Greetings to all,
There is but one way to open this newsletter. Let us all offer our condolences, hope, and prayers to those
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that have suffered loss of life and livelihood in the recent earthquake-tsunami. With every passing day, the depth of the tragedy reveals itself, and all attempts at fathoming an answer to the “why” question are futile. Let us all push the envelope of our ability to be compassionate and do whatever we can. Please see the small section in the newsletter below for details on how this hit the sake industry, and how you can help.
As I usually do, I bit off more than I could chew this winter with SPCI and II and more than that. As such, this is actually the first graduate newsletter to go out this year. There is lots to say and announce.
Also, I will do my best to publish this a little more often -perhaps every three weeks or so – so as to make up for missing a couple issues, and to tighten our lines of communication as we grow during this crucial time. The support of all of you will be hugely appreciated.
Warm regards, and enjoy the newsletter,
John
Sake Education Council News
Congratulations to us all! The Sake Education Council website is live, and it is very slick in design and function.
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Please be sure to check it out.Those of you that are CSPs and ASPs, you will find your names listed on that site. Also, assuming you are into social media,please like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
ALSO: from next month, this “SPC Alumni” newsletter will become the official newsletter of the Sake Education Council. The other directors and I discussed at length how to best handle an informational newsletter for our community. One thing we did not want to do was to overload folks with information. We all have too much to read as it is!
As such, it was agreed upon that the best way available was to convert this newsletter to the SEC newsletter. There are folks that have taken SPC I and II but have not tested or have not passed the CSP and ASP certification tests that are still receiving this email, and that is perfectly appropriate as is. This will at least keep you interested and involved, and hopefully motivated to get certified in time!
So: next month, look for a new design and content in this newsletter. Look for more SEC news as well. We hope it serves your sake needs over the years to come.
Congratulations!
The following individuals passed the exam in January following SPCI and are hereby recognized by the SEC as Certified Sake Professionals.
Tetsuma Jimbo
Max Levy
Dan Sterry
Fang Jian Ging
Edith Au Young
Abe Wortman
Candice Hwa
Cynthia Walden
Mike Fong
Yusuke Watanabe
Keiko Madarame
Julian Houseman
Yoshi Nakano
The following individuals passed the exam in February following SPCII and are hereby recognized by the SEC as Advanced Sake Professionals
Alan Lau
Avery Martin
Brock Bennett
Carl Geenen
Chi Lee
Ying Lee
Chris Griese
Iori Kataoka
Jocelyn Loftstrom
Karise Maruyama
Katy Chen
Kerry Tamura
Michael Brenyo
Michael Emmons
Michael Tremblay
Miki Ellis
Pat Ellis
Sylvain Huet
Yasu Suzuki
Again, congratulations to all!
SAKE TOURS 2011 -They went awesomely well!
Two sake tours run by Saketours.com, whom many of you know better as Etsuko Nakamura, together with
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my involvement, went very very well this past month. One was to Akita, February 21 to 25, and consisted of almost all SPC alumni. The second was to Tottori and Shimane, and was a smaller tour. But both ended up to be very engaging, educational and massively fun for all involved. I am sure that we will run the tours again next year (although dates and locales have yet to be decided).
The tours were not without some drama, as the San-in (Shimane and Tottori) started the Monday after the earthquake and tsunami here. But we did it anyway, and it was well worth having done.
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This year we offered a discount to SPC alumni and that may happen again next year. But regardless, the tours were very enjoyable for all involved, so we hope you all have a chance next year or soon thereafter to participate for yourselves. More about the just-finished tours can be seen on the site: http://saketours.com
Stay in touch to learn about next year’s tours!
More about the current situation in Japan
…and how it is affecting the sake industry, and what you can do to help.
By now we are all very well aware of what is happening here in Japan. With respect to the earthquake and subsequent tsunami in the Tohoku area of Japan, dozens and dozens of breweries have been affected. As far as I can tell, perhaps ten or so have been totally destroyed, and even amongst those there are several that have vowed to rebuild. We will in the end lose just a few. But the effects on the others that have been affected, everything from structural damage to a simple lack of gasoline or electricity are the remaining problems.
You can read a list of what I have compiled and subsequently updated here .
You can help monetarily through one of the links here.
However, there are other – arguably more effective in the long run – ways of helping Japan. To illustrate that, allow me to reproduce part of an email I sent as a reply to a journalist inquiry.
“How bad will this situation be for sake in general? i.e. Will this hugely impact the amount of exports? Is anyone talking about future problems, such as toxic water supplies and/or not being able to grow rice in certain areas?”
My reply:
“I will be honest with you: the effect this has on exports is a function of the perception that folks overseas have of the situation. There is no danger to any sake produced here. Sure, tons of product – both fermenting and in storage – was lost in the earthquake. But from what made it through, the main real problem will be shipping it amidst a damaged infrastructure and priorities of getting food and fuel, etc. to those that need it in the part of nothe Tohoku area that was affected. Again, please remember this is a fraction of the region – while the devastation there is hard to describe, most of the Tohoku region and the rest of Japan were not affected. Water comes from deep wells, and is not affected (unless the wells have collapsed of course, but they could be re-dug.). The areas damaged by the tsunami are about 4 km (2.5 miles or so) inland along the ocean in Tohoku, and represent a miniscule amount of total rice farmland; furthermore, the best sake rice is grown way out in the western half of Japan, nowhere near the devastated region. So neither rice nor water will be an issue. There are no breweries that I know of near the power plant. (Correction: there are four, but none are exported.) But the question will be how people overseas react to the tone that much of the media is adopting toward all of this. So the only ones that might speak of future problems are those looking for headlines that get attention. I realize that this might not make the best story; however, it is the truth.
“Also, the secondary economic impact is worth speaking of. Most sake is consumed locally, or rather, most breweries sell most of their sake locally, even if they export or distribute nationally. But no one in that region feels like drinking sake now, so more than one brewer has asked to promote the sake of the region within and without Japan to help ensure that they can still maintain some sales.”
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So how can we help? By guarding assiduously against the hype that is sure to come. There will no doubt be a whole host of folks avoiding sake and anything else from Japan for fears of radiation. There; I said it. While it is not my intention to underplay the reality and significance of those dangers, nor to comment on the persons, organizations or technology behind them, it is very much my intention to assert that by the time it gets to consumers in the US it has been verified for safety several times. Sake is brewed in thick-walled kura, with water and rice very, very far from the nuclear disaster. (Anyone having gone through SPCI and especially SPCII will be aware of this!) To ignorantly and/or fearfully bias against sake, Japanese food, or anything Japanese because of what is happening in a very small and contained region can only be detrimental to Japan, Japan’s recovery, the economy everywhere, and of course, the sake world. If you want to help, vigilantly guard against hype.
I guess I do believe that most foodie-like folks are savvy enough to realize this. But I do feel strongly that it is something we can all do, and something that needs to be done, and will continue to be necessary for a while.
Other Industry News
Amidst the backdrop of mostly bad news, I feel the need to present some news with at least a bit of a positive spin on it. It ain’t much, I know, but let us take what we can get.
193 Registered as “Certified Toji” Back in December of last year, an organization of 17 toji guilds in Japan held the first test to recognize toji as certified. The group is called the “Nihonshuzou Toji Kumiai Rengo-kai” (日本酒造杜氏組合連合会) and they have created the test known as the Nihonshuzou Toji Seido (日本酒造杜氏制,度Sake Brewing Toji System) to combat the graying of the toji world, and the lack of toji successors.
This first test was passed by 193 individuals, including 43 from the Nanbu Toji guild (Iwate), 36 from the Echigo Toji guild (Niigata), 26 from Nagano (presumably the Suwa Toji guild), and 25 from Kyushu region. The experience of the applicants ranged from five years to 54 years, their ages from 31 years old to 86 years old. What a range! Three of them were women. From amongst the 17 toji guilds that are a part of this group, there are 773 toji members, 390 sanyaku (see my main newsletter due out in a day or two, but this term refers to the three people just under the toji, i.e. kashira, or right-hand person of the toji, the person in charge of the koji, and the person in charge of the moto) and 1457 normal kurabito.
Unprecedented Cooperation
In January it was announced that the 11 largest brewers have formed a cooperative effort to market and popularize sake. Dubbed “Nihonshu ga Umai!” (Sake is tasty!) they will begin by sending out information on enjoying sake with the seasons, including 5000 DVDs on enjoying sake warm. The 11 companies are all from Nada, Fushimi and Itami (the brewing capital before Nada). They are: Hakutsuru, Nihonzakari, Takara, Tatsuuma (Hakushika), Ozeki, Gekkeikan,Kenbishi, Konishi (Shirayuki), Sawanotsuru, Kikumasamune, and Kizakura.
Together, they comprise a whopping 48.5% of all sake! All but the largest Hakutsuru, are down in sales at least some from last year. Sake sales are now one-third of their peak in the 1970s. Some are not expecting much from the effort, says the article. Let us hope it does have a positive effect!
Asahikiku is Back!
A favorite of mine, tiny Asahikiku in Fukuoka, has demonstrated the courage to rebuild their entire kura after a fire
destroyed it late May. They have been around since 1900 and bravely decided not to throw in the towel despite the gloomy environment facing sake. They plan to brew 600 koku this year, and you know I will be drinking their stuff! They began brewing in February so I may need to wait a bit! (Pictured at right is their Asahikiku “Ayaka” Junmai Ginjo.)
Admittedly, they are not a big brewery, nor even that well known. And while I am fond of their subtle, soft style, my point here is not that I am happy that I can drink sake I like. It is more the signifcance of the effort that I want to salute with admiration. I admire their courage and willingness to rise from the ashes – literally as well as figuratively – and want to support that. They are not exporting as far as I know, so it might be hard to drink it outside of Japan for now, but let us all feel encouraged by what they have undertaken.
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ANNOUNCEMENTS AND EVENTS
Sake Professional Course in New York City
July 31 ~ August 2, 2011 “No sake stone remains left unturned.”
The next stateside running of the Sake Professional Course will be held at Astor Center in New York City on Sunday, July 31 through Tuesday, August 2, 2011. The course will run basically 9 to 5 all three days, and will conclude with certification testing for the Certified Sake Specialist, recognized by the Sake Education Council. For more information go here. Feel free to ask me any questions about the course, or make a reservation with an email to info@sake-world.com.
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Year end greetings to all SPC graduates,
May this find you well and enjoying the seasons wherever you are. All too often I begin a newsletter expressing incredulity toward how fast time has flown, so I will spare you all that this time. 2011 is all but upon us. As I am with my family for the holidays, as I expect many of you are, this month’s newsletter will be a tad abridged.
Also, continuing from last month, if you would like a software (.pdf) copy of the most recent SPC manual, it is yours for the asking – see more in the newsletter below.
Best of all things in 2011,
John
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Sake News
ARE WE HAVING FUN YET? More bad news in terms of sake sales. Sake sales for October of this year were down 10 percent over last year. Blame was laid on the warm weather and deflation. Shochu was down 7.4 percent as well. The only thing up that I could see was western spirits, mainly whiskey, thank to the cursed highball boom. Let us all hope, pray and work for something more positive in 2011.
INTERESTING STATISTICS There are currently about 1800 breweries with licenses, by the official count anyway. But that includes bottling companies that must have licenses just to bottle. It is common knowledge there are about 1350 licensed brewers, but still, many outsource their production (oke-gai), so there are likely about 1100 to 1200 kura that are actually actively brewing. A survey from Chuokai about sake exportation got 500 responses. That right there is less than half of the actively brewing companies, so take the following with a grain of salt.
Continue reading ‘Sake Professional Course Alumni Newsletter #19 December 2010’
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Tags: john gauntner, sake, sake professional course, sake tours, sake world, Tokyo
Greetings Alumni,
I hope you are all well.
November shot by, didn’t it? Come to think of it, so did January to October, and come to think of it more, so did the last 48 years (for me, anyway). But I digress. Brewing here is in full swing, and surely shinshu shall ship Sakegura in the snow shoon from many kura.
SPC Portland ran without a hitch, thanks to the support of many people to whom I feel massive gratitude. The names of the 46 folks that passed the Certified Sake Professional exam after the course are listed below for those that are interested. Please read this section to find out how NOT to be an ASS.
Also, Sake Professional Course Japan begins January 24 this year. There are currently about ten spots open, so by all means tell your friends, bosses, coworkers and others that might be interested.
While I will try to get one more alumni newsletter out before the end of the year, let me take this opportunity to wish you all a happy year-ending holiday season, albeit already started.
Also, for those that did not have a chance to respond last month, please feel free to fill out the questionnaire about Level III SPC. This is the final month in which I will gather information, and I will seek to develop a plan from here on out. Yoroshiku!.
Finally, if you would like a software (pdf) copy of the most recent SPC manual, it is yours for the asking – see more in the newsletter below.
Warm regards,
John
Sake News
STATISTICS can be helpful, but it is too easy to have too much of a good thing. And the industry publications I read do just that: stats upon stats upon stats. Maybe this gets to me mostly because they are all bad news.
HOW BAD? Well, sake sales (shipments from the kura, actually) from January to the end of August for 2010 were down 7.9% from the same period last year, and for the month of September alone they were again down 9.6% from the previous year. And it is not as if this is a first time occurrence – as you all well know, it has been going on for decades.
The only consolation is that shochu was down 8.2% (January to August), and beer and all beer-like beverages were down 6.2% for January to October. So with a few exceptions (see below), all alcohol is down. (Nuthin’ against shochu or beer-like beverages!) I guess with negative population growth like Japan currently has, an ever-increasing alcohol consumption is not a good thing… still.
A breakdown by type of the September numbers shows that ginjo was actually up 0.3%! Hey, I know, not much, but we will take what we can get. Surprisingly, junmai-shu was down a whopping 13%, but I personally think that reflects a drop in sales of some of the very cheap junmai-shu that was made legally junmai-shu by the lowered seimai-buai regulations a few years ago. Honjozo continues to hover in the no-man’s land between futsuu-shu and premium sake and always seems to take the biggest hits, down 13% as well. Futsuu-shu was down 9.4%.
Interestingly, the numbers for ginjo include all four ginjo types, i.e. ginjo, daiginjo, junmai ginjo and junmai daginjo. They then parenthetically break-out the junmai ginjo within that (in this case, that was down 6.2%, showing us how much aru-ten (non-junmai) ginjo is really consumed!), but still, as far as the stat-keepers at the NTA (National Tax Administration, AKA The Ministry of Taxation) are concerned, ginjo and daiginjo are all bundled together, and daiginjo stats are “hidden” within the ginjo stats. Interesting.
As quietly alluded to above, not all alcohol was down. Whiskey was up almost 20% (19.4%). Why? Marketing money.
Suntory, the largest whiskey manufacturer in Japan, months ago started a “Highball” campaign that has been immensely
successful. Highball bars are popping up all over, and everyone across all demographics is embracing it. Highballs are easy to make, easy to drink, can be adjusted in strength to fit all tastes, at home or at restaurants. And Suntory is paying a fortune (I surmise) to model / actress Koyuki (she was Tom Cruise’s woman – after he killed her husband – in “The Last Samurai.” Go figger. Only Tom could pull that off) for ubiquitous ads in every media, including television ads. It is a very thorough and very effective marketing campaign.
Continue reading ‘Sake Professional Course Alumni Newsletter #18 November 2010’
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Tags: john gauntner, sake, sake professional course, sake tours, sake world, SPC Portland
Greetings Alumni,
I hope you are all well.
Well, the fall being the fall, easily the busiest season in the sake world (outside of the kura, that is), has firmly ensconced itself
while I was looking the other way. Numerous tastings, seminars and two trips to Europe have made it really fly by.
And the industry has arisen from its summer slumber as well. By now, almost everywhere at least has some moromi fermenting away, although only those brewing a large amount of many tanks will have pressed any sake yet. But the 2010 Season, “BY22″, is well underway.
There are a handful of events, including SPC Portland, SPCII, Joy of Sake, Sake Tours, and more to announce, so please give this newsletter a good look-over. If nothing else, please do yourself a favor and scan the Sake News section below as this is stuff that is only in this newsletter.
Also, for those that did not have a chance to respond last month, please feel free to fill out the questionnaire about Level III SPC.
Warm regards,
John
Sake News
THIS YEAR’S RICE will be a mix of so-so and less so-so. As you may know, it was the second hottest summer on record. And that means it does not get cold at night. Hot days are fine, but the cold nights (getting down to at least 20C) are crucial for getting large grains and – most importantly – big shimpaku (starchy white centers of sake rice grains). The colder nights make the starches move toward the center and concentrate there. Without that, the starches, fats and proteins are all mixed up and the rice does not benefit as much from milling.
I have heard that the Aleutians have like 25 words for snow. I dunno, maybe it was 13, but it is surely more than we had in Ohio. Well, the same goes for those that grow rice in Japan. There are countless words that do not make it into the mainstream vocabulary.
Continue reading ‘Sake Professional Course Alumni Newsletter #17 October 2010’
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Tags: john gauntner, sake, sake professional course, sake tours, sake world
Greetings Alumni,
I hope you are all well.
The vernal equinox is just around the corner, and so is the sake brewing season. Summer was hot, but rice reports have yet to 
come in. I grew Yamada Nishiki in my yard for the third year this summer, and wow, it really grew well. It is about 150cm tall and several brewers have been impressed. It convinced me of the power of Yamada’s DNA, something about which I had not been convinced heretofore.
I will be running a Sake Professional Course in November in Portland Oregon, if you know anyone that would be interested in attending. Please do spread the word!
And, after being hassled by too many alumni for too long, I am considering trying a Level III SPC. If you are at all interested, please fill out the survey and get it to me when you can.
And things are finally cooling down, at least where I am. I hope this finds you well.
Warm regards,
John
Notes From Fall Tastings
Last week was the peak of the fall traditional tasting season, and I was out and about doing five industry tastings in three days. It is tiring, but very valuable. Surprisingly, though, I find that even more than tasting a gazillion sake in a week, what I value more is the information exchange with the brewers. I learn so much about what is happening – for better or for worse – in the industry, and much about rice, yeast and brewing methods. So this month, let me present a synopsis of some of the more interesting tidbits.
Continue reading ‘Sake Professional Course Alumni Newsletter #16 September 2010’
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Tags: john gauntner, sake, sake professional course, sake tours, sake world
Greetings Alumni,
I hope you are all well.
Yet another record-setting hot summer. I hope you are comfortable in the midst of it.
It looks like I will move forward with another SPC, this one in Portland, in early November. Please be sure to pass the info on to all those you know that might be interested in learning about sake.
With a whole lineup of fall tastings just around the corner, it is time to hone the palate. And hope for cooler weather.
Hope you are all well,
Warm regards,
John
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88 Types of Rice on the 8th Day of the 8th Month
The Pre-Harvest Golden Arch On the 8th of this month, Haruo Matsuzaki – whom many of you know – gave the 88th running of his “Nihonshu Shimin Kouza,” or “Sake Course for Ordinary Folks,” i.e. not professionals. Matsuzaki Sensei is a good friend, but also, perhaps my most significant teacher over these last 15 years. He does maybe two seminars a year now but back in the day, maybe 11 or 12 years ago, they were monthly. I still have all the notes…
But with his trademark dry sense of humor, on this day he gave a sake rice seminar with sake from dozens of brewers that collectively represented 88 types of rice. Not all official sake rice, mind you, but 88 of ‘em. (Well, almost…) Eighty-eight rice types represented on the eighth day of the eighth month.
Here, in a concise form, are some of the more important points of the seminar that preceded the tasting, and some discussions from brewers while tasting.
Continue reading ‘Sake Professional Course Alumnae Newsletter #15 August 2010’
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Tags: john gauntner, rice, sake, sake professional course, sake tours
Sake Education Council Formally Announced
I hope you are all well.
It is my pleasure to make a formal announcement of the presence of the Sake Education Council, the (soon to be not-for-profit) organization that is behind the certification and exams given at the Sake Professional Courses, and other similar sake education programs that will potentially be certified by the SEC.
Besides myself, there are three other directors on the SEC team: Paul Tanguay, Sally Mohr, and Jonathan Driver. You can learn more about the organization, its goals, and its directors at http://www.sakeeducationcouncil.org. Please, by all means, check out this site
right away for a bit more information. There is a press release, and a link to a more comprehensive presentation as well. Much more will be added to the site in due time.
How does this affect you? For those of you that have passed the Level I exam, you are now recognized by the SEC as having the Certified Sake Professional (CSP) qualification. And those of you that have passed Level II are now recognized as Advanced Sake Professional (ASP) certification holders.
Due to the logistics involved in making and sending out over 300 new certificates, we do not plan at this time to remake and resend them. (Should the need be overwhelming, we may consider possible methods, e.g. outsourcing.) But we do encourage you wholeheartedly to embrace and use the new CSP and ASP titles in your careers and sake-tasting circles. If you would like a letter to certify that you indeed do have the newly named qualifications, I can easily send you one. If you absolutely must have a new certificate then please contact me.
Thanks in advance for your support.
John Gauntner, Paul Tanguay, Sally Mohr, and Jonathan Driver
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Tags: john gauntner, sake, sake education council, sake world
