Published: 5/21/2021
We’re on vacation this week, but we still have for you the latest news, events, and articles from the Japanese food and beverage industry.
Japanese Food & Beverage: the Best of the Internet
Signup for Japan Society’s Annual Sake Event
This year the 24th annual Japan Society sake event will be held on Zoom. Legendary sake scholar John Gauntner will moderate the event, which includes speakers Miho Imada (Imada Shuzo), Yuichiro Tanaka (Rihaku Sake), and Brian Polen (Brooklyn Kura).
Tickets for the June 9th virtual event are $15 for non-members. Register here.
Francis Ford Coppola Helps Light the Fuse of the Japanese Whisky Boom
Fans of Japanese whisky will enjoy this deep dive into the history of Western celebrities promoting this once-obscure category.
Suntory led the charge, of course. Sammy Davis Jr., Ray Charles, Sean Connery, Orson Welles, and even Keanu Reeves found paid roles endorsing Japanese whisky’s most iconic brands.
In particular, a Francis Ford Coppola and Akira Kurosawa combination is the primary story from Inside Hook. Their informative and entertaining post is a must-read.
The Accidental Winemaker – Akiko Freeman
Learn the story of Akiko Freeman, the highly-regarded winemaker for Freeman Winery. Her journey from Japan to the Russian River AVA is both entertaining and inspiring.
Epicure Asia has the details.
Daiyame 40 Imo Shochu to Hit US Bar Shelves
Honkaku shochu has not caught on in the West. But with the introduction of Daiyame 40, Hamada Shuzo hopes that their newest export will make headway at bars in the US and Europe.
Daiyame 40 is a sweet potato shochu that’s once-distilled (honkaku), undiluted (genshu), and made with black koji. This aromatic Satsuma shochu has already won international spirits awards in a lower-proof (25% ABV) form. Leaving it undiluted gives it a more cocktail-friendly nature.
In our opinion, sweet potato shochu makes for a delicious and smooth Tequila substitute in cocktails. We can’t wait to taste it and put it to the test!
Get the scoop on this product release from Just-Drinks.
Arizona’s Route 66 Sake
If you haven’t heard of Arizona Sake, it’s about time you found out. Arid Holbrook, Arizona is not the kind of place one would expect world-class sake to be brewed, for a variety of reasons.
But Atsuo Sakurai’s tiny brewery proves one can make remarkably good seishu anywhere if you have the will and the skill.
Atlas Obscura has a great intro to this exciting US sake brewery.
Gigantic Squid Statue Built with Covid Relief Funds
Noto, Ishikawa is famous for its tasty squid. So it would make sense that the small town would want a 42-foot long pink squid statue to promote tourism.
The sculpture, which cost about 30 million yen ($274K), was paid for using Covid relief funds. The price tag has made some waves.
Take a look at the giant pink squid and get the scoop on Noto’s ika situation from Food and Wine.
A High-Priced Crypto Sake from SushiSwap
Fans of cryptocurrency are probably familiar with SushiSwap. The popular DeFi trading platform just released a new smart contract sub-platform called MISO, and they’re kicking this off with the sale of a tokenized sake.
And it might be the most expensive sake ever made.
Only 888 of the ERC-20-based tokens will be created. With a starting price at auction of 88K sushi (currently about $1.3 million USD), this is probably the most expensive sake ever made. And for all your hard-earned cash, you can redeem this token for a real bottle of sake, a junmai daiginjo called SAK3.
There’s no word yet on what SAK3 is all about, but we assume you get to keep this NFT-style token.
Learn more about SushiSwap’s blockchain sake launch on Investing (.com).
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