What is Sake On Air?
Sake On Air began in the autumn of 2018 when a group of sake and shochu industry professionals in Japan decided that these amazing beverages deserved a new kind of informative space fueled by open dialogue.
With countless podcasts dedicated to beer, wine, and spirits, as well as just about everything under the sun in relation to the dining and culinary, we realized that sake and shochu’s lack of representation in the space was a true injustice to these traditional beverages poised to inspire a global population increasingly infatuated with the power of food and drink.
Your team of hosts for Sake On Air didn’t choose to step behind the mic in order to act as an authority in the field. Instead, we’re here to serve as a conduit for the individuals who have dedicated their lives to sake and shochu, however lack a voice to be able to share their wisdom and their inspiring journeys with a wider audience.
By acting as a voice for these people, we hope to empower the international community of sake and shochu-curious without the means to access their wealth of knowledge and stories.
The number of passionate individuals across the globe that are crafting and shaping the future of sake is on the rise. As both production and sales continue to expand internationally, one thing that will never change is that Japan will forever remain the birthplace and homeland of sake and shochu. Because of that, Japan will always be the place where the world will gather in order to explore these fascinating beverages. By hosting the show in Japan, not only can we help to serve as the voice for the people and families of the sake world that have called the island nation their home for centuries, we’re also able to integrate the voices of the global sake community as they continue their endless exploration of the archipelago.
The question of, “What is sake?” has been well explored, but as the industry evolves, the angles from which that seemingly simple question can be examined is shifting, and the lenses through which the question can be explored are diversifying. At Sake On Air, as much as we’re excited to help provide answers, we’re even more excited to empower more new questions.
We’re currently in the midst of what is arguably the most exciting era in history for both sake and shochu. By sharing it together with our listeners, we hope that the conversations and stories recorded will be more than just informative. As more and more people across the globe pursue the endlessly fascinating worlds of sake and shochu, we hope that what we can leave behind for the industry a record that will be something timeless.
Thanks for listening.
Kampai!
Meet the Team
John Gauntner is recognized as one of the world’s leading non-Japanese sake experts and educators.
A resident of Japan since 1988, he is well known in the sake industry as the window to making sake understandable and popular outside of Japan.
He has been writing and lecturing about sake since 1994, in various newspapers and magazines in Japan and overseas. He has published six books on sake across two languages, hundreds of articles on the topic, and also publishes a free monthly newsletter.
He is the co-founder and content editor of the world’s first and only sake-only magazine, Sake Today, which was founded in January of 2014.
Known as “The Sake Guy,” and “The Sake Evangelist,” 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.
John is the only non-Japanese certified Master of Sake Tasting in the world, as administered by the Nihon Jouzo Kyoukai, or Brewing Society of Japan, the organization that, among other things, provides the majority of yeast strains to the brewing industry. He 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.
In 2006, he was awarded the Sake Samurai designation the very first year it was awarded by the Junior Council of the Japan Sake and Shochu Producer’s Association, for helping to promote sake and sake culture around the world.
Several times each year, he runs the Sake Professional Course, a week-long intensive sake study course, held both in and outside of Japan, as well as the advanced level of that course. He formed and currently sits as the chairman of the Sake Education Council, a non-profit organization that overseas sake certification testing. More than 1800 people from 13 countries have been certified and are recognized through this organization.
Over 12 years experience in the sake industry, Chris was wooed into the world of sake by a charismatic brewery during a tenure at a Japanese food and drink importer in London. Since moving to Japan in 2014, he has visited close to 100 breweries and completed a year in a Tokyo-based sales position for Tatenokawa Shuzo based in Yamagata Prefecture.
Chris is a certified sake educator for the WSET in London, currently teaching the Level 3 Certification in Sake at Caplan in Tokyo. Other sake related activities include running sake-infused international exchange events for KURAND Sake Market and regular MC at the Sake 2020 Sake Salon, “Meet the Brewer” events, organized and hosted with the Japan Sake & Shochu Makers Association.
Chris regularly appears on Japanese TV, radio and various publications.
Born in Normandy (France), long-term resident in Tokyo, Sebastien Lemoine is an eclectic Japanese culture buff, certified Advanced Sake Professional, sake educator and consultant at the culinary arts school Le Cordon Bleu. There, he has regularly been teaching the Sake Basic Course and hosting workshops about nihonshu such as cheese and sake pairing.
Making a turnaround from an international banking career in 2013, he embarked on a new life project, has taken hundreds of individual clients through inspiring experiences of Japanese culture across the country, playing his part in staging sake and its cultural heritage for the benefit of a wide audience.
Producing and hosting events for corporate clients as well as the expat community, he has been featured in publications in France, China, the US and Japan.
You can book private tours or consult with him directly via his company Passerelle (“footbridge” or “connector” in English), as well as follow along on his journeys on his business or private blogs.
Marie is a budding sake specialist based in Tokyo. She writes, talks, and sips all in the name of promoting sake, and wears many hats as the owner of Twenty x Twenty, a marketing agency specialized in sake-related business.
She cut her teeth in Marketing as a Digital Marketing Strategist, where she helped enterprise clients connect with an audience through digital media. Fast-paced, competitive, and often glamorous work style was exciting — until trying to always be “new” in the market kind of got old. She realized she’s had enough. That’s when she decided to take a leap of faith in pursuing her passion for sake.
A few weeks later Marie packed her two bags and landed in the scenic lakeside of Queenstown, New Zealand. There, she joins her friend and mentor Dave Joll in his boutique brewery Zenkuro, getting hands-on and elbows-deep experience in sake brewing.
A string of serendipitous professional encounters led her back to Tokyo, where she now combines her background in marketing with her love for sake. She pens for SAKETIMES International as their Content Director, holds lectures, and is making a foray into the world of podcasts as a new addition to the cast of Sake On Air.
When she’s not trying out new brews, you can find her on a beach, sketching a design for her dream mobile home, or training for her first marathon — mentally, mostly.
