Sake in Japan

In the early 2000s, my high school friend began planning his future in brewing sake. He wanted to build on his beer-brewing knowledge and transition into sake production. He traveled to Japan to study the craft firsthand.

Jump ahead to 2009, when my friend encouraged me to take a trip to Japan and enroll in one of the entry-level courses he had originally taken. That trip and class became a turning point in my life. I signed up for the Sake Professional Course taught by John Gauntner — a week of intensive classroom work in Japan combined with real-world visits to breweries and face-to-face meetings with the families and people connected to our course. Each morning we studied the history, culture, production methods, and varietals of sake; each afternoon we visited, or were visited by, industry practitioners ranging from small family producers to large, industrialized breweries. We traveled from Tokyo to Kyoto to Osaka, seeing regional differences and meeting passionate makers along the way. What I took away from this experience was not only a deeper technical understanding of sake production, but also a lasting appreciation for the culture and the people behind Japan’s national beverage and pride.

UPDATE 2026: A few years after that trip, I began a deep dive into agave spirits from Mexico. I remain grateful to my friend for initiating the Japan journey; it stands as one of my best travel experiences and taught me the importance of traveling to encounter and learn from cultures beyond the one we grew up in.