Are you considering The Japanese Sake Bible as your first or next sake book? In this post, I cover the pros and cons and compare it to its leading competitors.
Overview of The Japanese Sake Bible
Japanese culture author Brian Ashcraft takes on sake from a Western perspective. This 200+ page book is loaded with facts, photos and is an entertaining read.
What I Like About the Book
I like this book overall. It takes a journalistic view of sake which is both entertaining and insightful. I’ve read a lot of books and study guides about sake, and I still managed to learn a few things. So I think The Japanese Sake Bible can be useful to beginners and pros alike.
The photos in this book are outstanding. They add to the photojournalistic feel, but they’re also not used as filler.
Two of my favorite aspects of the book are the stories and insights of various brewers and their breweries. Ashcraft does a great job of peering into their world.
And if you’re looking for a well-rounded introduction to sake, this book will work. Ashcraft covers all of the major subjects to take you from sake beginner to an intermediate level.
What I Don’t Like
Overall, I’m impressed with this book. But to play devil’s advocate, I’ll discuss some of the things I don’t like about The Japanese Sake Bible.
The scattered nature of the book is my main gripe. I had to flip back and forth a lot to stay on topic. This seems to be a trait of Tuttle books and may not be indicative of Ashcraft’s writing style.
There’s a ton of great info about sake in a relatively short text, which is not a bad thing. But it’s a relatively dense block of info. The book would be more user-friendly if it was spread out over more pages, chapters, and headings.
There’s a ton of great info about sake in a relatively short text, which is not a bad thing. But it’s pretty dense. The book would be more user-friendly spread out over more pages, chapters, and headings.
The Japanese Sake Bible Vs Other Sake Books
The two main rivals to this book are probably The Sake Handbook by John Gauntner and The Insider’s Guide to Sake by Philip Harper. Both authors are sake experts and icons, whereas Brian Ashcraft appears to be a generalist (he’s authored a book about Japanese schoolgirls). But looking deeper, he’s also authored Japanese Whisky: The Ultimate Guide. And well before this, he wrote a seminal article for Wired about absinthe.
Ashcraft easily holds his own against these respected, specialized titans of sake.
The Sake Handbook is probably the best seller of the three. John Gauntner does an outstanding job of taking the reader from the basics to higher-level subjects. His book is the easiest to read by far. Gauntner can be a bit more poetic and opinionated than the other two authors, however. So the pure information isn’t as dense as the other two books on a per-page basis.
The Insider’s Guide to Sake is like a dense brick of knowledge. Harper is very technical and writes from a brewer’s perspective. But this book is very hard to read. It’s also slightly outdated and filled with sake recommendations that may or may not be of value to the reader.
The Japanese Sake Bible falls somewhere in between the two in its degree of difficulty. But there are way more photos than either. And ultimately, it may have the most information too. It’s just presented randomly.
Recommended Readers for The Japanese Sake Bible
This is a great sake book for beginners and semi-pros. And it’s probably best for someone with some knowledge already, or a desire to dive deep.
If you’re new to sake and looking for a casual but thorough introduction, I recommend Gauntner’s The Sake Handbook. But if you want a more advanced understanding of sake, I think The Japanese Sake Bible is the ideal choice.
Buy the Book
If you’re sold, please consider buying this book through the Amazon link below. As an Amazon Associate, I earn commissions on qualifying purchases, which supports this blog.
Best Sake Book?
You’ve read my opinion on The Japanese Sake Bible. What do you think? Please share your thoughts by commenting below.