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Hire a professional! – Sake tastings and sake symposiums by a certified sake sommelier!

Sake is a most wonderful drink, with the whole of Japanese culture behind it.

The author of this site, Ad Blankestijn, is an officially licensed Master Sake Sommelier and Sake Instructor. Both licenses were obtained from the Sake Service Institute in Tokyo.

Ad Blankestijn is active in promoting sake and spreading knowledge about sake in various ways, for example by giving sake workshops and doing tastings in both Europe and Japan. Ad also works as Director Overseas Marketing and Sales for the Daishichi Sake Brewery, which provides him with first-hand knowledge “from the source.” But it goes without saying that he does his sommelier work from a neutral and independent stance.

Ad is available for corporate and private sake seminars and tastings in Japan.

There are basically two programs:

• A sake symposium followed by tasting. The symposium (accompanied with PowerPoint slides) is about the brewing process, types of sake, history of sake, regional differences, what good sake is, etc. During the tasting Ad tells more about how to taste sake and also about the sakes used. Fee is 30,000 plus costs for travel and accommodation, if necessary, plus the actual cost of the sakes used for the tasting. Length of the program is two hours. Suitable for company and embassy events, when you have to make a program for visitors from your home country, etc.
• A tasting with a short introduction about sake. Ad gives a relaxed talk about what to look for in good sake and the various types of sake (without PowerPoint). During the tasting he tells more about how to taste sake and also about the sakes used. Fee is 15,000 plus costs for travel and accommodation, if necessary, plus the actual cost of the sake used. Length of the program is one hour. Suitable for home parties. etc.

A rough estimate of sake costs: everything depends on the number of sakes used and the number of participants. It is nice to use between 6 and 10 different sakes, which would be between 20,000 and 30,000 yen plus transport costs if any. Double when more bottles are necessary due to high number of participants (more than 10), or when “party bottles” are required. Glasses (white wine glasses are usually perfect) etc. should be provided by the client, as well as the possibility to store the sakes in a refrigerator.

Ad lives in the Kansai (Kobe) but is also available elsewhere in Japan such as Tokyo for these tastings and symposiums.

For more information (without any commitment) or bookings, please use the form below or mail to xuanzang73 [at] yahoo.com. In addition to your contact data (name, title, company, address, tel no, email), please mention the date, type of tasting, location and number of participants. In reply, I will let you know my availability and conditions.

Contact form: