bonny doon imported Ruche from Monferrato. ah-ha.

Beau had so much to share yet Gary---in Japan from where I write--silence is also valuable, your interruptions took so much away from this missed opportunity. Sake is, as you noted, a very under-appreciated and not yet understood beverage. I will disagree with Beau though--as a resident here since 1984--that sake is a workingman's drink, in general. True to some extent, yet a gross exaggeration. And the vessel theme was not shown in the true way, sake is generally drunk from porcelain--such as Imari--or more often from stoneware--such a Bizen--and glass in the summer; I look forward to an episode looking at the history of sake vessels and how they too change the flavor profile. Hope to see you both here in Japan, let me take you to a great local sake pub. Kampai.

Great episode! Cool, down-to-earth peeps. Awesome show.

If I stand outside during the episode, can I get some of the stuff they were cleaning out of the fridge?

I live in Modesto, I will definitly be there for your book signing to get your books signed and to pick up some sake.

Hi Gary,

I really think this show's idea is interesting and the two episodes were fantastic, but your interruptions were too much, especially on the Episode 1. Please let us listen to your guest!

I'm a SF resident and when I visited Beau's store, I was blown away about the sake collection. I'm so glad to meet the owner through this show. I'm Japanese and I've never seen that good collection even considering the stores in Japan.

His knowledge of sake must be unbelievable and needs to be shared with English speaking audience. I'm very interested in more episodes between you two! (The Episode 2 was awesome!)

Lastly, I want people to try a sake called "HAKKAISAN" one day. That's the sake which made me realize "sake is VERY tasty and truly real deal."

Hiro

Great episode. He was tremendous guest. Really enjoyed it.

QOTD: Drinking a 2000 Terra Brune from Sardinia. Blew my mind. Spent more time smelling the wine than drinking it.
QOTD Subset- My first experience at a Steakhouse- Morton's. Grew up eating overcooked steak. Had no idea that it could taste so good.

Spectacular!!! It was neat to see Gary so excited that he couldn't get out of the episodes (and Beau's) way! Wonderfully informative. NE Ohio Represent!

QOTD: My first was probably BBQ. While nuances abound, that process was simple enough that I was able to learn about it quickly. My second was a dram of of Laphroaig at a local BBQ place (theme arising quickly here), which set my mouth ablaze in a whirl of flavors and textures (loved the oily character). Both beautiful moments in my life! I'll forever be a peat-freak and a Q-head!!!

That may be the best episode that I have seen on WLTV to date.
There was the intrigue factor - a new beverage and an expert guest.
There was chemistry - although you cut him off at the end, there was a real good dialog.

QOTD - There are many epiphanies in life:
- Beverage - the first time I drank Bordeaux hooked me.
- Religion - all things came into focus when my father died.
- Love - meeting my wife!

A "Top Ten Episode" for sure.

QOTD: The first time I tasted truly good homebrew - it was at one of the first meetings of Idaquaffer Brew Club in Boise ID, circa ~1983. Prior to that, commercial beer was well, commercial beer, and homebrews had a yeasty/cider off taste. That Idaquaffer club brew was a malty, hoppy, wonder and set me off into the world of homebrewing and craft beers. My love of wine has been an evolution of that moment.

Best episode ever, hands down.

QOTD: Brooklyn Brewery Black Chocolate Stout. I bought a sixer on a whim, back when I thought Stella was a great beer. When I drank the first bottle I thought, "too sweet." When I drank the second bottle I thought, "too burnt." When I drank the third bottle it just clicked.

QOTD - Blew 2 full days of per diem on one meal at Willi's Wine Bar in Santa Rosa in '03. Awesome small plates and several great wines but had the epiphany with an 02 Sonoma Pino Noir. It actually made me laugh out loud when I drank it, it was so perfect. Didn't know enough then to even remember who made it. Never tasted a Pino since that I have liked, but it started me down the path. I'm glad you used the word because 'epiphany' is how I've always described that moment.

Been watching for a long time and am finally making a comment!

Just wanted to say that I really liked the guest and the topic and hope you have him back. I had a lingering interesting in sake that I was waiting to act on someday, but now this jump-starts the urge. It's explained in answering your QOTD.

QOTD: With wine, I actually hadn't really paid much attention to it, but I heard of WLTV from Diggnation and when I finally checked it out, it was the way Gary would get into describing the experience and taste that got me intrigued with trying out wine whenever it comes up. With sake, I never tried it until this year and just got some random one off the shelf. I took a sip and was captivated by how clean it was. Over a couple weeks, I would drink it as a nightcap, and realized I really liked it as it didn't give me any cruddy feeling once getting into it like beer or wine. Since then, I have wanted to experience more of sake.

Tremendous two part episode! Gary, bring Beau back! More sake education, please!

QOTD: Wine is the first beverage that inspired me to learn all about it. In my early education I read through the entire “Wine Bible” twice. It’s so addictive. Anticlimactically, though, there was no one eye opening moment. Wine has been a steady progression.

After watching these 2 episodes, I am going to go buy my first bottle of sake and give a try. Thank you for sharing your passion and knowledge. I felt the Thunder!

QOTD: When I was young my father took me fishing, in the back of his old truck he brought a small hibachi style grill. On the tailgate of that truck we cleaned the fish we caught and cooked them over the wood we collected from near by. That moment I realized that things can be better because of what you put into it. I think I have been a foodie ever since, which continues for me with beer, wine, and hopefully sake.

5th Anniversary in Burgundy, went there without having much of the wine, then I fell in love.

This guy rocks! Next time i'm in SFO on Biz, i'm going to look him up. Taking a custi for dinner tonight, i plan on ordering an expensive Sake, and start working on my palate...AMM

"The pursuit..."

Qotd: in 2004 I had the 1999 carobbio chianti Classico riserva. Wine has never been the same since.

This was TERRIFIC! I've been a sake fan for several years now, but just went to my first actual Sake tasting here in Las Vegas at Little Buddha at The Palms this month, and had my eyes opened in a way I could never imagine. So seeing this episode on WLTV is just phenomenal. Gary, please keep it up. Sake is really the up and coming beverage that you alluded to at the end of this episode, and I think there is a tremendous opportunity here for you to help the increasing numbers who are gaining interest in this fabulous beverage. Arigato!

Best... Guest... EVER! Gary, please make "Sake library TV" happen!

Gary: Loved the two episodes. Interesting how all the Golden Girls in the nation are kvetching over them. What happened to expanding your palate?

I've also wanted to learn more about good sake just as my experience and taste has evolved in wines.
Fortunately, my daughter is currently living in Japan. So, timing being what it is, I visited her for about two weeks and we did a little research when in Kyoto. I brought back several bottles and would love to know what I have - the kicker being that since I got them in Japan, there is no English on 'em.
Hard to pass up though as all I saw were 10 to 14 bones.

Loved Beau's passion and the chemistry. Shout out to the Ohio boys!
I could see the wheels turning and am really looking forward to Social Sake TV with Beau. Bring it on and bring it hard!

As a beverage manager 3 years ago I was tasted on Reyka Vodka and Hendrick's Gin and fell in love.

Freaking awesome episode, GV! Beau is phenomenally radool! A truly GREAT guest. Boy, follow up the Sasha Show with the Sake guy - you continue to amaze me by pumping out the outstanding content time and time again. I am truly in awe. Keep it going, dude!

Props to Beau. O-H-I-O. I admire his passion and his knowledge. I didn't give a rat's ass about sake but now I want to try it because of his passion for the beverage. I've had sake a couple of times. I even had some at a Japanese reception in Geneva, Switzerland drank out of the cedar box from a barrel. But it wasn't great, just an interesting experience. I doubt that it ws premium sake. So now I have to try a premium sake. Thanks!

QOTD: This episode was somewhat of an epiphany in that it got me interested in trying some premium sake. However, my real epiphany was in 1988 when I was first getting into red wine and tasted a Medoc Bordeaux. That's when I began my passion for wine and my quest for wine knowledge.

2005. Chimay Blue, Grand Reserve. Opened my eyes to the intense complexity and craft that is Belgian Beer.

QOTD: my first beer was a guinness extra stout when I was younger, I thought it was the worst thing on earth and that it "started off with an after taste". It took me almost 5 years to even try a beer again when I helped a friend of mine complete a home brew we were working on for a few months. He really wanted me to try the fruits of his/our labor, so I did, and at that moment I knew that quality beer would be a big part of my life. Also, having over come that mental block, it led me to be able to appreciate the finer points of cigars, cognac, and now wine, but after this show I may have to take a hiatus from wine for a few months to learn about Saki, which I only thought came as the Nigori type a few years back.
thanks and happy drinking!

Brazilian lurker here, attending your call! :)

Great show, I will certainly go out and find some sake here to give it a try.

QOTD: A 8 years old Johnnie Walker Red Label whisky, in the college, before that moment whisky was just a high alcohol drink with no taste. The funny fact is that now after loving wine for about a year or so even the most fine old blended (or not) whisky is just high alcohol again.. :)

My epiphony moments, I have two:

#1. Back in 1994 I used to just drink Kendall-Jackson chardonnay because my girlfriend liked it. I really was a vodka & tonic guy. Then one day a friend of mine asked if I liked red wine. Nope was my answer. He said I needed to try something. It was an old vine Turley Zinfandel. I was forever changed. I had to know everything there was to know about red wine.

#2. In 1999 I moved to LA and a friend took my to Sushi Roku. Up until then I had only had the bad, hot sake. To my shock and pleasure Roku had a sake sommelier. He asked a bunch of questions and then suggested a bottle of Tomanohikari. I was forever changed. Blew my mind that sake could taste like that. Unreal. Now I seek it out wherever I can.

Great episode!

I'm a cocktail guy, but after this episode and some of the expirimentation going on with Sake in the cocktail world... I am SO in to sake. Great epi.

Wow... Many corny moments. However, loved the show, and thank you WLTV for producing a bad ass Sake show. Check the comments in the past, and see I left a comment on asking for a Sake show, since I will be traveling to Japan from Aug to Dec. What!

QOTD. Artichokes!!! I make a artichoke pasta with pesto and its bangin.

Great episode. It is awe inspiring to see someone so passionate about their field. Beau is truly "Crushing It"
QOTD: Orange juice. 1993, I tasted some fresh squeezed juice that made me an orange juice snob to this day. I, was 13 years old and immediately went to the encyclopedia brittanica to find out what concentrate was and how to eliminate it from my juice drinking world.

Awesome episodes. We live in the Bay Area and will visit True Sake soon.

Epiphany beverage... so hard... for beer it was Sierra Nevada when I was living on the east coast in 1992, I couldn't believe beer could taste like that. For wine there have been so many... NZ Sauv. Blanc in 1999, aged Bordeaux in 2003, aged riesling in 2008... I hope they keep on coming. Can't wait for my sake epiphany!

2005. Monterey. I'm at the Talbott tasting room and Gary Pisoni is standing to my left, Robb Talbott to my right. They're both in t-shirts and jeans. I'm sipping the newest Cuvee Audrey release, and listening to these two icons of the wine world laugh, drink, and smile. I'd always had this image in my head of Baroness Phillipine de Rothschild standing at the entrance of her famed Chateau, and of a club into which I would never be granted membership. But there at that tasting room, sipping local chardonnay and listening to Pisoni and Talbott, I saw the spirit of le vin.

That's when I knew that wine was something magical.

One word for this episode.........Awesome. By the way was that Jim Carrey improving? Either way great episode.

That was beautiful! I enjoyed that episode tremendously. Completely infectious! Wonderful. Thanks!

What a great show! I wish Beau had a store in Chicago. Beau...How about Chicago?
I loved the fact that you were able to keep up with Gary. The two of you were racing and evenly matched.
LOoking forward to future shows!

Domo-arigato

QOTD: I'll go with a wine moment. My husband and I didn't know a tremendous amount about wine and in August 1996, we went to France. We were wine drinkers but not wine nerds (yet). On that vacation, we tasted wine in basements/cellars in Gevrey Chambertin. We had no idea at the time that we were in a famous wine village. There is still a special place in our hearts for the wines of Burgundy.

I work in a wine and spirits shop but I have yet to try Sake. I don't think we carry any top tier Sake in the store but I will investigate and taste something soon.

June 10 my wife and I had wine pairing with a 13 course tasting menu at 11 Madison Park restaurant in NYC. We were really interested in trying the white wines which dominated the pairing. To our surprise they started with sake and a tiny slice of halibut. It was great, when we inquired they said total production was only one barrel. I don't remember the name but it was an eye opener starting the meal with sake. I travel a lot on business and have been to Japan many times. My Japanese hosts who are "into" sake exposed me to many premium brands but none ever wowed me the way this one did. It was very flavorful and the finish went on for minutes.

great episodes

great guest. i live in tokyo so will chase down those bottles.

mucho arigatou gozaimasu

mjr

my interests are too diverse for one passion and my attention span too short, but the first time i saw gary v talk about expanding your palate, i knew i was on the right track. to me expanding your palate isnt just about taste, its about all your senses and experiences.

F-ing phenomenal episode. Seriously. I'm going to start diving into Sake MUCH more than I have been lately.

QOTD: Recently I guess I would say Sashimi and Sushi. The whole raw seafood and raw meat play- like ceviche (love the acid) and carpaccio as well. Growing up, the thought of anything raw was dangerous to me, but recently I dove into this category and am all about it... which is a perfect time to get more into Sake!

Are there any QPR genuine Japanese sakes? All 3 of the ones on the show were kind of pricey (for me). I know that SakeOne/Momokowa from Oregon is an alternative, but how about a more reasonably priced Japanese sake.
All in all, a great show (both Part 1 & 2) that I enjoyed.

Great! you've again added something to my list of things that I've got to try!

QotD: my (alcoholic beverage) epiphany moment was sitting in Mestre, Italy with some of my friends when the waiter brought us some local red wine. It absolutely blew my mind that something as simple as where it came from could change my perceptions that much. In my limited experience previous to that, I had basically assumed that all wines were pretty much the same within the variety, but tasting wines from different places and different types of wine, crafted by different people and in different ways really peaked my interest.