Yes – there are many out there who perceive sake to be a hard alcohol! What does hard mean? Hard to wake up in the morning? You bet! No, usually hard means “distilled.” Sake is not distilled; rather it is fermented like wine or beer – or as I cleverly coined “sake – built like beer – drinks like wine.” Well actually not that clever at all really, but you get the point. My job over the years has be ... Read More

So how do you taste sake? Depends on your definition of taste. (Does that sound remotely like a Clintonian question?) Is taste flavor? Is taste feeling? Is taste simply tasting? Wow – this is spinning out of control right off the bat. Is taste a sense? Is smelling tasting? Is tasting smelling? What about hearing – is that part of tasting? How about seeing is that tasting? Is tasting just tasting? ... Read More

There is a great scene in the movie “The Shawshank Redemption” when the best voice-over in Hollywood – Morgan Freeman – talks about Andy’s love of rocks for his chess set, and for the little rock hammer that eventually buys his freedom. Morgan speaks about rocks in the very base terms of “time and pressure.” That’s it. Time and Pressure. If you want to know about rocks – you must have a general un ... Read More