Show 138, September 12, 2015: The Joy of Sake Festival – Las Vegas

Chris PearceThe Joy of Sake Festival, now in its 15th year, comes to Las Vegas for the first time on Saturday, September 19th from 7 to 10:00 p.m. at Caesars Palace. It celebrates the world’s finest sakes.

The Joy of Sake is the public tasting that follows the U.S. National Sake Appraisal, which is held in Honolulu every July. Brewers from every region in Japan enter their best junmai, ginjo and daiginjo labels, which are blind-tasted by judges from Japan and the U.S. The most exceptional win gold and silver awards. Festival-goers sample these outstanding entries, including over 200 labels which are not even available in the U.S.

For sake fans, there is no better scenario : over four hundred premium labels in peak condition, along with sake-themed appetizers from 12 top restaurants in Las Vegas including the renown Raku in Las Vegas’ Chinatown.

Tokyo follows on November 5th.

Organizer Chris Pearce gives us all the 411.

Show 39, September 7, 2013: Vernon Cardenas, Executive Chef of State Social House on the Sunset Strip

Vernon Cardenas of State Social HouseChef Vernon of the new State Social House is also a certified expert in Sake and presented an informative tutorial. Sake is actually easiest to characterize as a brewed rice beer made from a specially grown short grain rice.

Enjoying cold sake allows you to better appreciate the quality of the beverage.

Beware…Hot sake masks the flavor of a poor quality sake.

There are six main styles of sake. Most popular in the United States are ginjo, dai ginjo, and junmai daigingo. How much of the rice grain is milled away affects the sake’s flavor.