Blog »
2011 Golden Masu Awards
Golden Masu Award!The year 2011 is one I can assure you I will never forget. The March 11th Great East Japan Earthquake and it’s aftermath with stay with me forever. I was in Japan on that day and now that over 9 months have passed, I can see even more clearly how deeply it [...]
Sake Volunteer Project 2011: Urakasumi Brewery
Construction at UrakasumiOne of the final stops on our tohoku sake volunteer project for 2011 was the well known Urakasumi Brewery. I first visited Urakasumi in 2009 so I did get a chance to see the place before the disaster struck. I was encouraged to see that construction was well underway to fix the [...]
Sake Volunteer Project 2011: Suisen Brewery
Suisen President Mr. Konno in his temporary brewing facitilty in Ichinoseki, Iwate.Our next stop with the volunteer group was to visit Suisen Brewery in Iwate Prefecture. Suisen, located in the coastal town of Rikusentakata was one of the sake breweries that was completely destroyed by the tsunami on March 11th, and it’s owner [...]
Sake Volunteer Project 2011: Niizawa Brewery
I recently returned from a two week volunteer project to the Tohoku region of Japan. The Sake Volunteer Project was organized by the UK groups the Japan Affairs Forum and Action for Japan UK. The aim of the project was to visit and support breweries that sustained damage or destruction in the March [...]
Interviews »
Interview: Kazuhiro Sakurai, Dassai Sake Brewery
I had the pleasure of visiting the Dassai Brewery in January and February of this year for an extended stay. I learned a ton about sake brewing and life in Japan. The Brewery’s Vice President, Kazuhiro Sakurai, was kind enough to sit down with me and talk about Dassai and all things sake.
Kazuhiro [...]
Interview: Junko Igarashi, Sake Sommelier
I recently had the opportunity to speak with Junko Igarashi who is a sake sommelier at Jewel Bako restaurant in New York City’s East Village. I wanted to ask Junko, From her unique perspective as a sake sommelier, regarding her feelings about all things sake.
Interview: Koji Kawakami, Yoshinogawa Sake Brewery
With Yoshinogawa President Koji KawakamiFounded in 1548, Yoshinogawa Sake Brewery is the oldest in Niigata Prefecture. That is 462 years of sake making in Niigata!
I recently had the distinct honor of sitting down with Yoshinogawa’s 19th generation company President, Mr. Koji Kawakami, to ask him so questions about thoughts on sake, pairing sake [...]
Interview: Kazuo Matsuura, Honke Matsuura Brewery
With Kazuo Matsuura and NarutotaiHonke Matsuura Brewery makes the famous Narutotai brand sake. When I recently met the brewery President, Dr. Kazuo Matsuura, he kindly agreed to answer some questions about his sake, his brewery and his native Tokushima. Narutotai is wildly popular in the United States and I wanted to learn [...]
