Episode 121 Show Notes

Episode 121. This week, we shine the sake spotlight on a region of Japan that is virtually unknown to most sake fans. We’re talking about Kagoshima, the volcanic, sub-tropical home base of “imo” sweet potato shochu on the southern tip of Kyushu island. Despite being a world famous mecca for distilled shochu, two of the over 100 distilleries in Kagoshima have ventured into sake production giving us a sake lifeboat in this vast ocean of shochu. Today we’ll be tasting one of them: Tenbu sake from Nishi Shuzo, a distillery founded in 1845. The remarkable point here is that they only received their sake brewing license in 2020 making this one of the youngest sake breweries around. How does sake that is made by shochu distillers actually taste? well, let’s dive in and explore the sake from one of the most unlikely places in Japan: Kagoshima! #sakerevolution


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


Skip to: 02:28 Sake Spotlight: Kagoshima

Kagoshima Prefecture

Shochu Culture in Kagoshima:


Japan Distilled Podcast
Recommended: Japan Distilled Podcast
Hosts: Stephen Lyman, Christopher Pellegrini
Website: https://japandistilled.com/podcast-episodes/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/japandistilled/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JapanDistilled
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/japandistilled
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/japan-distilled/id1549663578
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6in1LOW56VRJAyKNF3U6gn


Skip to: 12:48 Sake Introduction and Tasting: Tenbu Junmai Ginjo

Tenbu Junmai Ginjo

Alcohol: 15.0%
Classification: Junmai Ginjo
Seimaibuai: 50%
Rice Type: Yamadanishiki
Brand: Tenbu (天賦)
Brewery: Nishi Shuzo
Importer/Distributor: JFC (USA)

View On UrbanSake.com

Nishi Shuzo

Nishi Shuzo
Website: https://www.nishi-shuzo.co.jp/tenbu
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Nishi.the.Brewing/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nishi_the_brewing/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5nJG03ezycmAH6VXe8xiww/videos


Skip to: 32:58 Show Closing

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


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Episode 121 Transcript

John Puma: 0:22
Hello everybody. And welcome to Sake Revolution. This is America’s first sake podcast, and I am one of your Intrepid hosts. My name is John Puma from the Sake Notes. I’m also the administrator over at the internet sake discord and the lead moderator at R slash sake over on Reddit. Come and join us some.

Timothy Sullivan: 0:44
And I’m your host Timothy Sullivan. I’m a Sake Samurai. I’m a 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: 1:01
ah, it’s good to be back, Tim. I like, I, I enjoy this recording episode with you every week is a good, is a good time. It’s a real good time. And, um, we have not done unless I’m mistaken. I might maybe I wasn’t paying attention or something like that, but I don’t think we’ve done an episode of the type we’re going to do today in quite a while. Is that, is that right?

Timothy Sullivan: 1:24
That’s right. We’re going to be examining a Prefecture sake from a Prefecture, but this is kind of a 180 from our usual, because we tend to focus on prefectures that are abundant in sake. And this time we’re looking at a Prefecture, that’s really not so famous for sake.

John Puma: 1:45
Not so famous for sake. All right. So we, we, we’ve done all the, the Niigatas of the world and the, and the Yamagatas with their dozens of breweries and all that fun stuff. And, uh, and what are we talking about today?

Timothy Sullivan: 1:58
Well, We’re venturing into ‘frienemy’ territory.

John Puma: 2:02
Okay. Frienemy, territory, Tim coming from you, that can only mean one thing I think, and maybe I’m wrong, correct me if I’m wrong. But that sounds like something that I hear out of you when shochu comes up.

Timothy Sullivan: 2:15
Yes. We’re talking about Japanese sake from a Prefecture that is world famous for shochu

John Puma: 2:26
A stranger in a strange land.

Timothy Sullivan: 2:28
Yes. So today we’re gonna be looking at Kagoshima.

John Puma: 2:32
Oh, Kagoshima. So Kagoshima, if my memory, uh, is, uh, serving me correctly is also on a Kyushu island. Um, not too far away from Saga, which we have visited on the show a few times, including just last week.

Timothy Sullivan: 2:48
Yeah. So. Saga Prefecture is on Kyushu, but if you go to the very south, the bottom part of Kyushu island, that’s one of the four main islands of Japan. It’s the furthest west. And it’s the most kind of subtropical in, temperature and climate of the four main islands. And if you go to the very Southern part of Kyushu island, you’re gonna go to Kagoshima. Yeah. And, um, There are, get this hold onto your hat. John Puma, there are 113 distilleries in Kagoshima.

John Puma: 3:30
I thought you were gonna say sake breweries. And I was

Timothy Sullivan: 3:32
no.

John Puma: 3:32
wow, that’s a lot more than I was expecting. And then you went shochu distilleries. And I was like, oh, well, that makes a lot of sense. So with that number in our mind, um, What is the sake brewery count?

Timothy Sullivan: 3:46
Well it’s low

John Puma: 3:50
okay. Is it more than two?

Timothy Sullivan: 3:53
no,

John Puma: 3:56
really,

Timothy Sullivan: 3:57
are two by the hair of our Chini chin chin

John Puma: 4:01
Oh, alright.

Timothy Sullivan: 4:02
two sake sake breweries in Kagoshima.

John Puma: 4:04
well then. Two sake, a breweries and 113 shochu distilleries. That’s like, I imagine shochu very popular in Kagoshima then.

Timothy Sullivan: 4:17
Yes. So for our listeners who may not be familiar, maybe we should talk a little bit about sake versus shochu like, we’ve never talked about shochu on the, the show before

John Puma: 4:28
Are, are you gonna be okay?

Timothy Sullivan: 4:29
What is show you and how is it different from sake?

John Puma: 4:33
Yeah. All right. Um, so yes, Tim, what is shochu?

Timothy Sullivan: 4:37
Well, do you, do you probably know as much as I do on this one?

John Puma: 4:41
well, uh, I’ll alright, well, let me lead off then. Uh, I know that shochu is a distilled spirit unlike sake, which is a fermented beverage And typically shochu is made from, uh, sweet potatoes or sometimes rice, or sometimes barley. Those are like probably the most common distillates that are in shochu. And that’s the most of what I know about

Timothy Sullivan: 5:10
You nailed it. You nailed it. Like the, the major differences is that sake is naturally fermented and shochu is a distilled beverage. So that’s makes a spirit. So the alcohol percentage of the finished product for shochu is higher and it’s a distillation process. That’s in a nutshell, that’s really the key difference.

John Puma: 5:32
Right.

Timothy Sullivan: 5:34
Geographically, Kagoshima has something about it that makes it more suited for shochu versus sake. So the, the soil is volcanic soil and it’s actually more suited to growing sweet potatoes than it is to growing rice. So that’s one of the major reasons that shochu developed here. And the other reason is that it’s a subtropical. Climate and sake really does well in those cold snowbound regions. The Northern part of Japan is really famous for its sake. And before they had refrigeration, you needed those ice cold temperatures in the winter to ensure, you know, really solid cold fermentation temperatures. And we just don’t have that in Kagoshima, which is in really the, the very Southern part of. Subtropical climate of Kyushu. So over the centuries, this became literally the hotspot for shochu.

John Puma: 6:38
Well, right.

Timothy Sullivan: 6:39
Yeah.

John Puma: 6:40
this is like shochu’s Niigata.

Timothy Sullivan: 6:43
this is shochu’s Niigata. Yes.

John Puma: 6:46
right now. Right now, some like shochu people are like rolling their eyes.

Timothy Sullivan: 6:51
we should have put a warning on this episode. If you’re, if you’re a shochu lover or expert, please, uh,

John Puma: 6:57
You may be offended by this content

Timothy Sullivan: 6:59
yes. Uh, and not only are there 113 distilleries in Kagoshima, but I also read it is number one in shochu consumption. So they are drinking what they’re making in Kagoshima

John Puma: 7:14
a good thing. I think,

Timothy Sullivan: 7:15
Yeah.

John Puma: 7:15
think, you know,

Timothy Sullivan: 7:18
Yeah. So what on earth are we doing in Kagoshima?

John Puma: 7:22
Well, you did mention there’s two sake

Timothy Sullivan: 7:24
Yeah, there are two sake breweries. Yes. And there’s, there’s an interesting story about one of them. So the, the two breweries that we have in Kagoshima that make sake one is called Hamada Shuzo

John Puma: 7:38
Mm.

Timothy Sullivan: 7:38
and this is a shochu distillery that also makes one kind of sake. And Nishi Shuzo

John Puma: 7:47
mm-hmm

Timothy Sullivan: 7:48
and Nishi Shuzo is a very famous shochu distillery. And the interesting thing about them, they’ve been around since 1845 as a Shochu distillery, but they got a sake brewing license in, get this hold onto your hat. 2020.

John Puma: 8:08
All right. And so, they’re new to the sake game then. So until 20. So, so in, in 2019, there was only one sake brewery in Kagoshima. That’s that’s what my takeaway is from this.

Timothy Sullivan: 8:19
Yes. I looked back at my notes and I had Kagoshima one sake brewery, and then I’m like, wait, this isn’t adding up. And then I found out that Nishi Shuzo got their sake brewing license in 2020 in July, 2020. So. Yeah. So they have not been making sake for a long time.

John Puma: 8:43
They’ve been making shochu for a long time though.

Timothy Sullivan: 8:46
Since 1845. And the main brand that they make for show is Hozan. the name of their shochu brand. And they specialize in imo shochu, which is that sweet potato shochu.

John Puma: 9:00
Mm-hmm so since they’re in a region that is good for getting, sweet potatoes. They are, you know, using the local crop and making show true and making shochu for, a century and a half.

Timothy Sullivan: 9:11
Yes.

John Puma: 9:12
That’s amazing.

Timothy Sullivan: 9:13
Yeah. It, it is amazing. And what’s exciting for me is that you and I have both gotten our hands on a bottling of the, one of the first sakes that nishi shuzo is making. And this has only been around since 2020 and. That is incredibly rare, as we say every week on the show, most sake breweries have been around for a century plus plus plus.

John Puma: 9:42
Hmm. So, so is this the most recent sake brewery in Japan? It might be. I don’t know. Do we have that information?

Timothy Sullivan: 9:49
it could be I think we do have to shout out our podcast buddies at Japan distilled.

John Puma: 9:58
Yes, we do.

Timothy Sullivan: 10:00
So if there are any listeners who are interested in exploring shochu more, there is a Japanese shochu slash awamori podcast out there, our friends, Steven Lyman, and christopher Pellegrini do a great podcast on distilled beverages called Japan distilled. So if you’re interested in learning more about shochu, please check out Japan Distilled and, uh, you’ll really enjoy their podcast as well.

John Puma: 10:34
And, and tell them Sake Revolution sent you

Timothy Sullivan: 10:36
Tell them Sake Revolution sent you from the world of sake.

John Puma: 10:40
Yeah. Should choose a good beverage. People should try it.

Timothy Sullivan: 10:42
yes. So it’s 113 distilleries to two sake breweries. And, um, we are,

John Puma: 10:51
One one coming in real hot.

Timothy Sullivan: 10:56
talk about a freshman.

John Puma: 10:58
I know, I

Timothy Sullivan: 10:59
brewery. Oh my gosh.

John Puma: 11:01
so nihonshu now making sake and, uh, what are they calling their sake? They’re not using a Hozan, right?

Timothy Sullivan: 11:07
Nope. That is for their imo or their potato shochu the brand name for their sake is Tenbu.

John Puma: 11:16
Mm.

Timothy Sullivan: 11:17
And that means like kind of natural gifts. And I think that refers to the gifts of nature from this region. So they are a hundred percent committed to using the local water and rice to make their sake. And Nishi Shuzo actually sells their brewing water as mineral water. So you can buy their water. Bottled up and that’s called homei. So they have a brand name for their mineral water and that’s used in

John Puma: 11:48
brand name for the mineral water. That’s amazing.

Timothy Sullivan: 11:50
Yes. So they are really into local. So the rice that they use is grown locally and the water that they use is their house, mineral water. And, uh, I have to say. I bought this sake on a Lark because I knew that I would never, when I, when I saw Kagoshima sake on the shelf, I was like, I’m, this is very rare. There’s a handful of breweries in this region. So I know you and I both picked it up and I have no idea what to expect from this. Have you had this before, John?

John Puma: 12:32
Yes, Tim, actually, I have, uh, on, a few occasions,

Timothy Sullivan: 12:36
Well, it’s super interesting because I have never had this sake. I don’t think I’ve ever had sake from Kagoshima in my whole life. So we’re gonna get a true blind react from me.

John Puma: 12:48
oh, I cannot wait. Yeah. All right. Well, let’s, let’s get to it then let’s get into this. Let’s get into this Tenbu. So, for everybody at home, get ready here. Come the stats. This is the, Tenbu. Junmai ginjo they’re using Yamada Nishiki that they are somehow able to grow in this very volcanic area.

Timothy Sullivan: 13:11
I thought of that too. And on the, on the Tenbu website, it says Japanese rice, but I’ve sourced several other. Listings for this sake online that say it’s yamdanishiki sake rice. And it is for sure. Grown in Kagoshima. So I, I went there and said that this will probably be Yamadanishiki, but not confirmed by the brewery. So, but we’re going with it.

John Puma: 13:40
All right. Well, this. Possibly yamadanishiki has been milled, whatever it is to 50% of it’s original size. Uh, the alcohol percentage is 15%. Uh, it doesn’t look like we have any other stats, unfortunately.

Timothy Sullivan: 13:52
no acidity and no SMV given for this sake. So

John Puma: 13:57
All right. So we’re gonna have to wing it. Great. Well, let’s open it up and get it in our glass. shall we, Tim?

Timothy Sullivan: 14:17
Okay, I’ve got it in the glass.

John Puma: 14:21
All right. So do I.

Timothy Sullivan: 14:22
Nice and transparent looks relatively clear and clean.

John Puma: 14:27
Relatively clear, but there is a little something in there. If you take a look, there is, I don’t know if it’s, uh, particulate or if it is, um, air, air bubbles,

Timothy Sullivan: 14:42
so let’s give it a smell.

John Puma: 14:43
Yes.

Timothy Sullivan: 14:44
right.

John Puma: 14:48
Hmm.

Timothy Sullivan: 14:49
Very gentle aroma. Some restraint

John Puma: 14:57
yeah. Faint fruit, not overwhelming.

Timothy Sullivan: 15:01
yeah, I’m getting, you know, honestly, I, I have to admit my bias here, like coming from the home base ground zero of shochu, I was expecting maybe a little more. Strong alcoholic based aroma, but it’s very gentle. Almost floral.

John Puma: 15:22
Almost, I, I think there’s a little bit of, um, there’s that a little bit of that, that, that fresh cut grass for me, which is always a nice, a nice one. We don’t get that a lot. I really do enjoy it when I have that.

Timothy Sullivan: 15:35
Yeah. I keep coming back to the, just like an essence of fresh herbacious and floral. Bouquet kind of thing going on really nice.

John Puma: 15:45
And as you mentioned, this is, there is some restraint going on here. It is not overwhelming in any way. Not on the nose.

Timothy Sullivan: 15:52
And it’s a lovely aroma. Yeah. Really pleasing, gentle fruits, bit of floral. And some herbacious notes grow going on there too. Really, really nice.

John Puma: 16:05
Hmm.

Timothy Sullivan: 16:06
All right. How about we taste?

John Puma: 16:09
Let’s

Timothy Sullivan: 16:13
Hmm, Hmm.

John Puma: 16:18
that? There’s a lot more fruit.

Timothy Sullivan: 16:22
Yeah.

John Puma: 16:23
On the palate than there was on the nose.

Timothy Sullivan: 16:26
and I don’t know how, I mean, we don’t have an SMV to judge off of as we usually do, but for me, this leans a, just a hint on the sweet side. Like there’s some sweetness there. The finish is not overtly dry and it has a bit of richness to it. Like it coats my palate and the sweetness lends this air of fruitiness to the palate. Like the, I get like. Apple and, um, some really nice fruity notes on the pallet and there’s, there’s a richness and a concentrated flavor that I really, really like.

John Puma: 17:08
Yeah, this is delightful. Uh, it is a joy to sip this. It is so, so very.

Timothy Sullivan: 17:16
Hm. Yeah. Instead of the usual, like tropical fruits, you may get, I’m getting more like apple and pear and just a little bit of a concentrated flavor. There’s a richness there

John Puma: 17:32
There is.

Timothy Sullivan: 17:33
and there’s. For me, almost a hint of maybe something autumnal as well. The, the richness brings in, like, if you think of, apples in their more concentrated form, like if you had like an apple tart and you have that lovely, concentrated apple flavor from baked apples, like that’s a little bit in the range of what I’m tasting here. It’s not, not a crisp, bright, fresh apple, but maybe something a little bit more concentrated and syrupy. And I

John Puma: 18:06
A little more, a little more candied.

Timothy Sullivan: 18:08
exactly. That’s it?

John Puma: 18:11
I don’t know if that’s the power of suggestion going on, but I, I do see what you’re saying for sure. Uh, but I just, I do really enjoy that. It is, you know, it is a bigger flavor, but in the fruit realm, instead of like, usually, like, I think a lot of our bigger flavors tend to be, uh, more rich, more, Hmm, more umami driven, whereas this is so much more of a, a fruit driven experience. And I think that you’re absolutely nailing it with the, the, um, what, what word did you use? Describe it. I used candied, um, concentrated. fruit is. Yeah, it’s really nice. It’s very pleasant. And it is, it does, it’s a lot. And I don’t know if this is something that, that can just, you know, you know, an hour on the couch and I don’t realize I’m sipping it, you know, you’re drinking this, you know,

Timothy Sullivan: 19:03
Yeah,

John Puma: 19:04
but, you know, I feel like, you know, I know I’m drinking this, but I really enjoy the act of doing so.

Timothy Sullivan: 19:09
yeah.

John Puma: 19:10
so, the second time I ever had, this was actually at a accidental bar with a friend of the show Austin Power. and he was pouring some of it for me and we were chatting about it a little bit and he’s like, can you believe these guys just started making sake? And it tastes like this and I’m like, I it’s, it’s amazing. He’s like, it’s such a flex. It’s just like, huh, make a sake is not so hard. Look

Timothy Sullivan: 19:33
Yeah,

John Puma: 19:35
and they just like were making show you for like 170 years and then we’re like, you know what? We could make sake. Boom. And then made this wonderful, unique, interesting fruit sake.

Timothy Sullivan: 19:46
well, maybe 170 years of fermentation under their belt, you know,

John Puma: 19:52
they, know a few things.

Timothy Sullivan: 19:52
yeah. They know a few things. Yeah. So I was, I was just gonna ask you, John, about your experiences with shochu. If you have any. You want to share?

John Puma: 20:03
I do, actually, I. Had some shochu, uh, I’ve had, you know, various shochu experiences here in the States, but nothing too concrete. but the last time that I was in Fukuoka, um, I had the opportunity to go out for drinks with Steve Lyman, who, uh, we mentioned earlier now has the Japan Distilled podcast. And he is, very much known as the, the show too guy. He is, uh, you know, formally here in New York. Instrumental in helping to get Shochu’s profile raised here in New York and now he lives over in Fukuoka and, he took us, he took Myshell and I out and taught us a little bit about shochu and it was a lot of fun. Uh, I, I really had a great experience and I got a much larger appreciation for this beverage out of it.

Timothy Sullivan: 20:51
Hmm.

John Puma: 20:53
Yeah.

Timothy Sullivan: 20:53
Yeah. I actually have some exposure to shochu as well, because when I worked for one year at hakkaisan in Niigata. Hakkaisan is actually a Shochu producer as well, but they make exclusively Shochus that are rice based, whether it’s the sake Kasu or, um, from rice themselves. And they’re a little bit of a different beast than I think from the imo or potato shochus of the far west and south of Japan.

John Puma: 21:22
Definitely. Um, I think that when I taste, uh, imo shochu, it makes me think a lot of, uh, gin that’s the main comparison to in my palate that like, you know, kind of. Comes into my mind when I taste it. Uh, whereas other types like the barley, I think the barley has a much more unique flavor profile to me.

Timothy Sullivan: 21:46
Oh, very distinct.

John Puma: 21:47
yeah, very distinct, very interesting. Like to me, it just, it tastes like barley show too. I don’t have anything else that it tastes like. Um, uh, personally, they also, they also make shochu out of, uh, brown sugar.

Timothy Sullivan: 22:01
Mm-hmm they

John Puma: 22:03
actually my favorite, cuz that really reminds me of, uh, artisanal rums and I really enjoy those. So that was, I came out of it with that being my favorite cuz some of that on the rocks and it’s very, very nice.

Timothy Sullivan: 22:16
Yeah, that’s another big difference between sake and shochu is that sake by law and definition has to come from rice and rice alone, whereas shochu, you can make it from, rice. You can make it from potatoes. You can make it from black sugar and there’s all these different barley and all a whole host of. Things that you can use to make shochu. And it’s a big difference. I think in the worlds of these two Japanese native alcoholic beverages.

John Puma: 22:52
Hmm. Yeah, there’s a, there is a lot of large differences, but you know, there’s a lot of, uh, a lot of similarities such as the use of Koji, things like that. It’s really nice. It’s a super interesting place to, to dive into. and like you mentioned earlier, if you wanna learn more, definitely check out, Steve and Chris’ show they. They are the show two guys and they go and they go deep. They go into it.

Timothy Sullivan: 23:15
they do. And I feel a little bit like we’re wandering around in shochu lands with our, our two, two distilleries that make a little bit of sake on the side, but it’s fun to venture into a part of Japan where we normally would never go.

John Puma: 23:34
so what’s your big takeaway from this sake? I’m very curious now that you’ve had a little bit of time to think about it and had some sips

Timothy Sullivan: 23:41
Yeah. Well, I, I, the one thing I’m left with thinking is that the shochu tends to be, especially potato shochu from this region tends to be more flavorful, bold in your face and impactful. And I find that it’s interesting to taste a sake from a potato sweet potato shochu maker and have it be rich deep in flavor and impactful while still being super elegant and drinkable and delicious. So I feel like they’ve taken the best aspects of their style from making shochu and very consciously. Beautifully applying that to the art of making sake, which is different. So what you said about it being a flex is really, really true. So that, that rings true to me. More than anything else that you cannot underestimate the skill that it takes to switch gears and begin in 2020 to making a premium, super delicious sake. Zero zero to 60, like this is Tesla speeds here. You know, this is like

John Puma: 25:03
it’s like, this was their pandemic hobby, right? They were like, like, some people learned how to like make sour dough. They were like, let’s do sake.

Timothy Sullivan: 25:13
I love it. I love it. Yes. So, but this is the equivalent of like someone making sourdough in their kitchen and then suddenly being.

John Puma: 25:23
a bakery, a world class bakery.

Timothy Sullivan: 25:25
bakery. Yeah.

John Puma: 25:27
I love that. That’s great analogy.

Timothy Sullivan: 25:30
Yeah, just amazing and super drinkable. Do you have any thoughts on pairing this sake with food?

John Puma: 25:38
I haven’t to be completely honest. Uh, both at times I’ve. Sipped on it. It’s been an isolated, you know, drinking experience, I guess three times now. and, I think that because it is such a bold and fruity experience, it really does suit itself for that scenario. Uh, it is a bit heavy, like maybe,

Timothy Sullivan: 25:58
Hmm.

John Puma: 25:59
I don’t know. I mean, it’s not sweet enough. It’s not tart enough where I would say dessert would be the place for it. I think that this is a tough one.

Timothy Sullivan: 26:09
Hmm.

John Puma: 26:10
I always struggle with the tasting. So they’re all tough ones for me, but this is especially tough.

Timothy Sullivan: 26:14
well, I’m gonna venture into an area that may be less comfortable for you, JP, but. I’m thinking cheese. cheese. Yes So John is not a huge fan of cheese, but I think a cheese pairing might be really good with this, cuz it has that hint of sweetness that coating that fruitiness. And again, you know, if you have a bite of salty lactic cheese, and then there’s, uh, dried fruit on the side or, you know, a bite of something sweet after nibbling on cheese, it’s a wonderful pairing. And I think this sake has enough richness and depth of flavor and sweetness to pair really well with a bite of crumbly cheese. So that would be something that I would really like to explore.

John Puma: 27:03
Well, fantastic. I hope our listeners at home have felt that if they can get their hands on a bottle of Tenbu, wean out a little cheese plate and have it alongside that.

Timothy Sullivan: 27:12
Yeah, you can’t go wrong. So I’m, I’m honestly blown away by the sake. I think it’s amazing.

John Puma: 27:18
yeah. When you told me that you had never tasted this, I was like, oh my goodness. He’s gonna be in for such a treat. Uh, because it is, a very unusual sake. We don’t get a whole lot. That’s like this, this is fun to drink. It’s big. It’s bold. But it’s fruity, Usually the fruity stuff tends to be a little bit lighter, a little bit more reserved. This is a little bit more pow except for the aroma, which was a little bit more reserved

Timothy Sullivan: 27:44
yeah, it’s rich and it’s candy. Like that’s, that’s the word?

John Puma: 27:48
that what’s oh, concentrated. Yes. I like that a lot.

Timothy Sullivan: 27:52
Candied and you know, this is not a good comparison, but when you have, uh, fruit cocktail and there’s that syrupy liquid, that it comes in, this is,

John Puma: 28:03
Yeah.

Timothy Sullivan: 28:04
it that’s like sipping on that sounds horrible. And that’s not what I’m saying. It tastes like that, but that idea of

John Puma: 28:10
But you can see it from here.

Timothy Sullivan: 28:12
you can, I can see it from here.

John Puma: 28:15
I know, I know exactly what you mean. That is, that is a very evocative and very, um, it really helps. It helps to put into words, the experience of, of tasting this and, and, you know, people at home, please don’t don’t think that it tastes like that. It does not taste like the, the, the, the syrup at the bottom of fruit salad. Not at all. but, but it will make you think of that a little

Timothy Sullivan: 28:38
It’s a step in that direction.

John Puma: 28:40
Yes, totally.

Timothy Sullivan: 28:41
Yeah. And I did check the website for Tenbu. This Junmai ginjo is one of, I think four or five sakes that they make. This one is exported to the states, which is a miracle in and of itself, but

John Puma: 28:56
this just occurred to me. They’ve been brewing sake for two years. And they’ve already been importing the sake to the us, honestly. I’m pretty sure I had it in like 20, 21. So they’ve been, it took them a year to start exporting

Timothy Sullivan: 29:12
Which is unbelievable.

John Puma: 29:13
that’s UN yeah, it’s unreal.

Timothy Sullivan: 29:15
Yeah, but they

John Puma: 29:17
wasted no time.

Timothy Sullivan: 29:18
yeah, in Japan they have a Junmai sake. They have a Junmai Daiginjo and they also have another sake that’s made with Omachi rice. And I knew that would catch your attention

John Puma: 29:29
Ah, I was about to say that I was very interested at taste what their Junmai was gonna taste like, but then you used the Omachi and now I’m, now I’m a little distracted,

Timothy Sullivan: 29:40
Yeah, I think their distribution is very limited even in Japan. And I think this is the only one from their small portfolio that is exported. So when we get back to Japan, if you’re anywhere near a Kagoshima satellite store, you can see if they have this

John Puma: 29:59
They have one of their two sakes

Timothy Sullivan: 30:01
exactly.

John Puma: 30:03
so this was nice to him. Um, today I, it just occurred to me that today we got to sample 50% of the breweries in Kagoshima.

Timothy Sullivan: 30:12
Yes,

John Puma: 30:14
We’ve never been able to represent like that in our show. We’ve tried a lot of sake from a lot of places, but I don’t think we’ve ever tried half of the sake from one place.

Timothy Sullivan: 30:20
Yes, for sure. All right, John, great to taste with you and great to explore Kagoshima sake together. And if we ever get a chance to get our hands on sake from Hamada Shuzo in Kagoshima, we’re gonna taste

John Puma: 30:34
We can, we can nail it down and get all of them. That’s great.

Timothy Sullivan: 30:37
that will get a hundred percent coverage for our first Prefecture ever.

John Puma: 30:43
we gotta start low. We gotta

Timothy Sullivan: 30:44
Yes. All right. Thank you so much. So great to taste with you, John. And I want to thank all of our listeners for tuning in and a special hello, and thank you to all of our patrons. We really love our community on Patreon and thank our patrons so much. If you’d like to support Sake Revolution, please visit us at patreon.com/SakeRevolution. For more Information.

John Puma: 31:10
Yes. Yes. Yes. And, Tim, before we go any further, there’s something we need to talk about. Sake day is fast approaching.

Timothy Sullivan: 31:19
Oh, yes. Sake day is October 1st, every year.

John Puma: 31:24
that’s right. And this year on Sake Day, there is going to be, over in New York at Brooklyn. Curra there’s going to be a little bit of a Sake Day event. do you have some details that you can share with our listeners??

Timothy Sullivan: 31:40
Yes, we are doing a fantastic World Sake Day event at Brooklyn Kura tap room in industry city, Brooklyn. And if you would like more information, you can go to the website SakeDayUSA.com and there you can get information on tickets and the many varieties of sake will be pouring at that event. Brooklyn Kura is gonna be featuring a live Shizuku drip. So they’re going to be showing you how sake can be pressed by using a drip method. And you can only see that at a sake brewery.

John Puma: 32:20
Yeah. Yeah. And, and of course your two favorite hosts, from Sake Revolution will be on hand. We’ll be around, we’ll be chit chatting with everybody We will be tasting and chatting about sake with you

Timothy Sullivan: 32:31
Live and in person

John Puma: 32:32
live and in person it’s gonna be a lot of fun. We, we did this last year and it was a blast, so I’m really looking forward to it again.

Timothy Sullivan: 32:38
Yes. Not live and on zoom, but live and in person

John Puma: 32:41
and in person. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Timothy Sullivan: 32:43
So be sure to visit SakeDayUSA.com for all the information on tickets and attending this fantastic event in New York city.

John Puma: 32:52
mm-hmm uh, and I know Tim, you mentioned earlier that we really do appreciate our patrons, uh, people who come front and center and support our show in the most direct way possible. But there are other ways to support our show. And did you know that we have swag? Or perhaps merch, if you prefer. Uh, yeah, we’ve got some, uh, an assortment of shirts and stickers and such on our website. Uh, you can go to SakeRevolution.com and you will find the link to the store page. And we’ve got some fun shirts that we’re working on. We’ve got some fun stickers and there’s always more stuff being added to the store.

Timothy Sullivan: 33:31
And, you know, Sake Revolution t-shirts are the perfect gift for the holidays.

John Puma: 33:37
oh. God, it’s only September Tim. We can’t start talking about the holidays yet. actually no, a lot of people plan early and, um, and I’m married to one of them, so yeah, I should probably be like, yes, Tim. Absolutely.

Timothy Sullivan: 33:51
This is gorilla marketing. John, stay with me.

John Puma: 33:53
Yes, Anyway. thank you. Uh, once again for supporting us in every way that you do.

Timothy Sullivan: 34:01
we appreciate it.

John Puma: 34:02
Yeah. So without any further ado, please Remember to keep drinking sake and Kanpai.