UPCOMING SAKE SEMINARS & EVENTS
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John offers various Sake Seminars throughout the year, often with pottery specialist Robert Yellin. While most of these seminars are in Tokyo, John periodically holds seminars abroad. To stay abreast of these events, please visit this page regularly or sign up for the Tokyo Seminar & Even Notification List, which will inform you in advance of all such seminars. We also offer the free monthly Sake-World Email Newsletter. Click here for details.

Announcing:
The 2009  Stateside Sake Professional Course
to be held in New York City, July 27-29, 2009
A five-day, intensive sake course, replete with comprehensive lectures, directly applicable tasting sessions, and certification testing. No sake stone will be left unturned!

Without Koji, There is No Sake
Annual Sake Tasting
Tuesday, May 19, 6:30 PM
 

Koji-making is the heart of the sake brewing process. Koji is steamed rice onto which a special mold has been grown with great precision and skill that converts starches to sugars, which in turn are fermented to yield alcohol. Making good koji requires precise regulation of temperature and moisture, and nothing has a greater impact on the final flavors and aromas of sake. Like much of sake brewing, koji-making is more art than science. Sake expert John Gauntner discusses the art and science of making koji, what it is, the myriad ways it can be accomplished, and how tiny changes to koji can result in major differences in sake flavor.

Followed by a sake tasting. Co-sponsored by the Sake Export Association.

Tickets:
$35/$30 Japan Society members & seniors
Limit 2 tickets per order.

Must be 21 years of age.

Buy tickets online or call the Japan Society Box Office at (212) 715-1258, Mon. - Fri. 11 am - 6 pm, Weekends 11 am - 5 pm.

16th Annual Sake Tasting
Sample Specialty Imported Sake from 9 Japanese Breweries
Thursday, May 21, 2009
6:30 -- 9:00 p.m.
 

At Chciago's Premiere Sushi Restaurant
Japonais Restaurant & Lounge
River Walk Outdoor Patio (Weather Permitting)

600 W. Chicago Avenue
Chicago, IL 60610
Registration Fee:
$45 Early Registration (payment received by May 15)
$50 JASC Members/$60 Non-Members (payment received after May 16)

Raffle tickets are available for purchase for $5 each or 5 for $20.

Join Society members and guests for an exquisite evening of premium sake and contemporary Japanese appetizers, at the ultra swank Japonais Restaurant and Lounge. Nine sake breweries from Japan will be in Chicago for this one-day only event.  Brewers will set up tasting stations along the beautifully lit Japonais Chicago River Walk, highlighting only the finest sake. Experience flavors from Hokkaido to Yamaguchi, enjoy passed Japanese delicacies, converse directly with sake brewers and sake executives, all while taking in the Chicago sites.

More information can be found here.

ALSO:
Do you work for a company in Japan? John Gauntner is available for corporate sake seminars. A wide variety of formats are possible: in-house, at a sake pub, with food, without, with lectures on a variety of sake-related topics. Please contact John for more information.

OTHER SAKE EVENTS
Do you know of a sake-related event in your area? We would love to hear from you and then share your information with other sake enthusiasts! Please contact John with news on events in your area