Episode 116 Show Notes

Episode 116. Week in and week out, our standard gear for tasting and evaluating sake is a simple wine glass. This works really well and almost everybody has one nearby. But in Japan, there are a wide variety of shapes, materials and sizes used to make cups for drinking sake. That got us wondering if we should take some other cups out for a test drive and compare them to our usual stemware. This week we are exploring a real square in the world of sake cups – the masu. Born as a box-shaped measuring cup for rice and re-imagined as a fragrant wooden cup for drinking sake, the masu is a totally unique vessel and one that you will find in Japanese sake bars and izakaya across the world. Have you tried drinking your sake out of a square box? And how does that masu stack up against our trusty wine glass? Listen now to our third sake vessel smackdown! #sakerevolution


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


Skip to: 03:01 Sake Vessels: Masu

What is a Masu?

An “ochoko” could most easily be defined as a small sake cup. Often, they are smaller in size and generally have smooth sides. Ochokos can be made out of many materials including: ceramic, metal, glass and wood/lacquer. It’s not an exaggeration to say that this is the most common type of sake cup.

Wooden Masu
Laquer Masu

Glass Masu
Ceramic Masu

Overpour of sake into a masu:


Download our Sake Vessel Cheat sheet:


Skip to: 15:40 Sake Introduction and Tasting: Urakasumi Karakuchi Honjozo

Urakasumi Karakuchi Honjozo

Brewery: Saura Co.
Classification: Honjozo
Acidity: 1.2
Alcohol: 15.5%
Prefecture: Miyagi
Seimaibuai: 65%
SMV: +5.5
Rice Type: Manamusume
Brand: Urakasumi

View On UrbanSake.com


Skip to: 29:02 Show Closing

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


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Episode 116 Transcript