‘The Saké Guy’ Speaks His Mind

What turned a football-loving Clevelander into the world’s foremost non-Japanese expert on saké? Perhaps a combination of dogged determination, boyish enthusiasm and a very sophisticated palate. Plus, of course, a dash of missionary zeal, because John Gauntner is out to dispel perceptions in the West that saké is somehow the second cousin to wine.

Gauntner is the only non-Japanese to win the coveted Kikizake Meijin (Accomplished Saké Tatster) honor from the Junsui Nihonshu Kyokai (Pure Saké Association) for his sake-tasting skills. In fact, he has won the award three times: in 2001, 2003 and 2006. He is also the only non-Japanese member of the Ginjo Saké Research Group. Gauntner is also the go-to guy when the West wants to know something about sake: He’s lectured at Harvard and Yale, has been quoted in The New York Times and Rolling Stone magazine, and he’s even held lectures on sake for the Japanese government His five books on the subject, including one in Japanese, offer the perfect starting point for people wanting to know more about nihonshu, as the drink is called in Japanese.

Gauntner’s also the kind of guy you’d like to share a glass of saké with. He’s unpretentious, enthusiastic and fun to listen to, especially when you get him going on his favorite topic. Take a brief gander at his free email newsletter and you get a sense of Gauntner’s personality: His latest begins by describing a fight scene in Robert DeNiro’s A Bronx Tale and somehow manages — just a few paragraphs later — to slide into a discussion of the hidden pleasures of mature saké.

Gauntner feels that saké sometimes gets short shrift in the West, where wine is the drink of connoisseurs. But lately, perhaps because of the pervasiveness of sushi and Japanese cuisine in general, American gourmands are starting to show an interest in the Japanese drink. Gauntner’s tireless promotion of the drink has also helped raise its profile here: The non-Japanese owners of the only two saké retail and tasting bars in operation in the United States as of this writing (Sake Nomi in Seattle and True Sake in San Francisco) both took Gauntner’s seminar on saké before opening their shops.

This month, JI talks with Gauntner about the world of saké and what it took to go from a Midwestern kid with a love of the Cleveland Browns to an oft-quoted saké expert in Japan. So pour yourself a glass and enjoy our conversation with the “saké guy.”

JI: John, what first attracted you to saké?

Gauntner: I was introduced to half a dozen good brands on January 1, 1989, and fell in love with the depth and subtlety of saké. If anything, that would be it: its depth and subtlety.

JI: What are some of the common misperceptions Westerners have about saké?

Gauntner: That it should be enjoyed hot, that since it is made from “rice” it all tastes more or less the same, and that it gives one hangovers. Also that all rice is the same! Poppycock!

JI: What are three or four of your favorite sakés and how do they differ in taste?

Gauntner: Hmm. This is difficult to answer since my favorites change all the time as I get older and more ornery. Also, many of them are available only here in Japan, so to tell you might sound like I was just putting it in your face, that you cannot get it! But to try to answer, some of my favorite brands are Kaiun from Shizuoka, Suminoe from Miyagi, Kamoizumi from Hiroshima, Yuki no Bosha from Akita, Daishichi from Fukushima… but there are so many. What I like in saké is less ostentatious presentations and more subtle stuff. Like, you taste it, put it down, go back to your conversation and a full three to five seconds later you say, “Damn, that’s good!”

JI: Was it difficult for you to break into the saké world? Did you find that brewers and Japanese experts had trouble accepting a white guy from Ohio as a saké expert?

Gauntner: No, actually, it was a very smooth ordeal for me. I think, though, that is because I did not appear on the scene and say, “Hey! I am a saké expert and here before you!” It was more like I was interested, hanging around tasting, and while many looked at me with a curious eye, they also realized that I was truly interested and also had studied. This makes them happy. And as I went to countless tastings and visited brewers with a pure attitude of interest, the industry became familiar with me. Remember, it was not my intention to make this my work! Over time, brewers and organizations began to ask me to work with them for language reasons, and I began to slowly develop my own projects and received support from them as well. And again, over time, with no real conscious effort on anyone’s part, the industry realized that I do what they cannot: market saké well, and in English. As such, I enjoy tremendous support from them. One more reason is of course I am not putting scores on saké and pushing one over the other; I am all about educating consumers and fairly representing saké in general, encouraging folks to learn about it and decide what they like.

JI: It seems that the market for saké abroad is growing while the market in Japan has slowed somewhat. How has the US market in particular been developing? And is demand for saké rising as Japanese cuisine becomes more of a staple there?

Gauntner: Certainly, the rise in popularity of Japanese food has helped fuel the market growth of saké. But there is more to it too. As better distribution leads to better saké availability, the “luscious circle” as I like to call it elevates, and wine folk come to enjoy saké too. The US has averaged double-digit growth over the last seven years.

JI: How has the saké market changed in the last 10-20 years?

Gauntner: It has grown in volume a lot, but what is more significant is that it has grown faster in terms of monetary value. So folks are drinking quantity, but drinking more quality than quantity.

JI: Describe a tasting or seminar for us. What sort of saké would you have a first-time taster try? What sort of saké do Westerners seem to like the best?

Gauntner: I try to use six saké. Any less does not expose folks to a wide enough range; any more is sensory overload. I try to present as wide a range of flavor profiles as possible, so as to make folks say “Wow, I had no idea saké flavor profiles could be so different!” I begin with a 45 minute lecture, then say a bit about the saké, then cut folks loose to a table where they taste at their own pace. Most Westerners seem to like lively aromatic saké the best, but in truth, all have their own preferences, and these will surely change with time as well.

JI: You have a book in Japanese entitled “Things about saké that even Japanese people do not know.” Can you share one of these things with Japan Infusion readers?

Gauntner: The title was a bit misleading, and not my choosing actually. There is nothing like that in there. It is more a look at saké from the eye of an outsider, albeit a passionate eye, and more than things Japanese people do not know, it was stuff they forgot about saké, having been too close to it. Like how wonderful it is, how complex the brewing process is compared to wine, how rich the culture is that suffused it… stuff like that.

JI: How do you see the saké world growing over the next few years? What trends in saké are hot in Japan and what trends do you see catching on in the overseas markets?

Gauntner: Absolutely, growth will continue. It has not even begun in Europe yet! If that catches on, that will be one trend. Other than that, though, I think that we will see saké penetrate more into Western food-based restaurants, penetrate more into the US (geographically, that is, i.e. not just the coasts), and penetrate more into the consciousness of lovers of connoisseur beverages.

JI: If there’s anything else you’d like to add, please do.

Gauntner: Only that the most important thing to do when learning about saké is to taste as wide a range of saké as possible.