TalkThursday 5 September – Wednesday 14 August 2013
Sake: Ancient and Modern
Drinks reception: 7:00pm – 8:00pm
13/14 Cornwall Terrace, London, NW1 4QP
Organised by The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation in conjunction with Japan 400.
British-born Philip Harper went to Japan to teach English in 1988 and soon became fascinated by sake. With two Japanese friends, he visited breweries and took part in tastings and rice planting. Ultimately the entire trio gave up more conventional careers to become sake brewers and all are still working as practising brewers today. In over twenty years of brewing, Philip has worked at four different sake breweries. In 2007, he was hired by the Kinoshita Brewery as Master Brewer and has since led the Tamagawa sake brand to two Gold Medals in the National Sake Awards. He is known for brewing in an exceptionally wide range of styles and has doubled production to satisfy the many new fans of Tamagawa products. He is the author of two books and numerous articles on sake. He talked about sake’s long history and his own experiences as the only non-Japanese to have become a master sake brewer. There was also an opportunity to taste some of the different sake styles Philip produces.
Many thanks to World Sake Imports, Kinoshita Sake Brewery and Rie Yoshitake. Without their support this event would not have been possible.
This was a Japan4oo event.
The video of this event can be viewed on YouTube below:
About the contributors
Philip Harper
Philip Harper is a sake Master Brewer (toji) and the first foreigner to pass the Nanbu Brewers’ Union examination to qualify as one. He discovered sake shortly after arriving in Japan on the JET Programme as an English teacher in 1988. He joined the staff of a highly traditional sake brewery in Nara in 1991 and has forged a career in the industry ever since. He has been a judge in numerous sake tasting events in Japan and overseas. His publications include The Insider’s Guide to Sake (1998) and The Book of Sake (2006).