Drinking Trees, Part 2: The Production Process and the Importance of a Good Name

This is the second installment in our multi-part series on tree-derived alcoholic beverages. Professor Otsuka met with us in April of this year and took the time to explain the production process. He also showed us a video that illustrated it. Though not quite as complex as the the contraption that is featured above, it … Continue reading Drinking Trees, Part 2: The Production Process and the Importance of a Good Name →

Drinking Trees, Part 1

This is the first installment of a multi-part series on tree-derived alcoholic beverages. We start off with an original poem that is evocative of Joyce Kilmer’s “Trees” (1913). https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/12744/trees. “Trees” Revisited I think that I shall never see A liquor store as generous as a tree A tree whose rugged “skin” when stripped Can yield … Continue reading Drinking Trees, Part 1 →

Tastings—Free or Paid—Benefit Consumers and Producers Alike

The idiom “a pig in a poke” has long fascinated us. For those unfamiliar with this expression, here are the facts: it is very old, still in use; and totally inscrutable, if one does not know the meaning of “poke.” Poke, in this case, is a sack. Why, you might ask, would anyone want to … Continue reading Tastings—Free or Paid—Benefit Consumers and Producers Alike →

The Sakura Awards, Part 2: Encounters with the Ultimate in Terroir

In last week’s entry we reviewed a European wine that one of us tasted at the 2023 Sakura Awards tasting, which was held at the Imperial Hotel, Tokyo. This week we will focus on two wines produced by a Japanese winery. An impressive array of fine wines was laid out before me, the vast majority … Continue reading The Sakura Awards, Part 2: Encounters with the Ultimate in Terroir →

Sakura and the Sakura Awards, Part 1

Sakura, or cherry blossoms, have proven to be the gift that keeps giving for artists and writers. The blossoms have a tenuous grasp on the branches that quiver in the spring wind and eventually succumb to the inevitable and shed their petals like swirling snowflakes of pink. Sakura are symbolic of the impermanence of beauty … Continue reading Sakura and the Sakura Awards, Part 1 →