#sake samurai

Hawtin first launched ENTER.SAKE in 2012 at his award-winning club concept ENTER. in Ibiza. What started as a wish to share his passion for Sake and Japanese culture with friends after twenty years of travelling, working, and tasting sake in Japan, led to the launch of Ibiza’s first true sake bar experience and the creation of Hawtin’s own boutique ENTER.Sake collection. The idea of the project first came to Hawtin as a reaction to discovering more about the decline of the domestic Japanese Sake industry. Noting a lot of similarities in the Sake industry and the independent Electronic Music scene, Hawtin wondered if there was some way for him to help revitalize the Sake industry and introduce his fans and colleagues into the world of Japanese Sake & culture.

Working in collaboration with the Kyota-based Sookuu brewery, Hawtin brought the exclusive ENTER.Sookuu “Black”, “Silver” & “Gold” Sake to Ibiza along with hand-selected sparkling varieties from Japan’s legendary Dassai Brewing. The Sake Samurai award comes in the same year that ENTER.SAKE also made its US debut, with an exclusive launch at New York restaurant TAO Downtown, the first time ever that Hawtin’s Sake and Shochu brand, created with the Matsumoto Sake Brewery in Kyoto, has been made available outside of Ibiza.

The Sake Samurai Association was established in 2004 to protect both sake and Japanese traditions at home and to promote them internationally. Since 2006, the association has awarded annual "Samurai" titles to individuals committed to upholding the following three tenets: love both Sake and the beautiful culture of Japan, strive to gain a deeper understanding of sake culture and work on behalf of its further development and spread the word about Japanese sake around the world with pride and passion.

“To be honoured by the Sake community for my work spreading the taste of Japanese Sake to the international market is humbling & another positive step for my dream of combining Music, Sake & Technology into an immersive Experience. As we continue to develop our ENTER. events on Ibiza and expand our ENTER.Sake brand throughout Europe & North America, I hope that we can continue expand the market place for Japanese Sake and bring new vitality back to the Japanese Sake Industry. Whether it's a "taste' or a "sound", I hope to continue my support for artisans around the world who follow their own pathway to create something unique and different.” – Richie Hawtin entersake.com sakesamurai.co.uk

What started your journey into the world of sake?

I moved to the United States in 1998, where I studied fashion merchandising. I worked for a Japanese trading company that dealt with import and export of textiles, supplying textiles to fashion designers. My company specialized in Japanese textiles, so I traveled to Japan often to source materials to ship back to New York.

Textile factories in Japan are normally located in the countryside, so whenever I visited I'm always brought around to try the local food, which of course included the local sake. I just fell in love with Japanese culture all over again. I left Japan when I was young; I didn't really have a true appreciation for Japanese culture then. But having lived abroad for so long, I saw Japan in a different way.

So then I started learning about sake - I took up online courses learning about sake, and then I completed my sake sommelier certifications. I still stayed in my textile job for two to three years, taking up part-time sake sommelier jobs over the weekends.

But as my passion for sake grew bigger and bigger, at one point I decided to focus on my sake sommelier work. That was in 2005-2006 when I devoted myself fully in sake and quit my textile job.

What do you think is most difficult when trying to convince someone who's not familiar with sake to try it?

Actually it is easier to share about sake with someone who has zero knowledge in sake. People who have some knowledge but they've already decided they don't like sake, those are most difficult.

If you can open to me and tell me what kind of flavour you are looking for, I can always find something for you. But if you already tell yourself you don't like sake, then that's difficult. There's always a right sake for everyone - if you like sweet sake I can choose a sweet sake for you; if you like a dry one, I can also find one for you. There are so many different kinds of sake. 

For someone who was born in Japan but lived a large part of life in the United States, why did you then decide to start Sake Bar GINN in Hong Kong, of all places?

The owner of the Japanese company whom I worked for, back then when I left the company in 2010, owned 12 restaurants. Now he owns 14 Japanese restaurants, all with different concepts. I was involved the starting up of some of the restaurants, and I learned so much.

I have great respect for my former boss - he's a very hardworking and passionate restaurateur. He always told me, "You really have to fall in love with the product that you are selling." So even though he's no longer a big drinker, when he started he owned 2 sake bars so he really studied and researched about sakes. It was the same when he opened his ramen shops.

The last thing I wanted to do was to compete with him, and at the same time I wanted to create my own sake bar with my own concept. So I thought the best is to find a new city for me. I thought of Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai - three of my favourite cities, since I don't want to open up a shop in a city I don't want to live in - so I researched these three cities and Hong Kong was the most realistic option. It's difficult to start up in Shanghai without a local partner and regulations for importing sake was challenging; Singapore on the other hand has a high liquor tax.

Sake Bar GINN was the first project I did alone, without any partner.

Earlier you mentioned that it's easier to introduce someone with zero knowledge of sake to the product. What's the process you go through with someone to decide what's the best sake for them?

I ask them what they normally drink. Obviously they don't know much about sake so if I ask them what sake they liked they wouldn't know and wouldn't be able to describe it anyway. If they tell me they are into beer or vodka or white wine or cocktails, I am better able to tell what they may like.

For example if they are a vodka drinker, I normally suggest a honjozo-type sake, with a slightly higher alcohol content and is very smooth. If someone likes sweeter white wine, I would suggest something fruity and sweeter like a junmai daiginjo sake. For a cocktail drinker, the first step could be a plum or yuzu citrus sake.

That's the first step. Usually when someone asks for something dry, but when I let them taste different sakes they very often end up choosing something not dry at all! What they think they like and what they actually end up enjoying may be slightly different. It's common with sake.

Which kind of sakes do you find the most suitable for the Southeast Asian palate?

Probably because of the hot weather and spicy food, lighter and slightly sweeter sake will work better. Another kind of sake that would work are very dry and straightforward ones. Something with too much complexity won't be too suitable considering the strongly-flavoured foods.

Southeast Asian foods use a lot of spice as compared to Japanese food, which work better with more delicate sakes.

Consumption of sake in Japan is trending down. In general the Japanese themselves seem to be moving away from sake, or just imbibing during special occasions. Why do you think that is happening?

I hope that eventually the trend of sake will come back in Japan. There are now so many other alcoholic beverages available in Japan - whiskies and wines, for example.

A lot of young Japanese don't see sake as a cool drink, and meant for the older generations. Also, alcohol consumption per person is actually falling especially for younger Japanese, which could be another reason.

But at the same time, the sake market outside of Japan is growing very fast. The growth is starting to level off in the United States, but in Hong Kong and Korea it's still growing very fast.

So where do you see the sake market in 3 to 5 years time? And how does your role as a Sake Samurai come into play?

I think we really need to rely on the export market. But then there's also a trend of sake coming back in Japan too, after so many years of decline. Hopefully this will stay. That's why I'm trying very hard to promote sake.

The Sake Samurai Project started about 7 or 8 years ago. The Sake Brewers Association basically appoints about 4 to 6 people around the world each year as "Sake Samurai", whose task is to spread the word about sake outside of Japan and who help build the sake industry.

That's why I take my time out to promote sake - anytime they call me for a promotional event I try to make it.

This is important for me too because if no one drinks sake then I will not have a job!

How about the recent trends of sake brewers innovating with their product, with the introduction of sparkling sake, fruiter sakes? Do you think that will help to reverse the trend?

I think so. People's palates change over the years, and any good long-lasting product should evolve to meet market needs. And I think it is necessary, because the climate changes and the food we eat also is becoming different. Consider that Japan is now famous for its beef, but beef was not available in Japan a long time ago.

I think it's a good idea for brewers to create sparkling sake or flavoured sake, so people will at least try sake.

Who are normally the people who visit Sake Bar GINN?

A lot of locals - Japan is one of the most popular holiday destinations for Hong Kongers, so a lot of them have tried sake in Japan and they are looking for something as good as they've tried when they visited.

We also get a lot of Japanese. They miss Japan, they miss sake, and they miss Japanese food. So they come here.

I would say about 40% locals, 30% Japanese, and the remainder are Western expatriates who work in the area.

There are actually some breweries outside of Japan making sake - there's one in Norway, for example. Do you think that's an interesting trend in the revival of the interest in sake?

I think it's a great thing. If they can create their own versions of sake or rice wine, then people get used to drinking those products would want to try Japanese sake as well.

And they know their own markets better than anyone in Japan. For example, there's one gentleman, Masa Shiroki, in Vancouver, Canada, who's making sake that's very different from Japanese sake. It tastes like sake, but for me he creates something closer to wine than sake. It's different, but that's good.

Apparently the reason why he started his brewery there because in Canada it is very difficult to import draft or unpasteurized sake (namazake, 生酒). The Canadian government controls imports so strictly they keep the product for a few months before they release it. Shiroki-san used to own and import and export company that dealt with sake, but he got tired of draft sake spoiling because of the wait so he started making his own.