Sake Professional Course Alumnae Newsletter #7 Mid-October 09
The Sake Professional Course Alumnae Newsletter
A Medium To Keep in Touch - For the Sake of Sake
Mid-October 2009
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In This Issue Greetings
Announcements
Sake Brewery Tours!!!
Sake Tidbit: Sake & Politics
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October Greetings to all,
Greetings to all SPC graduates, where ever you might be. I realize this is the second newsletter this month, and it is going out for two reasons. One, I prefer to send this to you around mid-month so as to avoid a deluge of email sent to you. This especially applies to those that read my main newsletter that goes out about the first of the month. Too much of a good thing is a real concept and tha goes for sake as well as sake-related newsletters.So with this, I hope to get back on to a mid-month schedule for publication of this newsletter. Also, there are a couple of events and announcements that I wanted to convey to everyone. So enjoy the quick read and I hope you are well.
As usual, this will be posted on the blog as well at spcgrad.wordpress.com/.
Warm regards,
John |
Level I Sake Specialist Exam: TESTING FOR ANY GRADUATES INTERESTED!
Note,
at the end of the course in Las Vegas, I will be offering the Level I
exam. If any graduates of SPCI would like to take the test at that time
you are welcome to do so. If you are interested in this or have any
questions related to it please feel free to contact me at the above
address or at sakeguy@gol.com. CURRENTLY ONLY TWO PEOPLE HAVE CONTACTED ME ABOUT TAKING THE TEST (Initials MW and VN). If there are more, I would appreciate hearing from you. The test will be held at 3:00 pm on November 4 and again at 9:00 am on November 5, 2010, at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas in a conference room.
Las Vegas SPC Graduates Get-together
On
the last night of course to be held next month in Las Vegas, there will
be an informal get-together of all Sake Professional Course graduates
in the area. It will be held at one of the best Thai restaurants I have ever experienced, Lotus of Siam, from 6:30 on the night of the 4th of November. The cost will be $50 per person for good and sake.
Nothing big,
nothing uptight, just a chance for the relatively large number of
people in the LV area that have taken the course to get together and
...well, drink sake. And talk. If you live in Las Vegas and know other folks that have taken SPC and might not read there email, by all means, please let them know.
As we need a headcount, IF YOU PLAN TO ATTEND PLEASE SEND AN EMAIL TO ME AT SAKEGUY@GOL.COM TO LET ME KNOW. There is no absolute deadline for this but the sooner the better, methinnks.
Lotus of
Siam
www.saipinchutima.com
953 E Sahara
Ave
Las Vegas, NV 89104-3005
(702) 735-3033
Hope to see all local SPC-folk there.
II 2010: Level II of the Sake Professional Courses PLEASE NOTE!
Following that, during the week of February 15, 2010, I will hold SPCII 2010 in Japan as well. SPCII builds
on the “no sake stone left unturned” foundation of Level I, and focuses
on advanced material, lots of tasting exercise designed to hone and
improve your tasting and recognition skills, and also includes two
guest lectures by Haruo Matsuzaki (“the sake palate from hell”) on
regionality and how to improve your tasting skills, and one more on the
economics of sake vs. those of wine. Naturally, evening meals and kura
visits are a part of the experience too, although for SPCII we stay in
Tokyo and branch out to day-trip-distance kura from there. SPCII
finishes with the Level II (Intermediate) Sake Specialist exam, which
includes essays and a tasting component and is significantly more
challenging than Level I. The cost for Level II is 150,000 yen.
NOTA BENE: As there does not seem to be a need for a second Level II I am hereby officially scrapping that plan. As such there will be only one Level II course in Japan this year and that is limited to 20 participants.
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Sake Professional Course Las Vegas
On November 2, 3 and 4 in Las Vegas, Nevada at the MGM Grand Hotel I will hold the second Stateside Sake Professional Course of 2009. The cost for the three-day course is US$775, and includes certification testing as well. More information can be found at http://www.sake-world.com/html/spclv.html. It is, as you know, simply the best and most thorough sake education on the planet, during which no sake stone remains left unturned.
Fortunately, the class is all but full, but if someone had to squeeze in it would be possible.
Sake Professional Course in Japan, 2010
The Japan-based version of the Sake Professional Course will be held January 25 to 29 in Japan. The fee is 170,000 yen (about US$1700) and includes the three days of seminar content, plus two days of brewery visits to four kura of different scale, and note too that the evening meals (and tons of sake along with them) are included in the tuition as well. I have not yet announced this seminar to the public, but have four or five attendees already, and attendance will be strictly limited to 20. If you or yours are interested, please let me know as soon as you can.
SPCFacebook
Note,
there is a Sake Professional Course Graduate group on Facebook for
those of you that are interested. I do think that some members have discussed and shared employment information, so if you are seeking sake-related work it may behoove you to at least sign up for that. |
Sake Brewery Tours: we are live NOW!
Sake Tourism has begun!
To all readers: If you run a blog or site that attracts readers that you think may be interested in these tours by all means let me know, a I have a cool banner you post to that purport. Thanks in advance.
Want to visit sake breweries in Japan? Now you can!
I am pleased to announce the starting of the Sake World Sake Brewery Tours program. Now, anyone can access the inner workings of the sake world. Visit Japan, start off with a bit of formal sake education by yours truly, then you are off to see several sake breweries while under the care of an experienced sake-savvy interpreter. Events include sake-centered meals and other cultural sight-seeing options - and even a bit of free time. This brewing season, there are two tours planned:
Tour I: February 23 to 27 in the Kansai (Osaka/Kyoto/Kobe) area
Tour II: March 15 to 19 in the San-in (Shimane and Tottori) area For more information, pricing and reservations please go to www.saketours.com. Participation is extremely limited this season for the two tours that are scheduled.
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Sake and Politics
As you may know, Japan had a change of government lately, the mood of which is similar to the change that took place in the US recently. The ruling LDP party, which had been in power essentially for over 50 years, has been replaced. While the pros and cons, potential and liabilities of all that are beyond the scope of this newsletter, one point is relevant: Resolution 87.
While its formal name is a bit longer and obtuse, what R87 does is let smaller brewers off the hook on some of the taxes paid to the government. It's goal (that of less taxes) was to allow them to take the savings and reinvest them in their company. And it was supposed to have expired several years ago, but it was postponed and extended time after time, almost indefinitely.
The question is, and it is a big-ass topic in the industry, whether or not the new government will consider it a priority in the way that the last government did. Why is this important? Because, say many in the industry, if they do not extend it, literally hundreds of breweries will go under at once, as they simply cannot continue to exist if they have to pay the higher taxes.
Note too, this is a bit of a source of friction between big brewers paying the normal tax rate and smaller brewers getting the break, at least behind the scenes. From rumblings I hear, in any event.
Since the new government has had many other priorities, there has been no word on this particular issue, so we are likely safe for now. In truth, there is much more that could be written about this, and I intend to do so in the future. And let's all hope the status quo continues at least in this point.
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Finally
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 me know. Also: if you know someone that has taken the Sake Professional Course and has a new email address or is otherwise not getting this, or you prefer another yourself, please let me know that as well.
Regards,
John Gauntner
Sake World, Inc.
www.sake-world.com |
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