Sake Professional Course Alumnae Newsletter #2 May 15 09
The Sake Professional Course Alumnae Newsletter A Medium To Keep in Touch - For the Sake of Sake May 2009 |
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In This Issue Greetings Announcements Sake Tidbit
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Greetings,
Greetings,
Welcome to the second monthly installment of the SPC Alumnae Newsletter. As usual, this will be posted on the blog as well at spcgrad.wordpress.com/. I am still pretty new at the blog thingy, and am also trying to figure out the best and most interesting way to do it. I suppose I could post tidbits here and there and let this nl be a “digest” of all that, or just post this in its entirety on the blog after I send this out… not sure. Any ideas or advice would be appreciated.
Special thanks to James Tucker of SF for giving me some power tips on the blog thing.
Warm regards, John |
Announcements Sake Professional Course - Stateside Just a reminder that I will hold the 3rd Stateside Professional Sake Course on July 27 to 29, Monday to Wednesday, at Astor Center in New York City. Thanks to Tim Sullivan for his Monster Connection to Astor, which secured the location at a nice rate. There are currently 30 folks reserved, and should any of you know anyone interested by all means please send them my way.
Level 1 Testing Any Level I folks that have not taken the Level I Sake Specialist Exam and are interested in doing so will have a chance in New York on the evening of the 29th or the morning of the 30th. Both will be available. If you are indeed interested send me an email to that purport and I will send you the same study guide that has gone out to others. Note, there is no charge to take the test as a graduate of Level I (but should you not pass there will be a moderate retesting fee). Those that successfully pass will receive a Level I Sake Specialist Certificate from the fledgling (like, really fledgling; like, does not exist yet but will soon) Sake Education Council.
Sake’s Hidden Secrets THANKS to the 40 or so of you that purchased my ebook, Sake’s Hidden Secrets, and I hope you are enjoying it. As promised, the price has gone up a bit for newsletter subscribers and after that will go up again for the general public. Should you have missed the window and want the book, just let me know and I will arrange the special price electronically. You do, after all, own me. I plan to release the ebook to the public at large on June 1.
Special thanks to Sylvain Huet for post-publishing editing. It will surely make life easier for me in the long run!
Link Request Got a blog? Got a website? If it is not too much trouble and you do not mind, may I politely ask for a link to www.sake-world.com? My webmaster says that will help me a lot. If it is not an imposition, it would be appreciated greatly. Thanks in advance.
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I plan, each month, to include a sampling of what was interesting in the sake industry news. Sometimes it will not be much, other times it may be huge. Hopefully it will often be at least interesting.
Yeast #1801 Grows in Popularity It seems that the use of Yeast #1801 is growing in popularity. As you will all likely recall, the # part tells you it is a “kyoukai” yeast, or a yeast from the Brewing Society of Japan, as is #9, #7 and others with a number as a name. You will all likely further remember that the -01 part tells you it is foamless. (In this case there is no foaming version.)
You may recall that #14 and above often have more rambunctious aromatics, with apple, banana, licorice and more abounding, resulting from ethyl caproate. Often these can lack is body and balance in the flavors. But #1801 offers more body and less biting acid along with those fruity ester-tinged aromas, as such it is popular. I have tasted a good amount of 1801 and have found it to my liking although it is somewhat limited to daiginjo applications, methinks.
In 2006 there were 160 kura using it, in 2007 there were 215, and that number jumped to 266 in 2008. Remember this is still the 08 brewing season! So those are the most recent stats. That means that about a fifth of all brewers have at least dabbled with it.
Sake Holds Its Ground A snapshot (and that is all it is, so lets not get too excited) of the industry that measured shipments of all alcohol for January showed that sake held its ground, with 100% of the previous year’s volume again being sold. That means zero decline, and that excludes exports. Beer and its bastard children (near-beers, made from other things, not barley) slid, as did honkaku (the good stuff) shochu. (I’ll give ‘em a tissue to wipe their tears, but that is all.)
While 0% growth is hardly a cause for irrational exuberance, it is better than the usual news, which has for too long been another few percentage points of drop. Not sure it indicates a turnaround, but things are looking better and better.
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FinallyLook for a special offer to come out in a couple of days from me about an ebook I am ju st about to publish, something I have been working on for a long, long time about which no one in the traditional publishing industry expressed interest. 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. If you know someone that has taken the Sake Professional Course and has a new email address, 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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