Sake Revolution 2024 Recap: Our Year in Sake

Hello, everybody, and welcome to Sake Revolution. This is America's First Sake Podcast, and I'm your host, John Puma, from the Sake Notes. Also, I'm The administrator over at the Internet Sake Discord. And I also run the Reddit r slash sake community.

And I'm your host, Timothy Sullivan. I'm a sake samurai, I'm the Director of Education at the Sake Studies Center, and I'm also the founder of the Urban Sake website. And every week, John and I will be here tasting and chatting about all things sake, and doing our best to make it fun and easy to understand.

Well, hello there, Tim.

Happy New Year, John!

Happy new year. It is, it is 20 and 25. We're here. We're doing it

hard to believe, but it is 2025 and we have a new year of Sake Revolution ahead of us. And as we are want to do, we're going to take a look back at last year and look forward to this year. And I like these episodes. It's a kind of a fresh start. What do you think?

And I mean, I usually like these episodes, but I, you know, we'll get to that in a minute. Anyway,

Yeah, so what we usually do for our year in review episode is talk a little bit about, uh, the episodes we released, maybe some reactions to them, and we have our famous, or maybe infamous, Revolution resolutions every year. Infamous. Mmm.

yeah, yeah, we do. We absolutely have. I have information in front of me. I imagine you have similar information in front of you. You probably have more information for you right now because I know for a fact that you went and looked at the stats and I resisted the urge so that I would not be feigning surprise. That'd all be authentic.

That's right. So, looking back at 2024, uh, do you have any idea, any guess what our most listened to episode of 2024 was?

So I'm taking a look. And so most listen to it. So that, you know, the older ones have an advantage because they've been around the longest. So I want to say sake and cheese.

Ooh, that's a very good guess, but that's wrong

Oh, oh, you know, I was, maybe I was being hopeful. Because, you Myshell was on that episode. So you want to, you want, you want, you want things to be good for her. Uh, yeah. Okay. So that's not, it's not that one. So, uh, which one is it?

So, the most listened to episode of 2024 was Serious Baggage, Bringing Back Sake from Japan. So that was our suitcase import episode, uh, episode 163.

No kidding. Wow. I am legitimately surprised. I did not see that coming. It's an older one. So it does have that advantage of time. Uh, and it is a fun topic and a lot of people are going to Japan. I think in 2025, they are expecting to break the record. Okay. Again, because I think they broke it in 2024, uh, for, for tourists. And I love the idea that people are going to Japan and wanting to bring back sake.

And, I mean, I think you're 100 percent right. When you look at it, the number of people who are traveling to Japan, I get emails regularly from people, from students, from friends of friends, from colleagues who are like, Oh, I'm going to Japan for the first time. I want a sake experience while I'm there. What should I do?

Hmm.

all the time. So it's, it's great. And I think that really ties into that episode being popular.

Great. Now I have a question for you. We don't have to go too in depth in it, but do you have like a standard response to that? Or do you then have follow up questions that like, well, what are you into? Have you had sake before? That kind of stuff?

I do not, I do not have any follow up questions. I have a Google Doc

Okay. You've got the doc. All right. is it a, is it a, like a Google like map or is it just like a list?

it is just a list. And it's just Tokyo and Kyoto, which is where most people go on their first trip. And I just list, this is a bar I recommend. This is a retail shop I recommend. Uh, this is a high end restaurant I recommend. And You know, if you're in Tokyo and you want to visit a brewery, I recommend this place. So it's like, uh, you know, it's, it's my greatest hits. Um, but it's things that are easy to get to on, not off the beaten path at all.

Excellent. Nice. I like it. I'm going to have to take a look at that list and you know, see how I feel about, uh, what you've decided, what you've decided to recommend to people and when, what, what heavy hitters have made the list, which ones got left out? I need the answers to this, Tim.

Yes, well, maybe we should I think that's a great topic for a future episode like Tim and John's personal Japan

we curate the list. Oh, I love it. And we can make like an official sake revolution list. Oh I love it when the ideas just write themselves. Uh, so, so that, so we have the most listened to episode of the year. That's great. Uh, what other fun tidbits did you learn? Oh, well,

Well, I also wanted to ask you, regardless of downloads, what is your favorite episode from 2024, John?

Honestly, I think my favorite episode is probably the Kikusui Funaguchi Smart Pouch episode, Funky Packaging, episode 167, because it was just so silly and so much fun to do. It was one of our first Funky Packaging episodes, and just the idea of this giant, Capri Sun pouch was just, it was, it was ridiculous and fun to have in the house. It was ridiculous and fun to pour out of. Uh, I just had a really good time with that one. I, I laughed and laughed and laughed. What about you?

Well, I think that my favorite episode of the year was Sake Revolution Live from Brooklyn Kura.

right. Okay. I feel like that's cheating, but okay.

Why, why is it cheating?

I know it's not cheating because I didn't think of it first.

Yeah, I mean, doing the live episode with Shinobu from Katosake Works, Brandon from Brooklyn Kura, it was a whole lot of work, but we had a live audience, and we had a lot of fun, and it was great getting that immediate feedback, and I just loved it! So that was, that was my favorite episode.

there is something special about having a live audience. I will say that is, um, it's different. No offense to, to being on the zoom with you, Tim, but I think that there is definitely something special about being in a room with, with, uh, dozens of fans.

Yeah, and Brandon and Shinobu were so Funny right off the cuff, you know, they're so entertaining and it was not like any crafty editing work on our part. It was just their, their genuine personalities really came through and getting the audience reactions on audio was also really great. Yeah.

Yeah, highly recommended. That was a lot of fun.

Right on.

So I guess now is the time that I've kind of been dreading the sake, the accountability, accountability. Don't we all hate that now? Um, yeah. Um, accountability. And I gotta, I gotta pay the piper, I think. But let's, let's overview here. For 2024, we both made Sake Revolution Resolutions. yours was to do some live shows. And we accomplished that. With your favorite show of the year, which is great. Now it makes a little more sense. That was your favorite show of the year too.

Yes. So my revolution resolution for 2024, as you just said, was to do a live show and we made it happen. I had this vision for a long time to be on the stage in the tap room at Brooklyn Kura, and we made it happen. I wasn't sure how it was going to work. And I actually have a behind the scenes tidbit that I have not told you, John, that yes, I ha I've been holding onto a secret about recording

Mm hmm. I'm

And the secret is that when we finished recording, I downloaded the episode and everything was fine. But I looked at the memory card, and we were about six minutes away from running out of space, if we had gone longer.

hmm. Ah, so a near, a near disaster, but, but no disaster.

there was no disaster, but it was, there was a near disaster,

That would have been bad.

I sometimes, like, bolt up in bed in the middle of the night sweating, thinking about, like, running out of space during a live recording. So that'll never happen again, but, uh, disaster was averted. However, uh, it was still my favorite episode, even if I have PTSD from, uh, discovering after the fact that we almost ran out of space on the memory card.

Well, I'm glad we didn't run out of space for them to record. Can you imagine going through and doing that whole episode and finding out it wasn't recorded?

That, that is stuff of my literal nightmares. Like that is, that is so scary, but, but we dodged a bullet and it won't happen again because now I'm, I'm scared into triple checking every time we record. But,

excellent.

yes, yes. So, uh, that was my resolution and resolution achieved.

Woo hoo! good for you. I'm glad you achieved yours. my resolution, on the other hand

So I went to the videotape, John.

Hm? Yep.

John's resolution from 2024 was to do some sake, formal sake education that involved a certificate of some kind.

Yeah. That didn't happen.

I'm I'm, guessing from your lead up

Hm.

that was not achieved. So what do you think? What do you think happened, JP?

Um, I think I misjudged how much, like, regular life stuff was going to take place this year, and I didn't, uh, I didn't focus, and I didn't I, I Didn't get it done. I did not get it done. Makes me sad. I, um, I wish I did. I feel bad. I feel real bad that I didn't get it done. But, I feel that, still do this in 2025. It's not like I, you know, lost the ability to, to learn about sake. I just, I need to make it a priority

Hmm.

and do it. Um, you know, I wish I did, uh, but I didn't, but I can always, you know, I will never forgive myself if I continue to not do this. So I need to do this. I need to make sure this happens.

Well, I might've said this when you made that resolution, but you do have a, you do have a buddy who technically is a sake teacher and does give certificates. So

Technically, technically,

you, you, you literally, you, you know, you know, a guy, you

I do know a guy, I do know a guy. And I, and I should have, I should have called upon you for that. And I, I did not, there's a lot of, there's a lot of what a could a should is about this one, Tim.

So I guess that leads us to the question of, are you going to, Repeat for 2025 or do you want to go in a different direction?

Well, um, for 2025. I'm going to try and double up, so to speak. So, I feel like this still needs to happen. Uh, it is 2024's resolution that is still dangling and needs to be addressed., but I think that 2025 should potentially have its own resolution. have its its own resolution.

Now, when you say double up, that made me think of getting two certificates in

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. no. I mean, two resolutions. Um, yeah, yeah, two resolutions, uh, is what I'm looking to do. and so one of them is, is a holdover where we're going to try to get that, try to get that certificate. and then the second one, well, we'll, we'll wait until we're talking about 2025, which I guess, It's a great segue. How about that?

Oh my God. That is, that's not easy. That's, that's a

doable. It's doable. We

Yes.

have a camera in our pocket. So this is possible. It's definitely something one can do.

It's possible. when I was a newbie, young, little sake nerd out there in the world, I tried to do that. And I know that if you go to a sake event and you have one, two, three, maybe more sakes, it gets increasingly difficult to remember to get the camera out and get non blurry photos of the Haha,

Uh, I never said that pictures would be in focus, number one, and I also never said they would all be photos. I just need to have a record of some sort. So if I, if I go someplace and I have something and nobody told me what it was, I needed to write down, like, some, I don't know what this was. It counts.

All right. I support you. I support you in that resolution. I think that's wonderful.

I will have you know, as we record this, I've, um, I've gotten off to a decent start on this. I've only decided that that's what I'm going to do a few days ago, and so I've been doing it since then. So, you know, we'll see how it goes. Hopefully I can make this happen. Even, I think even if I can get the majority, it'll be great.

so are you going to be keeping a tasting notebook or a Google photo album? The only reason I ask is because I want to hold your feet to the fire and I want to get the accountability piece. So how can we, how can we view this? Hmm.

to be, for the moment, it's gonna be just a photo album, uh, as much as I can. And then in some cases, if I need to just make like a, yeah, make a note at some place, that'll be a different thing. I'm worried about what happens when I go to Japan. That's because things get out of hand there in a hurry. And like, joy of sake, that can become a little fraught.

Oh, yeah. I think we can give you a pass on a few occasions. You can

I got I got two day passes.

you get two day pass. Yes. And I know from, uh, John Puma's days as the sake notes in full swing, you are a very gifted photographer of sake bottles

Yeah, um, you know, with with a real camera, I I've never been able to replicate that with a phone, unfortunately. But I also I also want to get more into that, to be completely honest. I want to get back into, uh, into photographing the bottles in a, in a fun way. I think I do, or I think I did have a, uh, a knack for that. I miss it a little bit. Maybe that should have been my resolution was just right to take more photos of sake bottles. I said, I had to go all in on this.

Well, that sounds like a great revolution resolution for 2025, and you've got double trouble this year, JP, so

Yeah. Yeah. But that enough about me, um, and my failures and, and my attempts at, uh, At Redemption,

Redemption. Yes.

about you? What are you doing for 2025?

Okay, so my resolution for 2025, I'm calling it Back to Basics.

Mm.

So, I think back to our very first episodes that we did on this podcast, and we covered a lot of topics that are really good for beginners. And I've listened back to some of those episodes, and I honestly think we should revisit some, uh, episodes that we did at the beginning, introducing basic concepts.

Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. So it's a sake 201? Or 102 maybe? I don't know. We're just

just, you know, things like talking about nigori or what junmai is, or aruten, alcohol added sake. Like, I think we did really good. Basic comprehensive episodes on those but there's a few that I think we could add some more to revisit and just look at in A fresh light from five years down the road. Yeah

It's been five years, hasn't it? Oh my goodness.

It has been five years, yeah, so That is my resolution

Excellent. Uh, well, I'm glad, I'm glad that we've got this figured out and we know what we're going to be trying to do. and, you know, this is an episode of Sake Revolution and we would not, it would not be proper for us to, to do this without tasting some sake. So we need to get on that, Tim. we have, we have each brought a bottle of sake that we're going to independently taste.

Yes. And the sakes that we picked, uh, this was dealer's choice. And the sakes that we picked either tie to our 2024 in some way or tie to our hopes for 2025. So, uh, if you'll allow me, John, I'll go ahead and kick off the tasting. So, the sake that I have brought with me is a sake from Sake Revolution, episode From episode number two, uh, I brought one of our all time favorites back from episode two. This is Kudoki Jozu Junmai Ginjo, and this is from Kaminoe Shuzo.

sounds great. I've got, a sake that I've, I've been a big fan of for a long time, but until relatively recently was this one was not available in the U. S. Um, and it is now. So I took full advantage of this, of this, I took full advantage of this new change and I have, Emishki's World Peace, because why don't we all like some peace? in 2025. Um, in the

Yes. Make mine a double.

Okay. Uh, yeah. So, um, that's what I've got. And, Tim, you want to give us the stats on your Kudoki Jozu? Josu?

Yes. So this is Kudoki from Kaminoe Shuzo in Yamagata. we have a classification of Junmai Ginjo. The SMV or sake meter value is plus one. The acidity is 1. 2. And we have an alcohol percentage of 16. 5%.

for my Imishiki world peace, Imishiki Brewing Company over in Shiga Prefecture. This is a Junmai ginjo, genshu. the rice variety is Yamada Nishiki. That's been milled down to 50%. They're using Hanakobo on this one, Tim. So a flower yeast. I tried to get some more information, dig a little deeper into what kind of flour. That didn't go very far. So, flower yeast. SMV, that measure of dry to sweet, is minus 7. So it's going to be a little sweet. Acidity is 1. 6, which is a little high.

Alrighty. So I'm going to go ahead and open mine up first and get it in the glass.

Ooh, that pour was delightful, Tim.

All poured.

Let me, let me catch up to you.

So this is very clear in the glass. And when I smell this sake, it honestly is like meeting an old friend. It is like a sake I've had many times, often with you. And it is, uh, fruity, light, quite balanced. It's got, some pineapple, a little bit of melon, classic ginjo aromas, and I'm going to give it a taste. Hmm. So delightful. I wish you were here with me, John. So we could both drink this. Cause I know you love it.

I do.

And this is just like classic textbook Yamagata sake, fruity. Light to medium bodied, great balance, not a trace of bitterness or sharpness, round, clean on the finish, and lovely, lovely ginjo fruits. Like, this is the textbook example of what a light Yamagata sake is all about, right?

Yeah, I mean that's, that's how I remember it. At least.

Yeah.

Yeah,

Yeah, so this is absolutely delicious, and I think that this bottle will disappear quickly. After the

That's, that's The, um, the countdown has begun.

Yes. That's another prediction for 2025.

this bottle of kudoki jozu goes, it will not last the day. Um, so I've got my world peace. I've got it in my glass and on the nose. This is this Tim, this is fruit salad. It is, um, the nose is just purely, um, a wonderful fruit salad. You know, if you ever had, uh, if you've ever been to like a little buffet and they've got the little fruit salad and you take a little bit, you put it in your bowl and you go back to your, you go back to your seat, give it a nice little sniff. This is it.

Yeah. It says that it uses flower yeast. So I'm curious if there are any floral notes in addition to fruitiness on the aroma. I haven't had it recently.

not a ton to me. I, I think that the, um, the fruit is, is kind of dominant. And it's the, it's a, um, you, you know how when, when fruit salad's been, been sitting there, it kind of gets a little bit more, it gets sweeter. Like the aroma gets a little bit more, aggressive, a little more like, um,

I would say, I would say concentrated,

Concentrated. Ah, yeah, I like that. That's a good way to put it. And it's, yeah, it's like, it's, it's like that. It's got all of your, you know, your, your, your, your cantaloupe, your honeydew, um, almost a little cherry in there too. Really nice. Oh, wow. And then the sip is, um, it's delivering on that promise.

Hmm.

but it's got a little bit more, it's got a little more body than I was expecting. So the, the, the aroma had me thinking just this, this, you know, this wild fruit salad situation. When I sip on it, it's, it's, it's still very fruity, still very sweet. Some more of that, some more of that floral comes out on the, um, on the palate. Uh, and I do think If this wasn't, if the acidity wasn't so high on this, it's not that high, but it's higher.

Yes. Well, I also want to say that, like, what a great name for that sake too, World Peace.

Yeah. I think that, Tim, my favorite Kudoki Jozu translation from back when we originally did this was the, uh, the, the Google translate flirtation with Mac Daddy, as a, as a translation for good at flirting. Unfortunately, or fortunately, uh, translations have come a long way since then,

Hmm.

no longer, uh, what Google thinks. I'm actually trying to find what it actually says right now, kudouki, jouzu, Good at persuasion is what Google's saying now.

That's, that's really come down from Mac Daddy.

good at persuasion. I think they're trying to be politically correct.

Hmm.

Hmm. I

It's like, jozu means like skilled at, or you know, good at. So I always said like, skilled, skilled at flirting is kind of the way I've always thought about it. But yeah,

I think that works.

AI is never going to understand

Nope, it never will. As I'm, as I am sipping on the world peace a little bit, I have a little word of advice for those sipping on their world peace at home, perhaps. Um, have the sake cold. It's, as it's warming up, it's getting more, um, the flavor is becoming a little more cloying. It's becoming a little bit more thicker.

Hmm. Yeah. When you think about fruit salad juice, like the, the liquid on fruit salad, uh, that can get a little bit sticky sweet. And I can understand how like keeping the sake well chilled makes it crisp and a little brighter. Yeah.

Sticky sweet. That's a really Excellent way to put this. That's what I'm getting out of this.

Yeah.

Yeah.

All right, John. So, uh, are you hopeful about 2025 in your double trouble resolution?

think I might have dug myself a little bit of a ditch. But the good thing about having two Count them. Two resolutions is that it's a little bit easier to do one. So

Okay. Is this, is this like reverse psychology for

I don't know. It might be, uh, but I'm, I'm hoping that, yeah, I'm hoping I can, I can make this happen. We're going to find out. We're going to find out as the year rolls on.

yes, I am. I have visions of a redemption arc for John Puma in 2025. Well, I'll meet you back here in one year, 2026 January, and I'm looking forward to it.

God help me. Okay.

All right. Well, John, it was great to taste with you so much fun to taste a couple of sakes and look back on last year, look forward to this year, and I always enjoy our year in review episodes. So great to taste with you. And I also want to say a special thank you and hello to all of our patrons. Without you, Sake Revolution would not be possible. And we wish you the best for this new year as well.

And, uh, if you would like to support Sake Revolution, another thing you can do is get on your platform of choice and talk about us. Leave us a review. If you are on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, probably, those are probably the two big ones these days, I think. I think, uh, some of the other stuff we used to talk about for this, uh, may be a little outdated. Tim, you're, you're modernizing the podcast ideas, uh, Rubbing off on me.