Japanese sake seminar in MIFB2016

Hello everybody!

I had a small seminar about Japanese Sake in Malaysian International Food & Beverage Trade Fair (MIFB2016) on 27-28 July 2016.
I had this opportunity due to the request from Japan Rice and Rice Industry Export Promotion Association (JRE) who was one of the exhibitor of MIFB2016 from Japan promoting Japanese rice and sake.

Although it was a short 30 min seminar, I could introduce "WHAT'S SAKE" including the ingredients, production methods, Sake types and how to enjoy for the visitors. The most of them have not been experienced sake before. I hoped they could have more interest on sake after my talk.

I also enjoyed to taste the premium sake and rice. Especially, The taste of Narutotai Ginjo Shiboritate Namagenshu (the sake in the right of the left picture) was new to me. It is a freshly pressed sake packed in aluminium can with very oily, nutty of full body sake, yet very fresh!!! 

Cheers!

International Kikisake-shi Certification Course (25-26 July 2016)

On 25-26 May 2016, I facilitated the first International Kikisake-shi Course in Singapore.

“International Kikisake-shi”  literally means "Sake Sommelier" that are the professionals certified by Sake Service Institute International Japan (SSI) who can properly advise, supply, and sell sake to customers around the world. There are about 1,000 certified professionals (as of June 2016) around the world.

I started working with SSI closely since September 2015 to prepare to facilitate the course in Singapore and could finally held the course this time.

The course was an intensive 2 days course for the participants to prepare the examination of International Kikisake-shi.

 I had 10 serious candidates to aim to be certified as International-Kikisake-shi. They are learning not only technical knowledge of sake or tasting method but also requirements as a kikisake-shi, basic profile of alcohol beverage in general and service as a kikisake-shi

Tasted 4 different types of sake based on aroma and flavor profiles by SSI method x 2 days.

In fact, it's challenging to find suitable sake for the course due to the limited supply in Singapore, but I could manage to select 4 different types of sake for 2 days.

After the 2 day course, the candidates will take the examination on 1 Aug 2016. Hope they are doing well, Good Luck!!

Kikisake-shi Summit 2016 in Taipei (Part1)

I went to Taipei to participate in Kikisake-shi Sumit 2016 (21/5/2016-23/05/2016) in Taipei.

I arrived in Taipei on 20/5/2016 to explore Taipei because it was the first time for me to visit there while the summit and the related activities started from 21/5/2016.

On 20 May, after about 5 hours flight to Taipei from Singapore....and long queue at the immigration..... and about 1 hour bus to the city central.....I finally had a lunch in the noodle shop near the hotel.

the first meal at Taipei was beef noodle (牛肉麺) and Taiwan beer! Yammyyyyy!!

After check in the hotel, heading for Jiufen (九份) . Initially, I planned to get there by a public bus, however gave up as soon as I saw the long queue waiting for the bus. So, I decided to use a group taxi that recruiting customers at the bus stop. I think this was a very good decision, no waste of time, faster and more comfortable but not so expensive (it was 200TWD vs 106 TWD for the bus) !!!

Jiufen used to be a gold mining mountain town, and the town today exists mainly as a tourist destination remembering and celebrating Taiwanese history and culture. This town is especially popular for Japanese tourist because of the anime called Spiritual Away from Studio Ghibli and the nostalgic atmosphere from both retro Chinese and Japanese style cafés, tea houses, and souvenir shops, as well as fantastic views of the ocean.

There were many small alleys in Jiufen, I felt I got lost.... and I nearly lost my way....  At that time, it was not so crowded, but......

After light up (though still not so dark... ) 

As everybody aim to come here after the lighting up, the road is soooo crowded and the move was very slow...

This building is the model of the house in "Spiritual Away"

After Jiufen, I dropped by Taipei 101 to see the night view. The view of Taipei 101 was much more nicer than the view from Taipei 101. In fact, I always think that the view of the tower is much nicer than the view from the tower.... So, no need to go up the tower.....

Taipei 101

Din Tai Fon at Taipei 101 was so crowded, so I gave up to have dinner there. Instead, just took away the food from small shop on the way to the hotel. I enjoyed walking around Jiufen and Taipei. But I was so tired that I needed to take a rest now to prepare the main event starting from the next day. Good night!

Dinner - Soup noodle with beer!

The first Sake Navigators were certified !!!

It's been 2 months that I held the first Sake Navigator course in Singapore back in 14 May 2016 at Wine Language Singapore.
Sake Navigator is a junior certification of Kikisake-shi in Sake Service Institute Japan (SSI) aiming to spread an awareness and understanding of sake.

A special hand made textbook

The course is 4 hours intensive course specially designed to obtain the basic knowledge of sake and will be certified as Sake Navigator (日本酒ナビゲーター） from Sake Service Institute Japan with the successful completion of the course.

I had 5 serious candidates at that time and all got certified!!!!
2 of them, then, decided to go for the advanced level certification, Certified International Kikisake-shi (a.k.a. Sake Sommelier). Actually, this is a perfect prep course of the Kikisake-shi course.

Enjoyed 5 different types of sake

Echizenmisaki Junmaiginjo (Tanabe Shuzo, Fukui)

Koshijifubuki Gokkan-jikomi (Takano Shuzo, Niigata)

Puchi Puchi (Suehiro Shuzo, Fukushima) - Sparkling

Zuiyo Hojun Junmai-shu (Zuiyo Co, Kumamoto)

Junmai Ginjo Yamahai (Tamanohikari, Kyoto)

I do enjoy introducing wonderful sake world. Next course will be held soon. Stay tuned!