and I don’t know a lot about sake cosmetics, obviously, but I think it was fun to try it out and give it the old whirl while drinking sake.
John Puma: 25:08
I have to tell you, uh, I didn’t know a lot about sake cosmetics going into that episode. I think after the episode, I know less sake cosmetics than I did before somehow. Uh, but it was, uh, yeah, it was, uh, a lot of fun and there’s a lot of, so here’s the thing. When, when we do an episode and I’m like doing the editing and, and we are laughing constantly, I’m like, all right, this is, this is gonna be a good one. And so. And that was, that episode was just constant hilarity. We just could not stop, could not stop laughing at how ridiculous it was with this thing on my head.
Timothy Sullivan: 25:48
Well, I do have to say you were, you were a good sport about the whole thing and I think it came out pretty well. So that was episode 148, if anyone wants to go back and listen to our sake skincare episode. Uh, yeah. So that was, that was, you know, honestly, it was a highlight for me cause we had so much fun recording that episode.
John Puma: 26:08
Yeah, and, and for reference, uh, my episode, the Sake Brewers Roundtable Live at the American Craft Sake Festival, that was, um, episode 152. So yeah, we had a good time with that. one thing that didn’t make either of our lists, but we should mention, cause it was a lot of fun also, is we did a live stream for the first time.
Timothy Sullivan: 26:29
Yes, we sure did.
John Puma: 26:31
did. We did. a two hour live stream on sake day on October 1st, with listeners over at our YouTube channel and in the near future, we’re actually going to be publishing that. Episode on YouTube so you can see, so people who were not there could, can listen in and see it. And we’re also gonna have it on the Sake Revolution, uh, podcast listing as well. So you’ll be able to listen to it. There are a couple of site gags here and there, but um, you know, you can always look at it on, on YouTube if you want. Uh, we, uh, I said it was two hours long. We had a good time. We, we drank some really good sake. We had a lot of really fun guests, and it was, it was a great time.
Timothy Sullivan: 27:11
Yes, and that was another, just like the, the American Craft Sake Festival being live in front of an audience. That was like flying by the seat of our pants as well, getting the live streaming on YouTube to work.
John Puma: 27:26
Yeah. And I have to say, like, I, talking about how we learned all these things, at the festival and like the, the wonder about how it’s going to work, if it’s going to go the way we plan, reminded me of, of the live stream. I was like, Oh yeah, there was that. And that was, that was a little crazy. Uh, but it went well. And, and, uh, we had a really fun time doing that.
Timothy Sullivan: 27:49
Yeah. The thing that I’m most proud about is that we even try it. You know, when you and I first started recording podcasts back in 2020, we didn’t know what the heck we were doing. And you just learn over time. You just have to throw yourself out there, not be worried about making a mistake and learn as you go. And that’s something I’m proud of from 2023 is that we did take these chances to try something new, try a new medium, and it’s been. Really good. And I think it’ll get better this year. We’ll probably try both of those things again and see how it goes.
John Puma: 28:26
Absolutely. I’ll be disappointed if we don’t try both of those things again. Because I had a fun time doing both of them.
Timothy Sullivan: 28:34
for last year was to go to Japan. You got big travel plans for Japan this year?
John Puma: 28:39
Yes. I do. So I will be I talked about this a little bit on a previous episode, but I have already booked for 2024. And I made what Many people would consider a critical error. I booked everything. Cause we had a lot of, there’s a lot of stuff going on, um, here in our, in our lives. So we had to book around a lot of like, you know, of our, our life stuff here. Um, in the US, uh, and I found the time to, to book it and I went ahead and I did it and we were all set and then I learned that it’s Golden Week and you’re not supposed to, you’re not supposed to go to Japan on Golden Week.
Timothy Sullivan: 29:24
For our listeners who may not be familiar, John, what is Golden Week?
John Puma: 29:31
Golden Week is a set of several holidays that take place over one week during the end of April, typically the last week in April, and the whole country pretty much shuts down. Now, from what I understand, it’s primarily the big cities that shut down, and kind of the small towns maybe bounce up a little bit because you have people visiting from the big cities, but yeah, I don’t know, I’ve never done it. The, um, the Popular wisdom is always never to do that. We’re gonna experience it. Uh, it’s definitely going to be a unique trip
Timothy Sullivan: 30:08
Yep. I think my advice would be just to reserve trains in advance. Golden Week tends to be very booked up for hotels and trains. So if you get those things squared away, you may have some more crowds more than usual, but you can really enjoy yourself and enjoy Japan.
John Puma: 30:23
I plan to hopefully, uh, hopefully It’s just a matter of being aware of those things.’cause yeah, we’re, our flights are booked. Our, um, hotels are all booked where we’re good to go.
Timothy Sullivan: 30:33
Awesome.
John Puma: 30:34
Yeah. Um, are you going back yourself? Oh, we’re just leaving it at, yeah. Mm
Timothy Sullivan: 30:40
I, right now, I don’t have any concrete plans booked, but I would be extremely surprised if I don’t go to Japan maybe one or two times in 2024, so it’s high on my agenda. But nothing concrete booked at the moment, so we’ll have to see how things shake out. We had so much fun on our last trip to Japan, and I just can’t wait to go again.
John Puma: 31:06
Great. Well, Tim, it has been a delight sitting here and, uh, reminiscing about the past year and, and kind of setting the stage for next year with you,
Timothy Sullivan: 31:17
Yes, we had our ups, we had our downs,
John Puma: 31:20
Yes, we did.
Timothy Sullivan: 31:21
we had our roundabouts, and it was all a lot of fun. Uh, John, it was so great to taste with you today and revisit our dear friend, Blue Door, RIP.
John Puma: 31:33
Pour one out for the blue door. The sake lives on, but the door is gone.
Timothy Sullivan: 31:39
The door’s gone, but the sake and the brand lives on. Uh, it was so great to taste some Blue Door. Nice to chat with you and reminisce. And I’m really looking forward to see how our revolution resolutions shake out for 2024. I also want to say a special thank you to our listeners. Thank you so much for checking in again today. And we’re so happy you joined us. A special hello and thank you to our patrons as well. Sake Revolution would not be possible without their very generous support. If you’d like to learn more about supporting Sake Revolution, please visit Patreon.com/SakeRevolution to learn more.
John Puma: 32:19
and, mentioned a lot of previous episodes on today’s show. You might want to go over to SakeRevolution.Com and take a look at them. We’ve got some show notes for every single episode and a written transcript in case you’re just kind of, you don’t feel like listening to something you just want to read through, you can do that. we even have a little swag shop at the site. You can buy t shirts and stickers, all that kind of stuff. go ahead and take a look there and, uh, let us know what you think of the site. I’d like it personally. on that note, I’m going to grab a glass of blue door. Remember to keep drinking sake and
Timothy Sullivan: 32:54
kanpai!