Episode 163 Show Notes
Episode 163. Word on the street is that travel to Japan is surging! One of the joys of travel to Japan is returning with a suitcase full of sake! But how best to do it?! This week, John and Timothy discuss the ins and outs of bringing back sake from Japan. What’s allowed and what’s not! Where to buy sake and how to package it. Import duties and duty free shops! If you want the lowdown on our experience bringing sake home from travel to Japan, this episode is for you. Let’s UNPACK these topics and taste some of the sake (not for sale in the U.S.) we brought back ourselves. #SakeRevolution
Skip to: 00:19 Hosts Welcome and Introduction
Welcome to the show from John and Timothy
Skip to: 05:19 Bringing back sake from japan
Skip to: 17:49 Sake Introduction and Tasting: Tanaka 65 Junmai
Tanaka 65 Junmai
Alcohol: 15.0%
Brewery: Shiraito Shuzo
Classification: Junmai
Prefecture: Fukuoka
Rice Type: Yamadanishiki
Seimaibuai: 65%
Sake Name English: Tanaka 65
View on UrbanSake.com: https://www.urbansake.com/product/tanaka-rokujugo-junmai/
Skip to: 23:47 Sake Introduction and Tasting: Gaki Masamune Junmai Ginjo Aiyama
Gaki Masamune Junmai Ginjo Aiyama
Brewery: Oki Daikichi Honten
Alcohol: 15.0%
Classification: Junmai Ginjo
Seimaibuai: 60%
Prefecture: Fukushima
Rice Type: Aiyama
SMV: -5.0
Brand: Gaki Masamune
Yeast: Kyokai 7
Skip to: 32:54 Show Closing
This is it! Join us next time for another episode of Sake Revolution!
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Episode 163 Transcript
John Puma: 0:21
Hello everybody. And welcome to Sake Revolution. This is America’s first or podcast. I’m your host, John Puma from the Sake Notes. Um, also I run the internet sake discord and Reddit’s r slash sake community.
Timothy Sullivan: 0:37
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. Hi!
John Puma: 0:53
Well, hello, Tim.
Timothy Sullivan: 0:56
Long time no see.
John Puma: 0:58
yes. Long time no see. And, uh, have you been doing anything interesting? Anything fun?
Timothy Sullivan: 1:04
Well, it did take a little jaunt to Japan.
John Puma: 1:09
Oh, you too?
Timothy Sullivan: 1:11
I think we got to let the cat out of the bag right at the beginning here.
John Puma: 1:18
Uh, so yeah, so we ended up, uh, in Japan at the same time. This is not something that we had planned to happen. It just kind of worked out that way. Myshell and I were, uh, were down in, in Japan for a couple of weeks. You and Scott, were over for, uh, what are you guys were there for about like 10 or 11 days?
Timothy Sullivan: 1:36
About eight, eight days. Yeah.
John Puma: 1:37
Eight days. Okay. For about eight days. and, uh, yeah, we got to meet up in Tokyo on Thanksgiving of all days.
Timothy Sullivan: 1:46
Yeah. We had a,
John Puma: 1:48
Thanksgiving.
Timothy Sullivan: 1:49
yeah, we had a fun little sake adventure, but it was not enough time, unfortunately, to do any recording or any sake revolution work. But we did, we did. Reach our goal of meeting in Japan and having sake together,
John Puma: 2:04
yes, we definitely did that. And we did that in my opinion, quite well. I think I’m very happy with the sake drinking that we did. we went to a little bit of a Thanksgiving, uh, dinner with some, with some other friends. And, everybody brought sake with us. So we, we poured a bunch of different things that were a lot of fun to sip on. And then after that, um, we had a little Nijikai with, John and Myshell and Scott and Tim. uh,
Timothy Sullivan: 2:31
John, what what’s a Nijikai?
John Puma: 2:34
Oh, thanks for asking Tim. That is the after party.
Timothy Sullivan: 2:39
All right,
John Puma: 2:40
Yes, yes. What would that literally be? Would that just be like second event or
Timothy Sullivan: 2:44
Niji kai. So it’s like the Second second hour
John Puma: 2:49
second hour,
Timothy Sullivan: 2:50
Niji kai. Second, oh meeting, second hour meeting.
John Puma: 2:54
hour meeting. There we
Timothy Sullivan: 2:54
I think
John Puma: 2:55
So we had our second hour meeting. Uh, over at, uh, at a wonderful place that I had never been to before. And so, I love when I get to be taken to a place in Tokyo that I’ve never been. That’s great. Especially when it’s Such a good place. And this was Moto, Tokyo.
Timothy Sullivan: 3:14
Yes. And I introduced you to Moto Tokyo and it is literally, you stumble out of Tokyo Station across the street and it is there in a beautiful new building, Yaesu Midtown building on the Yaesu side of Tokyo Station. Highly recommended. They have a standing bar in front and a wonderful restaurant in the back area. So anyone in Tokyo, Recommended.
John Puma: 3:41
Personally, I only experienced the standing bar on the front, but it was more than enough to sell me on the rest of the experience. It was really fantastic. It was great to sip sake with you and Scott, uh, over in Japan, but, uh, what we’re going to talk about today is a specific aspect of the going to Japan experience, perhaps maybe the last aspect, and that is the coming home And the bringing sake with you, because, you know, we in America, we get a lot of sake here where there’s a, I would say, Tim, when, when you started drinking sake, maybe, you know, maybe a hundred, hundred, 200 bottles were available in the U S or in New York. I say specifically about 200, yeah, something like that. And now it’s probably about double that I would say. Especially since now you can, there’s so many places that are shipping sake all over the country and there’s things that only come to the west coast and etc, etc. So you can get in America a good amount, but that’s a drop in the bucket next to what you can find in Japan. Yeah,
Timothy Sullivan: 4:50
podcast has always been to introduce American listeners to sake. This is our home and we want to. Introduce sakes on this podcast that are not too exotic or too hard to find. So we make it a rule that any sakes we feature are available for sale somewhere in the United States. But today we’re, we’re going to break that rule today.
John Puma: 5:15
We’re gonna break our one rule.
Timothy Sullivan: 5:19
there are so many of our friends, John, who’ve been going to Japan, not just you and I there at the same time, coincidentally, but so many people I know are taking their vacation or planning their vacation to Japan. And one thing you don’t hear talked about very much is kind of self importing. Back to the U. S. Like bringing a few bottles back with you. What’s the best way to do it? What are the rules? What are the regulations? how do you transport it? So that’s what we kind of wanted to talk about today.
John Puma: 5:50
Yeah. So, um, so obviously everything that we’re going to be saying today is based on our personal experiences, which means that we’re only going to be talking about American rules and American regulations. I honestly don’t know what it would be like if you lived in Canada and you were bringing sake back or if you lived in Mexico or something like that or Europe. Um, but we know what it’s like to do it in America and specifically in New York and even more specifically at John F. Kennedy International Airport. And so, um, you know, we, we can help with that because we know how that goes. And so that’s really where we’re going to be leaning in. Um, I’m sure that there are resources to find out locally what your own rules and regulations might be outside of the U. S.
Timothy Sullivan: 6:30
It has to be said that there’s rules and regulations, and then there’s a little gray area. Right? A little wiggle
John Puma: 6:38
little grey area.
Timothy Sullivan: 6:39
with how much, how much you can bring back. Um,
John Puma: 6:43
the rules, in my opinion, at least, over the last, um, over the last, like, 15 years of doing this have changed. Because it used to be that when you were coming back, you had to fill out a form, and there was a There was a line item on the form that was like alcoholic beverages and you had to choose the number of bottles that you were bringing back with you. And then later on, that went away and it was replaced by another form that had how much stuff and is your stuff more than Like 10, 000 worth of stuff. And if it was like, no, they didn’t care about the rest. And these days they don’t even ask. So I’m not sure exactly what happened. If they just realized that nobody was bringing over anything that was over, that was wild and crazy from Japan. But, um, they don’t even ask me anymore. Tim, did I ask you? Yeah,
Timothy Sullivan: 7:36
you don’t have to, I remember the olden days when you had to fill out that form. And I remember the 10, 000 limit, but I did look up what the federal regulations are. And the limit is according to the uscustomsandborderprotections. gov website, one liter of alcoholic beverages for personal use can be brought back duty free.
John Puma: 8:03
Well About that Well, that’s I guess duty free I don’t I don’t bring my so alright, so Let’s let’s talk about duty free then if we’re gonna bring duty free into it So Tim, I am new to traveling. What is duty free? Mm hmm. Mm
Timothy Sullivan: 8:24
Well, there are these special stores in the Tokyo airports, and they offer duty free products. And I don’t know a lot about this topic, but as far as sake is concerned, there is a good variety of well known brands that have placement in these duty free shops. and for several brands, it’s a pretty big money earner. And getting placement in these duty free shops in the airport is a great way to get distributed. Now, there’s one thing you really need to be careful of. If you fly back to the U. S. and you’re going to land domestically, like, let’s say you fly from Haneda, to, um, Chicago, and then you change planes and then you go to New York, you can’t bring the duty free carry on sake into the plane because
John Puma: 9:24
Oh, that’s a problem mm
Timothy Sullivan: 9:27
you’re, not flying direct to your destination, you really can’t buy duty free sake. at the airport because you’re switching planes and you can’t carry those on domestically. So if you’re flying direct from Tokyo to your final destination, it is a great way to buy two or three bottles. I, on my last trip where I was flying direct, I got some Noguchi Junmai Daiginjo and some Kuheiji, some really high end sakes. And they’re, of course, so much cheaper there than they would be in the States. So Duty Free is your last chance cafe when you’re leaving Japan and you’re flying direct to your destination in the US. It’s really worth it to pick up three or even four bottles and just bring them along to the States.
John Puma: 10:18
Okay. And, and that is, that is one liter by the book. Okay.
Timothy Sullivan: 10:24
Technically, here’s the,
John Puma: 10:26
I said by the book,
Timothy Sullivan: 10:28
if you are arriving with more than one liter, technically you’re supposed to declare it and pay some very small duty on the import of the alcohol. But everything I’ve heard from people who do that, the, the officers just wave them through it. They don’t want to be bothered with the paperwork for 2 and 30 cents of duty.
John Puma: 10:51
so, um, so let’s say you are not going to limit yourself to the sakes that are available, at the airport. And again, these are very high end sakes. As, As, as Tim mentioned, he got some Noguchi, some really nice Noguchi from there. And, but let’s say you, you know, you’re, you’re walking around Tokyo, you’re going to a shop, and you see something that just looks really nice, and you have never gotten it in America before, and you want to take it home with you. You can do that. It, it takes a little bit of, you should, there should be some prep, but you can do that. Now, uh, for me, I always bring these things called wineskins, that’s something that I prefer. They, you can buy them on Amazon, they come in like packs of eight or whatever. Uh, and basically they are sealed, bubble wrap, wine shaped, containers that have double, command strip closing on them that is technically reusable. and so the idea is that your sake is safe in there with the bubble wrap. And if it does happen to break, the double seal will keep the liquid inside the bag. And so You know, you are putting glass into luggage. Your mileage may vary. You may have some bad situations with that. and we’ll talk about that in a little bit too, but generally speaking, that’s what I like to do. There are, uh, I want to say many of these shops in Japan will bubble wrap things for you and your mileage may vary on the quality of the bubble wrapping. In some cases, uh, some, some more reputable places, I don’t even bother with the wineskin because they wrap it so well that I just feel very confident in them.
Timothy Sullivan: 12:30
I have some thoughts on. That I have never used wineskins, so I can’t say they’re Sake Revolution TM approved because 50 percent of us have never tried.
John Puma: 12:42
Mm
Timothy Sullivan: 12:42
But what I’ve done in the past with success has been asked the shop to bubble wrap it. I just say I’m traveling with the bottle and usually in Japan. They’re pretty hardcore about their wrapping. And yeah, so it’s very securely wrapped. And then what I do is in my suitcase, I would usually take some of my t shirts or some laundry and wrap it in that. The number one most important thing I’ve experienced is that there should be no movement, like no shaking. So the bottle should be. Secure and strapped down. If there’s empty space in the suitcase and things can slosh around, that’s a recipe for disaster. So even if you fill it up with like crumpled newspaper or something so that there’s no movement of the stuff inside. And the other thing that I think is really important, I. had great success once I bought a metal suitcase. Like a, I have an aluminum suitcase that is not flexible in any way, and that has helped a lot. So I really recommend a metal firm sided suitcase versus ones that are fabric or, do you know what I mean? That
John Puma: 13:56
Right, Right. Right. So personally my shell and I only have Suitcases, so they’re hardback, but they’re plastic right there. They’re reasonably firm They’re not nearly as fine. No, I know your case your aluminum case and they’re not like that But they’re also not fabric and they’re not very squishy
Timothy Sullivan: 14:15
I want to talk about another version. Uh, uh, a version up from what we’re talking about.
John Puma: 14:23
A version up from what we’re
Timothy Sullivan: 14:24
yeah, so we’re talking about bringing bottles, wrapping them in bubble wrapping clothes and putting them in your suitcase and putting your, checking your suitcase. But I did something on my last trip. I brought home half a case. I brought home six bottles in a box. So on my last day in Tokyo, I went to a liquor store, a sake shop, Imadaya in Ginza, and I purchased six bottles and I asked them to put it in a cardboard box and bubble wrap the heck out of everything. And then I took that box and I checked it into the airplane as a piece of luggage
John Puma: 15:06
Yeah.
Timothy Sullivan: 15:08
and it arrived with no problem. So that is another thing you can do. If you bring a dedicated carrier for sake, you can put bottles in there and bring them back. At that point, you reach a level of sake where it’s probably good to report it that you’re bringing in a case or whatever. And it’s very common that people come back from Europe with a case of wine. So it’s not anything to be worried about. If the agents do want to impose a duty or a tax on it, again, it’s very low and
John Puma: 15:45
low. It’s worth it. It’s totally worth it.
Timothy Sullivan: 15:48
I’ve heard from so many people that even if they do pull you aside and charge you for it, it’s very low. And usually they don’t want to be bothered with the paperwork for something of that, that size. So it’s really worth it. I brought six amazing bottles of sake and they were a fraction of the cost if you could buy them here. And if most, in most cases, you couldn’t buy them here, which is the whole point of this episode. So, it’s an amazing way to get some sake to bring back to share with your friends and family and enjoy for yourself. Highly recommended. And if you can deal with a little bit of the packing stress, you’re golden, right?
John Puma: 16:30
Yeah. I do think that while we’re talking about sake that we brought back, we should take a quick moment here and sip some sake that we brought back.
Timothy Sullivan: 16:38
Yes. And we are breaking our rule. Like you said, these are sake that are not for sale in the U. S. Sorry, dear listener. Just this once, we’re going to tease you with a sake you cannot get in the States.
John Puma: 16:51
right, but we are going to be giving you our recommendations for things that you could find when you’re in Japan next time you go
Timothy Sullivan: 16:57
Exactly. Exactly. So for all of you going to Japan, look out for these two brands. John and I have picked. Each something different that we brought back from our most recent trip, that we think is really delicious and really
John Puma: 17:10
Yes, and I’m pretty sure we bought both of these bottles at the same place
Timothy Sullivan: 17:14
Yes.
John Puma: 17:15
Yes, and that would be Imariya in Ginza 6 in Ginza highly recommended it’s in the basement 2 level. Yeah
Timothy Sullivan: 17:25
And they have a great sake selection, walls and walls of refrigerated sake, and lots of modern stuff, lots of classic stuff. You really can’t go wrong, even if you
John Puma: 17:38
they and they will wrap up your sake really well as well
Timothy Sullivan: 17:40
Yes. All right, well, I am chomping at the bit. Is it all right if I introduce My sake first.
John Puma: 17:47
Yes, I think so
Timothy Sullivan: 17:49
All right. Well, I’m going to reveal one of the all time favorite sakes I’ve had in Japan. It is not exported. It’s from a small producer. And when I go to Japan, I’m on the lookout. I’m lucky that This sake is distributed in Tokyo, so at some specialty sake shops in Tokyo, I am able to source it, and I always stock up whenever I see it. The sake that I’m introducing today is Tanaka Roku-ju-go, or Tanaka 65. So that’s the name of the sake. The brewery is Shiraito, and it’s from Fukuoka Prefecture. The brewery was founded in 1855, and Katsunori Tanaka is the eighth generation president and he’s a very young sake brewer. He got his education and returned to the brewery as a worker in 2009 and. They make a brand called Shiraito, but this is their secondary brand that the son of the former president brought in, and he named it after his family name, Tanaka. It’s from Fukuoka. And the one thing I’ll say about their production is that they use. a method that is really unique as far as their pressing goes. It’s called haneki shibori, and it’s a very old press where they have a long arm coming off and they actually hang stones hanging off the side of the press. So they use these small rocks to pull down the arm that squeezes the sake. So it’s a super old fashioned pressing method and they, they make a wonderful, wonderful style of sake. And yeah, so I can give you the stats real quick for mine. So again, this is Shiraito shuzo. This is from Fukuoka. The rice type is Yamada Nishiki. The milling rate, as it says on the front label, Tanaka 65, the milling rate is 65. So this is a Junmai grade sake. The alcohol is 14 percent and it is one of my favorites. So if you ever see Tanaka 65 in Japan, grab it and try it. So John, I’m on the edge of my seat. What sake did you smuggle? I mean, what sake did you bring back from Japan?
John Puma: 20:22
So, um, I brought back, uh, so this is a brand that actually recently became available in the United States, but it is a rice variety that is not currently available. And for me, that’s one of the fun things about going to Japan is like finding all these breweries. And they’re these brands that I thoroughly enjoy and I love their stuff. And then finding out that they make all sorts of other stuff that I’ve never had before. And, and so this is the Gaki Masamune, Junmai Ginjo. Aiyama now, Kama is, uh, from Fukushima Prefecture. The name of the brewery is Oki dai Kichi Honten. Aiyama is a rice type that has really been heating up in Japan. You’ve seeing it a lot more recently, the last couple of years it’s become like a staple and for a lot of different brands. but it hasn’t quite started coming over to the States yet. That’s it’s going to happen, but, when it does, it’s going to be a wonderful day. But, for the moment though, it’s something that’s usually just available in Japan. And I really enjoy this variety of sake. One, when I was looking at that list of sakes I brought over earlier, I think like five of them were Aiyama.
Timothy Sullivan: 21:32
Hmm.
John Puma: 21:32
I think like four of them were from brands you can get in the US that they just don’t have the Aiyama yet So it’s really nice to be able to get something Familiar but new in this case. Gaki Masamune is a fantastic brand. Everything they make is wonderful Uh, in the states right now you can get their, um, their Honjozo and their Junmai, and they’re both fabulous. And in my apartment you can get the Aiyama, milled down to 60 percent of its original size, and it is, uh, 15 percent alcohol by volume.
Timothy Sullivan: 22:03
Wonderful. So it sounds like we both got some really good smaller batch sakes, right? And I think we should open them up and get them in our glass and give people a tasting note for each of them.
John Puma: 22:19
Absolutely. Why don’t you go first, Tim?
Timothy Sullivan: 22:22
right. All So this is again, the Tanaka Rokujugo Junmai or the Tanaka 65. To me, this smells amazing. So the aroma is very gentle, very soft. And it has notes of pear, apple, and melon, maybe a little pineapple, but very subtle. The version that I’m drinking now is the pasteurized version. They also sell an unpasteurized nama version of this, which is almost like an usunigori. It has a little bit of cloudiness to it, and that comes from that rustic press that they’re using, that old fashioned press. So, uh, just absolutely lovely. So the aroma is very Enchanting, hints of melon, apple pear, as I said. And I’ll give it a taste. So on the palate, it’s really clean, soft, gentle, round, balanced, kind of like everything. For me, this kind of hits the sweet spot of balance between just a hint of riciness and those lovely fruit notes. It’s not overwhelming 14 percent alcohol, 65 percent milling. It just, it kind of just hits that sweet spot. Do you know what I mean? Just like all, all the elements are in balance. And. It’s just charming. So I love it.
John Puma: 23:47
Sounds good. All right. So now it’s my turn. This again is the Gaki, Masamune, Junmai, Ginjo, Aiyama. Hmm. So the fun thing for me about Aiyama is I often get. A little strawberry on the nose. And that I think is a lot of fun. I think it’s a fun thing to get on sake. So it’s got your tropical fruit, but it leans a little bit more in the berry realm. Specifically, as I mentioned, strawberry. And that’s exactly what I’m getting here. Oh, wow. And this is just nice and fruity. It’s got a nice amount of body to it. It’s not like. So full bodied that it’s Thick or cloying or anything like that. It’s still light enough. The finish is nice and crisp but the initial burst of flavor on your palate is just wow Just wonderful wonderful stuff Hmm absolutely, I cannot recommend this enough and when I am a starts coming to the States You’re all gonna be very happy people. Since we’re sipping some sake, I need to make a slight confession about this year’s batch. Uh, for the first time ever, uh, and again, we’ve been at this for a while. For the first time ever, we did have a loss. We did lose a bottle.
Timothy Sullivan: 25:16
Oh, you mean coming back, you had a broken bottle
John Puma: 25:19
We had a broken, but we had a fallen soldier. It happened finally. Um, and it is very, it was kind of heartbreaking. So what happened was, uh, our flight was pretty late in the day. So we had our luggage shipped to the airport ahead of us. And we did a little shopping around Tokyo and we went to the Kochi, antenna shop. And we’ve talked about antenna shops before, I believe on the show. And we came across a sake from Bijofu, which is a brand we get in the States using a yeast that I’ve literally never heard of. And it was, so it was a Bijofu, Junmai, Ginjo. Cell 66 and I did not know what cell 66 was so I felt like I needed to have this so we bought it and when we got to the airport, I put it in a Wine skin and kind of stuffed it in my bag haphazardly Which was a mistake but when you’re in the airport, you don’t want to be open up all your bags you feel like I feel like a nuisance and I so I did not give it the attention it needed and unfortunately Um, when we got home, we discovered that that one had broken, but the wineskin did its job
Timothy Sullivan: 26:34
Okay, so the sake didn’t get all over your clothes, but
John Puma: 26:37
A little sake got out that the wineskin was on its like fourth use, I think. So don’t use them over and over again, maybe.
Timothy Sullivan: 26:46
So, do you think that there was just too much wiggle room in the bag? That it wasn’t like
John Puma: 26:51
Hmm, I’m not sure exactly. Um, I think that maybe I did maybe put a little too much in that might have been part of the problem We realized when we got home that if I would have put it in a different by a different case that There was a lot more space in another case that I could have used and I didn’t just didn’t think of it. I was I was in a rush and I did not think clearly and so one bottle one bottle fell For the most part, we did all right, I think.
Timothy Sullivan: 27:21
Well, you can’t win them all. And I think that for all the years you’ve been going to Japan, your track record’s been amazing. I want to mention two other things, picking up on one thing you said, just said, John, which is about shipping. Your suitcases to the airport. And that’s an insider pro tip that I don’t think many people going to Japan know about. Japan has a highly developed domestic shipping network, and you can send your heavy luggage. from your hotel to the airport or from one hotel to another hotel. You just have to plan one day ahead and get it there by the deadline and then for a small amount of money somewhere between like Between 8 and 20, you can ship a suitcase and it will arrive safe, sound, pristine, cared for. And, it is such a convenient way to move things around. And one thing that I’ve done in the past is I’ve had my, like my last hotel in. Japan, the last night I’m staying, and if I’m shopping around the country as I’m traveling, I’ll send things to that hotel, and they’ll all be there waiting for me when I check in on that last day.
John Puma: 28:41
Yes. And it’s a great feeling to open the door to your room and all the stuff that you’ve been buying is waiting for you.
Timothy Sullivan: 28:46
Yes.
John Puma: 28:47
It’s like Christmas.
Timothy Sullivan: 28:48
Yeah. If you have a suitcase that you want to pack some sake in and you send it to the airport, you don’t have to lug it on the train or you don’t have to lug it in the taxi. It can just be waiting for you at the pickup area in the terminal. And I’ve done that a few times and it is so convenient and just makes traveling with a heavy suitcase filled with your sake so much easier.
John Puma: 29:13
Yeah. and for the record, though, with regard to packing sake, and this is probably something we should have mentioned earlier, with regard to packing sake, space isn’t always the problem. Weight is where they get you. Or weight’s where you’re going to get yourself. And I don’t know if it’s the case for all airlines, but typically they’re looking at, um, a weight limit of about 50 pounds if you’re flying, um, economy or premium economy. so 50 pounds, you figure your bag, the, you know, the hard case itself is at least 10 pounds. If you’re using something aluminum, like what Tim has, it’s probably closer to 13 or 14.
Timothy Sullivan: 29:56
Yeah. And sake is heavy. It is.
John Puma: 29:58
sake is heavy.
Timothy Sullivan: 29:59
It’s heavy. So if you’re flying economy and you don’t have status on an airline, 50 pounds is the limit. And like I recommended before, packing things into a box and checking a wine box as a piece of luggage is another option. And I’ve done that with wine boxes that are just You know, filled with bubble wrap. And I’ve also done it with like wine boxes that have the styrofoam form where you can put the wine bottles in and both have worked very, very well. So sending a box as, as a piece of luggage is another option to keep in mind.
John Puma: 30:35
I have to say the box from the store seems like a really that’s a pro move that I had not previously Considered I will say I was at another shop the very last day. I was there and they were preparing boxes to ship out to people domestically and they were doing six bottle boxes of, of ishobin.
Timothy Sullivan: 30:56
Hmm,
John Puma: 30:57
to myself, maybe that’s the good way to get the ishobins home.
Timothy Sullivan: 31:02
I’m wondering what the weight is of one box with six Isshobin. I wonder how much that weighs.
John Puma: 31:07
A lot.
Timothy Sullivan: 31:09
It’s heavy. And I think as a, as a final note, there are custom suitcases that are made just for transporting bottles. And I am seriously, seriously considering. Investing in one of these. You can bring a case of sake home in one of these wine suitcases. 12 bottles fit in there
John Puma: 31:33
that’s impressive. And 12 bottles is under the limit as long as the case isn’t too heavy. So as long as you’re as long as the container isn’t very heavy you you’d be alright
Timothy Sullivan: 31:43
Yeah. So those dedicated wine suitcases are another option. I’m looking into them. I haven’t pulled the trigger or made any decision, but if I go to Japan more and more in the future, now that We’re traveling there more. I think it might be worth the investment to bring back, a good amount of sake each time.
John Puma: 32:02
I might I might go into the realm of what you did two trips ago and just buy a, by a 12 pack styrofoam, encased box and we’re always coming up with new ways to bring sake back.
Timothy Sullivan: 32:16
Yes.
John Puma: 32:16
and improved ways.
Timothy Sullivan: 32:18
But for any listeners who are going to Japan, at the very least, if you’re a sake drinker and a sake fan, you should stop into a sake shop in Japan and pick a few bottles. off the shelf, put them in your suitcase and bring them home and enjoy them with friends and family here. Like it’s an experience that is so rewarding and so nice and your friends and family will love you for it.
John Puma: 32:43
Yes. At least I hope they do. And if they, if your friends do not love you for it, find new friends.
Timothy Sullivan: 32:48
Yes. Find new friends or share with us.
John Puma: 32:51
Or share with us, yeah, we’ll be your friends.
Timothy Sullivan: 32:54
All right. Well, so nice to taste with you, John, and so fun to break our rule and taste something not available in the States. Uh, we hope our listeners will forgive us just this one time. And we want to thank our listeners so much 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 to do that is to join our community on Patreon. We are a listener supported show, and the support that we receive from our patrons allows us to host, edit, and produce this podcast for you regularly. Thank you so much to our patrons. If you’d like to learn more, visit Patreon.com/SakeRevolution.
John Puma: 33:35
Uh, and be sure to visit our website SakeRevolution.Com. We’ve got a lot of fun things there. Things like. show notes for every episode, transcript of every episode. Uh, we’ve got, there’s a separate part of the site that lists every sake we’ve ever had on the show with all of the stats. If you’re curious about if we’ve ever featured your favorite sake before. You can go over there. If you’re curious about a sake we’ve we’ve shown before and you can’t remember all the details They’re all on the website. In addition. The website has a link to our store and Our store you can pick up things like stickers You can pick up things like t shirts working on a couple of other goodies in the future Buy them for the sake revolution Lover in your life. With that said, Tim, I hope you have a little bit of that sake left in your glass. All right. A little bit. All right. Oh, everybody, please raise your glass. Remember to keep drinking sake and Kampai!
Timothy Sullivan: 34:41
Kanpai!