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Getting Started

How to read labels and understand the basic categories of Japanese alcohol.

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Sake Assemblage｜The Craft of Blending at Gikyo and Zaku

Gikyo blends aged sakes, while ZAKU eks Edition No.1 was developed with sushi in mind. Their production stories show how selecting component sakes and adjusting proportions shape an assemblage.

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Standardizing Sake Education｜Drawing on the Sommelier’s Lens

Shared categories help learners distinguish aroma from taste and compare sake tasting notes. Wine sommeliers’ observation methods offer a starting point for this learning.

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A Whisky-Based Negroni Variation｜Junmai Sake Casks and Mirin

A proposed Negroni variation using TOGOUCHI Whisky Sake Cask Finish and mirin-based AKA-ONI ROSSO. Compare ingredient substitutions and mixing ratios as separate changes.

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Separating Taste and Aroma｜Understanding Thai Cuisine and Wine Pairing

Understand Thai cuisine and wine through five sensory dimensions: spiciness, astringency, acidity, sweetness and aroma. Distinguish ingredient properties, research conditions and changes in perception.

Getting Started

Introducing Bacchus Journal｜Exploring Japanese Sake and Traditional Spirits Through Ingredients, Culture, and People

Introducing Bacchus Journal: stories of Japanese brewing and distilling through ingredients, culture, and people. Learn what the journal covers, its planned twice-monthly English features, and how to explore the archive.

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Fermented Shrimp Paste in Dessert｜How an Ingredient’s Role Redefines Flavor

Fermented shrimp paste in dessert and miso in cocoa cake reveal how an ingredient’s role shapes finished flavor. Consider umami, sweetness, saltiness and the characteristics of sake and shochu.

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Crafting Cocktails with Sake: A Delicate Shift in Balance

Using sake as a cocktail’s main ingredient and replacing another beverage at equal volume are different design choices. Explore final ABV, liquid volume and flavor roles, with examples from Shichiken.

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Mugishiru Wins the President’s Prize at Kura Master 2026｜Grain and Toasted Bread Aromas

Mugishiru received the Kura Master 2026 President’s Prize in Honkaku Shochu & Awamori. Explore the jury chair’s grain and toasted bread descriptions, barley koji, atmospheric distillation and unfiltered finishing.

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Does Maewari Make Shochu Mellow? Understanding the Role of Water and Time

What does mellowness mean in maewari? Explore dilution, assessments of resting time, the roles of water at Nakamura Shuzojo, and the kuro-joka tradition in Kagoshima.

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Taming the Bubble: The Technical Evolution of Champagne

How Champagne makers learned to control fermentation, bottle pressure and sediment. Bruno Paillard Dosage Zero illustrates the distinction between sugar for bubbles and sugar at finishing.

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Decoding Champagne Labels: RM, Single-Vineyard, and Single-Varietal

RM describes the producer, single-vineyard identifies where the grapes grew, and single-varietal indicates the grape used. Three Champagne examples clarify the distinctions.

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Decoding the Label: Five Essential Whisky Terms

Mash bill, single malt, cask strength, small batch and expression describe different aspects of whisky making, from grain proportions to bottling.

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How Grape Variety and Winemaking Shape Italian White Wines

Glera, Garganega, Ribolla Gialla and Fiano reveal how fermentation, grape drying, skin contact and aging shape Italian white wines.

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Who Decides What Makes a “Good Drink”? ｜ Bangkok’s Dining Table and a Wine Writer’s Binary Choice

In October 2025, an international wine writer published a lengthy article about food and wine in Bangkok. Its conclusion was straightforward: in this city, you have to choose between prioritizing authentic Thai food and making wine the star of the meal.

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Why Wine Professionals Study Sake at the Source

Seeing how sake is made and speaking with the people who make it can help wine professionals explain it in clear, accessible terms.

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Two Paths from a Single Grain: Barley Shochu and Malt Whisky

The difference begins before the amber color develops. Two approaches to saccharification: malt and koji.

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Why Bangkok Bars Ask: “Why Japanese Spirits?”

Ingredients, classics, sustainability. What a bar chooses to serve reflects what it values.

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What Distinguishes Origarami from Nigori Sake?

What separates origarami from nigori sake? Explore sediment, pressing and heat treatment, and why cloudiness alone does not determine sweetness or carbonation.

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Japanese Gin Is Not One Single Aroma: Understanding What “Japanese” Really Means

KI NO BI, ROKU and NISEKO ohoro GIN show how Japanese gin connects place to flavor through different ingredients and production choices.

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The Language of Sake: Distinguishing Ingredient Truths from Health Claims

Why the presence of amino acids or fermentation-derived compounds in sake does not by itself establish a health benefit from drinking it.

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How to Describe NAS Whisky: Four Things to Check When No Age Is Stated

Some whisky labels state an age such as “12 Years” or “18 Years,” while others do not. These products are commonly referred to as NAS, or No Age Statement, whiskies.

Bruno Paillard

Same Design, Different Time: Why Bruno Paillard’s Cuvée 72 Is Named for 72 Months

Champagne is typically understood through the prism of grape varieties, terroir, or harvest years. Yet a compelling question arises when those environmental variables are held completely constant: what happens when time alone is varied?

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Bangkok Leads with Eight Bars: Three Ways “Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2026” Reflects How Regional Strength Is Built Over Time

On July 28, 2026, the highly anticipated “Asia’s 50 Best Bars” list was revealed in Macau. The regional edition of the globally recognized awards ranked 50 exceptional establishments from across Asia.

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Orange Wine: Look Beyond Color to Method | Skin-Contact Whites Emerging in Bangkok

At wine bars across Bangkok, amber-hued white wines are becoming an increasingly common sight.

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Choose by the Table: Food, Serving Style, and Occasion

An educational framework for comparing sake, shochu, liqueur and other distilled spirits through food structure, service variables and dining format.

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How to Read a Japanese Bottle Label Without Knowing Japanese

A practical guide to four fields that explain a Japanese bottle: category, ingredients when shown, alcohol content, and producer.

Selecting Your First Bottle: A Thoughtful Guide for the Curious Mind

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You Don’t Need Expertise to Choose: How to Narrow Down Your First Bottle

A beginner's guide to choosing Japanese sake, shochu and spirits ｜ four simple ways to narrow the choice without memorizing technical terms.

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“Organic” Is Backed by Legal Standards; “Natural” Is Self-Declared｜How to Read a Wine Label

Learn how legally defined organic wine differs from self-declared natural wine, and what certification and label language can reliably tell the reader.

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The Truth Behind “It Can Only Be Made in Amami”

The System Protecting Brown Sugar Shochu Is Not GI The Truth Behind “It Can Only Be Made in Amami” ｜ The System Protecting Brown Sugar Shochu Is Not GI Brown sugar shochu can only be made in the Amami Islands. This fact is often explained in shops as being “protected by a geographical indication, like […]

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Dissolving the Boundaries of a Sake Maker

HEIWA CRAFT by Heiwa Shuzo and the Fluid Intelligence of Fermentation Dissolving the Boundaries of a Sake Maker ｜ HEIWA CRAFT by Heiwa Shuzo and the Fluid Intelligence of Fermentation “Why would a sake brewery make beer?” There is one way to answer this question: “Because it is simply another story of fermentation.” Heiwa Shuzo, […]

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The Architecture of Aroma

How Distillation Pressure Defined the Modern Identity of Rice Shochu The Architecture of Aroma: How Distillation Pressure Defined the Modern Identity of Rice Shochu Crafted solely from rice and fermented with rice koji, rice shochu is often perceived as a simple, gentle spirit. Yet, its reality spans a remarkably diverse spectrum. While one expression offers […]

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Rethinking the Rules

Why Thai Cuisine Demands a New Wine Language Rethinking the Rules: Why Thai Cuisine Demands a New Wine Language At a Bangkok dining table, the conventional Western rules of wine pairing often falter before the meal even begins. Faced with a shared spread of Thai dishes, the traditional binary of “fish or meat” feels fundamentally […]

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The New Dialogue

How KANPAI THAILAND 2026 Reflects the Evolution of Japanese Alcohol Marketing The New Dialogue: How KANPAI THAILAND 2026 Reflects the Evolution of Japanese Alcohol Marketing There was a time when a single social media post, paired with an evocative image, could seamlessly bridge the gap between a brand and its audience. In Thailand’s evolving landscape, […]

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The Limits of “Carbon Neutral”

Wine Regions and the Philosophy of Regenerative Agriculture The Limits of “Carbon Neutral”, Wine Regions and the Philosophy of Regenerative Agriculture As 2026 begins, a distinct phrase is quietly emerging on the labels of progressive wineries across Europe and North America. Alongside established certifications such as “Organic” and “Biodynamic,” the words “Regeneratively Grown” are now […]

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A Quiet Evolution in Bangkok

KANPAI THAILAND 2026, a Celebration of Japanese Sake and Spirits Over the past few years, the landscape surrounding Japanese sake in Thailand has been quietly, yet unmistakably, changing. Once tucked away in the corners of high-end Japanese restaurants, artisanal sake bottles are now appearing on the menus of Bangkok’s contemporary bistros and wine bars. A […]

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Rethinking the Rule

How Natural Wine is Redefining Bangkok’s Thai Dining Table “Wine is hard to pair with Thai food.” For a long time, this was accepted wisdom in Bangkok. The heat of bird’s eye chilies, the sharp acidity of lime and tamarind, the pervasive aromas of lemongrass, and the layered umami of fish sauce｜Thai cuisine possesses a […]

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The Architecture of Belonging

How Asia’s Bars Are Redefining the ‘Third Place’ At HOTELEX Shanghai in March 2026, the traditional exhibition booth felt like a relic of the past. In its place stood fully realized bar counters and intimate lounge spaces, built directly inside the hall. Rather than distributing catalogs, brands invited guests into curated worlds of light, sound, […]

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Removing a Mainstream Assumption

An Intellectual Shift in Cultivating Craft Culture Three Disparate Threads One morning, three pieces of material were sitting on my desk. One was a note regarding KUMA TOMATO, a unique tomato-based liqueur from Tsutsumi Distillery, a respected Kuma shochu producer in Kumamoto Prefecture. Another was a summary of Takafumi Nakanishi’s book, Next-Generation AI: Japan’s Path to Victory. […]

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A Shochu by Nature, a Liqueur by Law

Asagiri, Kuma District, Kumamoto Prefecture. Founded in 1878, Tsutsumi Distillery introduced Gokujo Tsutsumi to the world, yet the label does not bear the word “shochu.” Under Japan’s Liquor Tax Law, this bottle is classified as a liqueur. And yet the base spirit is made from rice and rice koji. It is a traditional Kuma rice shochu distillate, aged for more than ten years in Oloroso sherry casks.

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Beyond the Terminology

Four Principles for Curating a Meaningful Sake Menu in Bangkok The Evolution of Bangkok’s Dining SceneThe landscape of Bangkok’s gastronomy is subtly shifting. Japanese sake, once confined to traditional establishments, is now finding a home in French bistros, Italian trattorias, and contemporary Thai dining rooms. While the presence of sake has grown significantly, a familiar […]

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A Back Bar Where Category Boundaries Begin to Blur

On a Bangkok night, I’d like you to slowly take in the back bar of a small, unassuming spot｜left to right, if you can. Next to a cask-aged rice shochu from Minamiuonuma in Niigata sits an amber-hued kokuto (brown sugar) shochu from the Amami Islands. Further along, a seven-year, oak-aged awamori from Nakijin in Okinawa waits its turn, followed by a Pinot Noir from Yoichi in Hokkaido. Beside it rests a French craft gin, distilled from hand-picked botanicals in the Loire Valley. A decade ago, such a lineup might have seemed unlikely. Clear lines divided where each belonged｜sake in Japanese restaurants, gin in bars, wine in Western dining rooms. In 2026 Bangkok, those lines are quietly beginning to dissolve.

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Beyond the Niche

The Next Decade of Organic Wine What comes to mind when considering organic wine? Perhaps the image of a small, meticulous estate producing limited quantities, or bottles quietly reserved for the devoted enthusiast. While this perception has long shaped the wine landscape, recent data reveals a profound evolution. From Boutique Vineyard to Global Presence A recent […]

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Sake Contains No Tannins

Harmony with French Cuisine｜and Its Limitations People often say that sake pairs well with French cuisine. Delicate umami, gentle acidity, and the smooth texture derived from rice｜those qualities certainly make it so. But when sake is matched against the true mainstream of French cooking, it reveals a structural contrast. It possesses no tannins. Wine contains tannins, the bitter, astringent compounds extracted from grape skins and barrels. These compounds cut through fat and serve as the “backbone” that brings harmony to complex sauces. Because sake naturally lacks this backbone, pairings with French dishes rich in butter or cream can sometimes feel blurred or unfocused. Yamanashi Meijo, a brewery in Hakushu, Hokuto City, Yamanashi Prefecture, confronted this culinary challenge. Founded in 1750, this brewery has dedicated over 270 years to the craft of sake. Their chosen approach was the integration of cherry wood barrels.

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Defining “Authentic Japanese Whisky”

Japanese whisky labeling, preparations for GI protection, and the distinction between the voluntary JW logo and GI designation. Market estimates and distillery counts are identified by year and scope.

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Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Champagne

A comprehensive guide to Champagne, from the region and grapes to pressing, blending, ageing and the traditional method behind its bubbles.

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Champagne! 3. Fundamental Knowledge about Champagne: Origins and Production

Learn the essentials of Champagne: its protected origin, permitted grapes, production method and the factors that shape the finished wine.

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Ah! Organic? Biodynamic? Nature? What are the differences?

Quick overview We’re often asked this question by our customers. They find it difficult to distinguish the realities behind each of these terms: conventional wine, sustainable wine, organic wine, biodynamic wine, vegan wine, natural wine or “Vin Méthode Nature”. It’s true that it’s easy to get confused. Overview. Let’s start by recalling two things. “Bio”, in […]

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Beyond Soju, Dive into the Deep Flavors of Japanese Shochu

Welcome to the Fascinating World of Japanese Shochu! Recently, Korean dramas have helped Korean shochu, known as soju, become very popular worldwide. However, did you know that Japan also has its own traditional style of shochu, with a long history and unique charm? At first, shochu might seem complicated because there are so many types, but […]

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Champagne Bubbles: The Essential Differences

Learn what distinguishes Champagne from Crémant and other sparkling wines, including origin, grapes, production rules and secondary fermentation.

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The Art of Champagne: How the Bubbles Are Made

Explore how Champagne's region, grapes and traditional method create its bubbles, texture and distinctive character.

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