Shows / Sake On Air
Sake On Air
A bi-weekly podcast exploring the stories of sake. Brought to you by experts on the front lines of the industry in Japan.
Episodes
- Sake On Air
Should Sake be Promoted like Wine?
This week’s episode of Sake On Air we dive further into the topic started with our post “Is wine the best way to promote sake?” last year. Arline Lyons…
- Sake On Air
Noto Earthquake Support
Many of our listeners are likely aware of the 7.6 magnitude earthquake that struck the Noto Peninsula of Ishikawa Prefecture back on New Years Day, 2024. While…
- Sake On Air
Becoming a Kuramoto with Junichi Masuda of Tsukinokatsura
We are always thrilled to be joined by special guests here at Sake On Air, but it is rather rare that we have a chance to interview a 15th-generation kuramoto…
- Sake On Air
Rebroadcast: Hot Sake (Kanzake) 101
This week we’re digging up a classic from the archives that we released back in April 2020. The theme of the week is kanzake, which felt appropriate as a…
- Sake On Air
Kurabito Stay with Marika Tazawa
With more travelers these days favoring unique experiences over a few days of leisure for their limited vacation days, Japan’s sake breweries have gradually…
- Sake On Air
Sake in Brazil with Fabio Ota
Fabio Ota joins regular host Sebastien Lemoine to talk all things sake in Brazil. Fabio, a lawyer turned sake guy, is the CEO and creator of Megasake, São…
- Sake On Air
Tasting Sake… Professionally?
For many years a Sake Tasting Competition has been held for selected sake sommeliers from across the country in Tokyo to challenge their tasting skills and…
- Sake On Air
Shochu Cocktails with Suzu
In this week’s episode of Sake On Air we dive further into the world of Shochu and Cocktails as we are excited to have had the chance to talk to…
- Sake On Air
Kusu Day: Tasting Awamori
This week, we ask that you indulge us just a bit as we…indulge. During Justin’s super-secret (and all-too-brief) return to Japan we had the opportunity to…
- Sake On Air
Kura One by Katsunari Sawada (Part 2)
In our last podcast episode of Sake On Air, we had two of our regular hosts Chris Hughes and John Gauntner talk with Katsunari Sawada, the man behind the…
- Sake On Air
Kura One by Katsunari Sawada (Part 1)
In this week’s episode of Sake On Air, two of our regular hosts Chris Huges and John Gauntner came together to chat with Katsunari Sawada san, the…
- Sake On Air
Translating Taste with Arline Lyons
Arline Lyons never expected to be the go-to translator for sake related writings coming out of Japan, but remix Mr. Crichton, “sake finds a way.” Our American…
- Sake On Air
Mixing Shochu with Bartender Soran Nomura
How do we effectively promote Japan’s indigenous beverages? That is the million-dollar question and something the Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association are…
- Sake On Air
Bubbling in the Moromi with Martin Sturma
Martin Sturma’s path to kurabito life at Shimizu Seizaburo Shoten has been a winding one. He first started working with sake at the JETRO Prague office, but he…
- Sake On Air
Tippsy Sake with Genki Ito & Sachiko Miyagi
Somehow, they’ve done it. Despite the long list of complex and seemingly impenetrable barriers, the folks at Tippsy have managed to make a large, diverse, and…
- Sake On Air
ARUTEN: On Your Own Terms with Jim Rion
Aruten, arukoru tenka, or the ingredient largely responsible for the need to create a category of junmai sake in the first place, is sake that has been made…
- Sake On Air
MOYASHI: On Your Own Terms with the Sake Concierge
“Moyashi” is a bit tricky: it’s simply translated as “bean sprout” in Japanese, but in the world of sake it refers to the sprouting koji starter knows as…
- Sake On Air
GENSHU: On Your Own Terms with Sebastien Lemoine
The amount of “genshu” sake circulating the market these days is ever-increasing. So first and foremost, what in the world is genshu? This week your regular…
- Sake On Air
AMAKUCHI: On Your Own Terms with Tomomi Duquette
This week we’re lucky to be joined once again by Niigata Sake Lovers founder, sake educator, guide, and evangelist extraordinaire, Tomomi Duquette. Tomomi’s…
- Sake On Air
ARABASHIRI: On Your Own Terms with Keith Norum
Not only can a single batch of sake be broken down into unique seasonal releases, it can even be divided up into a range of unique products immediately…
- Sake On Air
KURA: On Your Own Terms with Chris Hughes
Is it “kura”, or is it “gura?” It’s both! On week’s episode of On Your Own Terms, regular host Justin Potts sits down with Chris Hughes to examine a rather…
- Sake On Air
MUROKA: On Your Own Terms with Andrew Centofante
Is it “unfiltered”? This week’s episode of On Your Own Terms explores one component of sake’s rather confusing classification of filtered vs. unfiltered when…
- Sake On Air
RICEY: On Your Own Terms with the Sake Concierge
We’re back again with more, On Your Own Terms, the series that allows our guests to select a single bit of sake or shochu-specific terminology to share with…
- Sake On Air
KANRI: On Your Own Terms with Arline Lyons
In case you missed it, we’ve just kicked off our new mini-series: On Your Own Terms, where we examine sake or shochu-specific terminology concisely through the…
- Sake On Air
NAMA: On Your Own Terms with Jorge Navarette
This week we kick off a brand-new mini-series looking at sake (or shochu)-specific terminology in a new way. Up until now we’ve occasionally hosted in-depth…
- Sake On Air
Discovering Yamaguchi Sake with Jim Rion
Books dedicated entirely to specific sake-producing regions have for all intents and purposes been non-existent in the English language; at least, until now…
- Sake On Air
Starting a Brewery with Adachi Noujo
If you’ve been listening to this show even intermittently over the past several years, you’re probably already aware that starting a sake brewery from scratch…
- Sake On Air
Thank You
We’re somewhat at a loss for words. When we first began Sake On Air back in October of 2018 it was by no means a given that we would wind up putting 100…
- Sake On Air
Bringing Sake into the American Mainstream (Sake Future Summit 2022)
Last week we brought you the first session from Sake Future Summit 2022 in a nice, easy-to-digest podcast package. (Videos from across the two weekends are, of…
- Sake On Air
Global Transformation of Sake (Sake Future Summit 2022)
Back in January across two weekends, the Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association hosted the second iteration of the Sake Future Summit. (The first was held…
- Sake On Air
Okawari: Parenting with Sake
In last week’s episode I interviewed Elliot Faber of Sake Central in Hong Kong If you missed that conversation, I encourage you to hit pause, go back, and…
- Sake On Air
Constructing a Sake Ecosystem with Elliot Faber
Summarizing the work of Elliot Faber is a challenge. Often simply introduced as “Sake Samurai”, a title bestowed in 2016, which added him to the ranks of the…
- Sake On Air
The Sparkling Sake Brewery
Sparkling sake is on the rise. A style that was often served and enjoyed as an exciting and curious anomaly only a few years ago has become a staple in the…
- Sake On Air
Interviewing George Briant Parsons Inoue of Inoue Shuzo
It is not so uncommon these days to come across non-Japanese sake brewers, indeed we have featured many on this show, but in the case of this week’s guest…
- Sake On Air
Seasonal Sake with Namazake Paul
For Paul Willenberg – aka “Namazake Paul”– namazake is a unique exploration into the seasonality of sake. Based in Portland, Oregon, Paul has been lovingly…
- Sake On Air
Sake Travel Episode 5: Kyoto with the Sake Concierge
“My life in Kyoto is my life in sake.” Those few words from this week’s guest, Sake Concierge Takashi “Umio” Eguchi, rather appropriately and succinctly sum up…
- Sake On Air
Taste with the Toji & Simone Maynard
As much as this week’s episode is informative, it’s also a bit of a celebration. Simone Maynard (aka: Sake Mistress) has been a dedicated, hard-working…
- Sake On Air
Sake Travel Episode 4: Niigata City
We’re continuing on our Sake Travel series this week with a visit to the city of Niigata. While the entire prefecture of Niigata is littered with fantastic…
- Sake On Air
Sake Travel Episode 3: Hokkaido
For this third installment of our Sake Travel Series, we’re heading north – way north! More commonly associated with some of the best skiing and snowboarding…
- Sake On Air
Unfiltered September 2022
In August we gave you a taste of our new Sake Travel series, which we’ll be returning to again here shortly. This week, however, we’ve got the first in what…
- Sake On Air
Sake Travel Episode 2: Nagano
In case you missed it, last week we kicked off a new mini-series in Osaka. This week, together with hosts John Gauntner, Rebekah Wilson-Lye, and Chris Hughes…
- Sake On Air
Sake Travel Episode 1: Osaka
We’re kicking off a new semi-ongoing series this week! Over the course of the past couple of years, in a world where international visitors have been largely…
- Sake On Air
Back on Air Livestream
Back on Air Livestream We can’t believe it has been nearly 4 months since our last “official” show release. Even though it was part of the plan, we’re now…
- Sake On Air
A Message from Sake On Air
Back in October of 2018 when we released the very first episode of Sake On Air, none of us had recorded or produced a podcast before, and there was no…
- Sake On Air
A Brewer’s Evolution with Mehdi Medhaffar
We’ve welcomed more than an a few non-Japanese kurabito to the show in the past that have made sake brewing here in Japan their chosen path for a day or a…
- Sake On Air
Awamori with Maurice Dudley
It’s been way too long since we’ve spent an entire episode dialing straight into the world of awamori. That’s why we’re thrilled that your host Christopher…
- Sake On Air
Where Beer & Sake Collide
We finally have a great excuse to discuss beer this week. Despite a long history of (ongoing) misrepresentation as “rice wine” and the sake industry’s mild…
- Sake On Air
Restoring Tradition: Kame Brewing with Yucho Shuzo
In Part 1 of this special two-part series visiting the producers reviving the lost art of kamejikomi, we spoke with Ken Kojima of Kojima Sohonten, makers of…
- Sake On Air
Restoring Tradition: Kame Brewing with Kojima Sohonten
Back in Episode 51 we explored the hard work being invested in restoring kioke, the large-scale traditional wooden tanks that transformed sake brewing in the…
- Sake On Air
Kubota: Building and Sustaining an Iconic Label
Last week we focused our energy on examining the Niigata region as a whole. This week we’re once again joined by our same guests, Ms. Kaoru Ito and Mr. Hiroshi…
- Sake On Air
Examining Niigata Sake
There’s really no such thing as an “inferior” region for sake production in Japan. A particular region may boast more breweries, higher production volume, or…
- Sake On Air
Ginjo: Beneath the Surface
Ginjo is king. Or at least, that’s kind of been a mantra for several generations of more than a few sake lovers, makers, and advocates. Looking at the numbers…
- Sake On Air
Our 2022 Predictions
Another year, another chance to set ourselves up for failure with a series of wild predictions! This year the team has independently put together their own…
- Sake On Air
Digital Kokushu Museum
This past autumn, something really special came into being that all of our sake and shochu-loving listeners ought to appreciate. A project that has been…
- Sake On Air
Okawari: Water, Food, and Terroir
A lot of the interview material from our episodes here at Sake on Air winds up on the cutting room floor, but some of it is just too good to let go to waste…
- Sake On Air
Holiday Drinks
Although this particular holiday season may prove to be somewhat of an exception for some – much in the way that many of us assumed 2020 to be an exception –…
- Sake On Air
Future of Sake with Les Larmes du Levant & Kanpai London
Seeing as how we haven’t featured any of our esteemed sake brewing revolutionist friends on the European continent recently, we thought it was about time we…
- Sake On Air
Three-year Anniversary Special
On October 18th, way back in the distant past that was 2018, we released the first official episode of Sake On Air. Exactly three years to the day, we got the…
- Sake On Air
Interview with Gautier Roussille
Back in Episode 65 during our discussion with the president of Sohomare, Mr. Jun Kono, another interesting name popped; that of Gautier Roussille. An…
- Sake On Air
Sake Brewing School at Gakkogura
Along with a general interest in sake expanding globally, the number of homebrewers curious to try their hand at sake making and professional brewers setting…