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Greetings to the CSP/ASP community,
I hope you are well and enjoying sake in whatever capacity suits you. For a great number of you, I realize that means work! I hope that you have noticed the seemingly steadily increasing attention that sake seems to be receiving on all levels. At least, it sure seems that way to me!
Recent and ongoing coverage in various publications and other media seem to indicate that more and more people are at least getting exposed to the concept of sake. This to me is good news. It is the door-cracked-open through which we can ram in our crowbar-of-sake-understanding and crank the door to sake appreciation wide open. And very soon after that, sake world domination will surely follow.
Or, at least, perhaps, we can just make a little bit of a difference. We can help an ancient craft and culture find renewed potential, and introduce a fun, fascinating and incredibly enjoyable and delicious sake to the world. That, in and of itself, is enough.
Enjoy the short newsletter,
Warm regards,
John
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INDUSTRY NEWS
Rice Distribution in the Sake World
In my most recent Sake World Newsletter, I presented for the first time to people outside Japan a glimpse of how rice is distributed to sake brewers. And “it’s complicated.” If you subscribe to that newsletter, you can (or already have) read it there. If you do not, you can see the online version of the newsletter here.
Alternatively, you can read only the article on rice distribution and forego the rest of the newsletter here.
Sake Industry News
Well, if only the sake news from Japan was as bright as it seems overseas. Unfortunately, it is not. After two years of increases (slight though they were, and even then, stats differed depending on how they were measured), the sake market has returned to its erstwhile contracting ways.
While it pains my fingertips to tap this out, the “Fiscal Year 2012” stats, ending March 31, 2013, and each of the months in 2013 for which statistics are available has seen sake drop, and in some cases, significantly.
Not to beat a dead horse, but January was down 4%, February 10%, and March 9% over the same corresponding one month periods last year. The overall Fiscal Year numbers saw a 3% decrease.
However – and while we want all sake to sell better – a closer look reveals that ginjo collectively was up a whopping (?) 6.5%, and junmai-shu was up 0.2%, so what really took the brunt of the contraction was honjozo and futsu-shu, i.e. cheap stuff. While of course we want that to sell too, in truth, if premium sake is doing well, we can at least sigh a collective breath of some vestigial relief.
I will keep my eyes peeled for new stats and indications of direction, and keep you informed via this newsletter. Let us hope for and work toward sake returning to a place of being more appreciated, understood, and – of course – enjoyed.
Sake Fair 2013
On Friday, June 14, at the World Trade Building in the Sunshine City complex in the Ikebukuro section of Tokyo, the sake industry will hold the Sake Fair 2013. Learn more here.
In short, there are three things you may want to bear in mind about this. One, there is a room in which you can taste all the gold and silver prize winning sake from this years Zenkoku Shinshu Kampyoukai, or New Sake Tasting Competition. On top that, and arguably more interesting, just across the hall is a daylong huge event at which each prefecture in Japan opens a booth pouring their sake for your perusal and tasting. There are other intra-industry groups, like those aging sake or promoting warm sake, that have booths as well. And there are companies selling sake-friendly snacks and accoutrements like sake warming apparatuses, that will be there too. In short, if you are anywhere near Tokyo on June 14, you need to be here.
Also, from 3:00, I will give a very VERY basic presentation on how to enjoy sake, but more interestingly, just after that, seven brewers (Masumi, Dewazakura, Masuizumi, Tsuki no Katsura, Omon, Horai, and Shirayuki) will present their sake paired with a local (to each of their regions, respectively, of course!) dish. Note, my presentation will be in English, theirs will be either in English or translated to it.
For more information, and to register for my seminar and the kuramoto’s food pairing hour, go here and then here .
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2013 NYC Course Graduates
May CSP Course
The 2013 New York City CSP Course went off without a hitch; or at least, not much of one, May 8, 9 and 10, 2013. The course saw 40 new Certified Sake Professionals set loose on the US sake market. Congratulations to all!
Adrian Molina
Amy Lee
Andrew Starger
Brendan Robb
Cat Ford-Coates
Chad Tindel
Charlotte Hill
Dan Lau
Dave Heid
Denise Hibbard
Diane Petix
Eric Thorner
Erica Yagi
Erin Scala
Fernando Yoshimoto
Hugh Robinson
Irene Nejad
James Kellaris
Jennifer Ross
Jessica Gho
John Limb
Jonathan Jacobs
Kazu Tokuoka
Mandy Kan
Maude Theroux-Seguin
Michelle Shimizu
Neal Earhart
Norikane Kira
Oliver Hilton-Johnson
Osvaldo Pena
Preston Coleman
Robert Herrera
Sara Greenfield
Shigeo Tony Amino
Shima Enomoto
Susan Popek
Tim Sullivan
Timothy Koenig
Tony Mitchell
William Tigertt
Be sure to look for your name on the SEC website! |
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FUTURE COURSES
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CSP Course in Dallas, TX,
August 8-10, 2013
From Thursday, August 8 to Saturday, August 10, I will run the a Sake Professional Course with SEC-backed CSP testing in conjunction with TEXSOM 2013 at the Four Seasons Resort and Club Dallas at Las Colinas in Irving, Texas.
Currently, there are about ten seats open for the course, but with plenty of time until it starts.
More information can be found here:
http://www.sake-world.com/html/spc_texsom_2013.html
Should anyone you know or work with be interested, by all means, feel free to email me at sakeguy@gol.com.
Other CSP Courses
There remains a possibility of another course in the fall, as well as one in Europe if enough interest exists and if enough support can be mobilized. We will indeed keep you posted!
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In Closing,
Enjoy the coming spring, and continued good luck in all things sake!
By all means, all CSP and ASP readers are encouraged to submit content for the SEC newsletter. Don’t be shy!
Please look for your name on the list of alumni on the SEC website. If your name is misspelled, please contact Sally Mohr to correct any mistakes.
If you are no longer involved with sake, God forbid, or for any other reason you prefer to not receive this email, then please let us know.
Sake Education Council
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