Thursday, May 6, 2010

Annual Sake Tasting


Photo courtesy of The Japan Forum

Rice, water, koji and the skills of the brew master are touted as the most important elements in sake brewing. However, sake brewing goes through several important steps at the end of the process, including filtration, pasteurization, bottling and maturation, which together hold great sway over the final flavor of the sake.

At Japan Society's annual sake tasting event this year (Amazing Leverage: The Final Steps of Sake-Brewing), sake expert John Gauntner will explain how these simple-sounding, but very important processes, affect the distinctive flavors of sake.

Our Sake Tasting & Lecture has featured Mr. Gauntner, who is widely considered the world's leading sake educator, for the past three years. A founding member of the Sake Export Association, Gauntner is the author of The Sake Handbook, The Sake Companion, and the co-author of Sake, Pure & Simple, as well as Nihonjin Mo Shiranai Nihonshu No Hanashi (The Story of Sake Even the Japanese Don’t Know).

You can learn more about Mr. Gautner and the sake brewing process in detail at his website Sake-World.com, but if you want to get the jump on the other event attendees and impress him with your wealth of Japanese alcohol knowledge, you can also check out our earlier post on temperatures to serve sake at or simply explore The Japanese Food Report for articles about sake.