Sake Confidential

John Gauntner is recognized as the world's leading non-Japanese sake expert and educator. He has lived in Japan since 1988, and has worked in the sake industry promoting and educating since 1994. He has written seven books, including two ebooks, across two languages and hundreds of articles on the topic, and is known for his for his uniquely concise and passionate way of conveying all aspects of sake, sake enjoyment, sake culture, sake history, and brewing technology. John also conducts several Sake Professional Courses each year for sake professionals and aficionados. Known as "The Sake Guy," John is the only non-Japanese certified Master of Sake Tasting in the world, and has also achieved the very difficult Sake Expert Assessor certification from Japan's National Research Institute of Brewing. No other non-Japanese in the world has both of these certifications. He also received the Sake Samurai award in 2006, the first year it was awarded John has been quoted and/or mentioned in sake related articles in countless publications including The New York Times, Newsweek, Forbes, Business Week, and Rolling Stone. He has spoken at Harvard, Yale, and Columbia Universities, Wharton School of Business, and countless other venues across the US and Japan. Much of each winter he is traveling around Japan, visiting breweries regularly and constantly learning. Other efforts at educating and edifying about sake include a free monthly sake newsletter (www.sake-world.com) and various digital products and e-books. John is also author of Sake's Hidden Stories and The Sake Notebook, both self-published ebooks, and coauthor of Sake Pure and Simple (Stone Bridge Press, 978-1880656372, now OP).

INTRODUCTION: “The Least You Need to Know About Sake”

What sake is vs. wine or beer or spirits
How long it has been around
How it is made
What makes a good one from a less good one, i.e. how to choose a sake safely
The grades and major types
Temperature, aging, storage, pairing with food
Alternative types like nigori, nama, yamahai that are mutually exclusive of grade


TRUTHS ABOUT SAKE

1.The truth about junmai vs. non-junmai
2.The truth about nama-zake
3.The truth about aged sake
4.The truth about the nihonshu-do
5.The truth about ginjo
6.The truth about sake purity
7.The truth about the date on the bottle and “how old is too old”:
8.The truth about warmed sake
9.The truth about nigori-zake
10.The truth about “tokubetsu”
11.The truth about water
12.The truth about yamahai and kimoto sake
13.The truth about rice variety and sake flavor
14.The truth about regionality in sake

HOW THE SAKE INDUSTRY REALLY WORKS

15.The Truth about the sake industry
16.The truth about how sake is priced in Japan
17.The National New Sake Tasting Competition
18.The truth about how rice is distributed in Japan
19.The truth about outsourcing in Japan
20.The truth about sake glassware
21.The truth about the milling rate for junmai-shu
22.The truth about pairing sake and food in Japan

THE BREWMASTER’S ART REVEALED

23.The truth about koji-making.
24.The truth about toji
25.The truth about some aromatic sake.
26.All brewers make all grades, and they start with the rough stuff.
27.A million ways to make your moto: infinite variations

APPLYING WHAT YOU KNOW

28.How to develop your sake-tasting abilities
29.Representative sake selections

CONCLUSION

EXPANDING YOUR KNOWLEDGE