Around our offices, we've been fans of sake for years and we enjoy it beyond our sushi lunches and dinners. As we always have some on hand and have had a number of Sake in a Cups while we were in Tokyo, we wanted to know more about how this drink can be paired with a number of celebratory situations that you would typically do with wine or champagne. We chatted with Timothy Sullivan, Sake Expert and an ambassador to Hakkaisan to find out more about this rice wine. ATHLEISURE MAG: Tell us how you became an expert on Sake and what is it about this particular category that sets it apart from spirits and wines. TIMOTHY SULLIVAN: I discovered premium sake about 12 years ago while having a sushi dinner in Manhattan. On a whim, I decided to splurge and order a high end sake to pair with the sushi. I was blown away with the pairing and fell in love with sake on the spot. I started a sake website a few months later, UrbanSake.com, to record my experiences and misadventures learning my way around the sake world. From that point on, I studied and learned all that I could and tasted as much sake as possible to train my palate. In 2007, I had my first trip to Japan and visited my first sake brewery, and in 2010, I left my previous day job and began working full time in the sake industry. Sake education has become my passion and my career! Sake is unique. It's complex production method is not used to make any other kind of alcohol. Premium Sake is gluten free, vegan, free of sulfites, and tannins and has a much lower acidity than wine. In addition, sake is much richer in amino acids than wine or beer, allowing "umami" flavors to come out in many sakes. AM: What is your role with Hakkaisan as an ambassador?
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