SIX MONTHS IN — SAKE MATTERS

A few days back it was the six-month anniversary of this Sake Matters blog.

I started getting to grips with it back in late March, a few days after my plane touched down from Osaka and its half capacity of passengers, many sporting PPE (white is the new black in 2020 I believe), skulked gingerly through a very quiet Hong Kong arrivals hall.

So this is a post with a difference. Time-starved a bit this week so I thought a quick review of the short life of Sake Matters so far might be fun, or at the very least self-indulgent.

Perhaps I should have composed some iconic retrospective scene and shared a pic of it or created a video diary record of all that’s happened but let’s face it, that’s not likely. Technology has passed me by, which is not surprising really. My school had ten bulky computers for the six hundred kids. I imagine this can be used to explain why I’ve posted 96 times on Instagram in the last six months (which is exactly how many times I have ever posted on Instagram).

First Instagram post: note how I cleverly crop out the word ‘MATTERS’ (amateur!)

So there you have my first observation of what Sake Matters has done for me, I have joined the ranks of the social media savvy (albeit kicking and screaming somewhat). And I created the Sake Matters website, something which quarantine #1 in March gave me enough time to do. And it does the job, for now.

This year’s not all been bad though. The plethora of Zooms (I’ve even successfully arranged three of my own so far) that I have been part of has cast my Sake net far more widely and internationally than I could ever have imagined. As a result it feels like I have a decent handful of Sake nuts I can call on when we’re next in Japan, Australia, the USA (depending on what happens next week on November 3rd) and beyond.

Having now endured two lots of 14-day quarantine sessions in 2020, technology has in fact been a real asset. Last year had you told me that I would in essence be spending the equivalent of every thirteenth day of the year on my own, I would have wondered what on earth was happening. I’ve taken my own temperature 56 times this year for this, probably more than the previous 40 odd years combined. I’d be a whizz in the Koji-muro at monitoring the temperatures of the Koji.

But none of this makes me unique. Far from it really as we’ve all Zoomed, Teams’d and Facetimed our WiFis to within an inch of their lives like never before. So what true benefits for me in the Sake world have these last six months provided?

The biggest take out is that the more I write about Sake, the more I have needed to take the time and effort to examine what I’m drinking. That sounds obvious but it’s an important step. Previously it had been too easy sometimes to collapse on the couch at the end of the day, take a sip, grunt out a ‘not bad’ or mumble ‘that’s a decent Junmai’ over the latest Netflix addiction and mentally switch off. And that’s doing a major disservice to the Brewer.

Plus, that kind of generic insight doesn’t make for great articles, let’s be honest. So now my notebook is heaving with labels and is close to requiring some traction for that spine.

Dear Santa: I need a new notebook for Christmas please

Two (nearly) completed online Sake courses over these past few months have also provided a great refresher of my knowledge, and reminded me there’s so much more to learn. Having one-to-one chats with the likes of Sake celebs John Gauntner and Michael Tremblay has kept the Sake fires of passion burning.

What I’m shooting at here is that these social restrictions have had quite the opposite effect on my Sake appreciation. It’s given me the incentive to ratchet up how I approach that next snifter of Sake.

Less virtual but just as valuable has been the faster ingratiation into the local Hong Kong Sake population. Spending more time in one place than ever before - a situation hard to imagine at any time in the previous two decades - I have truly benefitted from this effect of the pandemic.

There are other benefits, facets and learnings but I did say I would keep this short. One last item worthy of mention though is that Sake Matters has inspired me to delve further than before into Japanese culture.

Whereas before, Lonely Planet told me all the culture I thought I needed to know, guaranteeing us to generally end up in the most heavily tourist concentrated pockets of a Japanese city or in restaurants where the clientele numbered too many English speaking Planet readers, I have had to look further. I’ve even started to learn Japanese (demo ima nihongo wa warui desu).

So I now am the proud owner of a unflighted - building rules won’t allow it - koinobori, and actively seeking a quirky and gnarly katakuchi, amongst other things. And watch out for a new category to these posts that unites a new love and respect for Japanese cooking with Sake, with Sake pairings too, naturally. Eating well has never been so intoxicating.

Yet, however, there is a flipside. Most tellingly of all, this deep immersion into Sake and Japanese culture has of course highlighted (and underlined in fluorescent marker) that being in Japan again isn’t just a matter of finding a free long weekend and reaching for the credit card. My frequent flyer log ins and seat preferences aren’t so much front of mind these days.

We’re six months in, so let’s hope we’re on our way out soon. To that end it’s sounding like right now we’re six months out. I can deal with that. So to everyone that has made this Sake journey feel like a real chunk of fun amidst all that’s been going on, kanpai! See you on the other side of this mess.