Podcast

INTRO

In episode 86, Stephen spends some time musing on the recent announcement that the U.S. Surgeon General recommends cancer warnings on beverage alcohol labels.

CREDITS

Theme Song: Begin Anywhere by Tomoko Miyata (http://tomokomiyata.net/)

Mixing and Editing: Rich Pav (https://uncannyjapan.com/)

HOSTS

CHRISTOPHER PELLEGRINI Vermont born and bred, long-time Tokyo resident and author of The Shochu Handbook, Christopher learned about delicious fermentations as a beer brewer at Otter Creek (Middlebury, VT). He now spends most of his waking hours convincing strangers that shochu and awamori are unlike anything they’ve ever tried before. 

STEPHEN LYMAN discovered Japan’s indigenous spirits at an izakaya in New York City. He was so enthralled that he now lives in Japan and works in a tiny craft shochu distillery every autumn. His first book, The Complete Guide to Japanese Drinks, was nominated for a 2020 James Beard Award.

Stephen Lyman and Christopher Pellegrini support mindful drinking habits and will always applaud anyone who is drinking smarter.

If you have any comments or questions about this episode, please reach out to Stephen or Christopher via Instagram. We would love to hear from you. 

SHOW NOTES

Alcohol Causes Cancer?

Indirectly, yes. Acetaldehyde is a a bi-product of ethanol metabolism. Acetaldehyade is also a known carcinogen. As a result, ethanol itself has been designated a class 1 carcinogen by the World Health organization since 1998.

Given that any alcohol that is consumed will be converted to acetaldehyde before it is again metabolized into acetate, there is a cancer risk associated with any alcohol consumption. However, that risk is limited. Once the acetaldehyde is converted to acetate, the cancer threat is over. If the acetaldehyde did not result in a spontaneous cell mutation which became a malignant (cancerous) cell, the risk has passed. Until the next drink. And the one after that.

With the build up of alcohol consumption episodes that risk that a malignant mutation occurs becomes more likely. However, that cell mutation also needs to mutate into a cell that can reproduce to cause a tumor to grow.

As a result, despite this risk, alcohol is only thought to be responsible for about 5% of cancer diagnoses with nearly 20% due to tobacco use and 8% to obesity. UV radiation, unhealthy diet, and physical inactivity are the other major lifestyle risk factors for cancer.

Why Now?

If beverage alcohol has been a known carcinogen for 27 years, why is the Surgeon General only now beginning to think about putting warnings on labels? Many people still do not realize that alcohol can cause cancer, but most people now know that alcohol consumption can harm the unborn fetus and that drinking and driving don’t mix. The warning labels on alcohol have raised awareness. It’s probably past time that these warnings include cancer risk.

It’s unlikely to change drinking behaviors as much as other headwinds that beverage alcohol faces in the marketplace between newly legalized alternative mood altering drugs (hello, Mary Jane) and the fact that the new miracle weight loss drugs do not mix well with alcohol. As a result, people are already drinking less.

Taken all together we are likely to have more people making smarter decisions about when and how they drink alcohol and you can count us among those who think that’s a good thing. Therefore, we agree with the Surgeon General’s recommendation.

Much More to Explore

Stephen is fond of saying “Life’s too short to drink bad booze.” Perhaps that needs to be amended to “Bad booze isn’t worth the risk.” Anyway, he will work on a new slogan. In the meantime, enjoy in moderation as we have been encouraging since episode 51 if not before.

Kanpai!

INTRO

In episode 85, Stephen Lyman finally gets around to introducing himself.

CREDITS

Theme Song: Begin Anywhere by Tomoko Miyata (http://tomokomiyata.net/)

Mixing and Editing: Rich Pav (https://uncannyjapan.com/)

HOSTS

CHRISTOPHER PELLEGRINI Vermont born and bred, long-time Tokyo resident and author of The Shochu Handbook, Christopher learned about delicious fermentations as a beer brewer at Otter Creek (Middlebury, VT). He now spends most of his waking hours convincing strangers that shochu and awamori are unlike anything they’ve ever tried before. 

STEPHEN LYMAN discovered Japan’s indigenous spirits at an izakaya in New York City. He was so enthralled that he now lives in Japan and works in a tiny craft shochu distillery every autumn. His first book, The Complete Guide to Japanese Drinks, was nominated for a 2020 James Beard Award.

Stephen Lyman and Christopher Pellegrini are now joined at the hip, but it has not always been that way.

If you have any comments or questions about this episode, please reach out to Stephen or Christopher via Instagram. We would love to hear from you. 

SHOW NOTES

Who the Heck is Stephen Lyman, anyway?

Stephen Lyman is a native of Buffalo, New York, who had a decidedly different path to Japanese spirits expert than his brother from another mother, Christopher Pellegrini. Stephen grew up in a dry family and attended a dry college. He did not have his first real experience with alcohol until he was 24 years old.

Always interested in many things, Stephen Lyman studied history, political science, and economics in undergrad before considering both linguistics and epidemiology for his master degree, eventually earning a PhD in injury epidemiology with a specialization in sports injuries. This work led him to New York City where his inner foodie blossomed.

Shochu Discovery

Stephen Lyman discovered shochu in November 2007 at Izakaya Ten (now Juban – new owners, very similar vibe) on a cold Tuesday evening when he was out with friends. The Japanese waitress introduced the menu explaining that there was a $20 discount on shochu on Tuesday nights. Baffled, Stephen asked what shochu was. She said “Its like Japanese vodka.” As you are probably aware if you listened to our vodka episode, this is NOT the way to convince Stephen to try something. But the discount was too nice to pass up so a bottle of iichiko silhouette was brought to the table.

Stephen and various friends visited Izakaya Ten about 35 times in the next year as he dove in deep to try to learn about shochu, awamori, and izakaya culture. As basically the only American showing much interest in shochu in NY at the time, this lead to introductions to izakaya owners, Japanese bartenders, and eventually shochu makers when they would visit to do sales work.

Once the makers had been met it was only a matter of time before the itch to visit Japan and go to shochu distilleries and drink the spirit with the local food became too strong. In 2012 that trip finally happened and the rest, as they say, his history. He was back in Kyushu the following year to make shochu at Yamatozakura (episodes 34, 35, and 36) and by 2018 he was living in Fukuoka.

The Complete Guide to Japanese Drinks

Stephen was given the opportunity to write The Complete Guide to Japanese Drinks (Tuttle, 2019) basically by being a pest toward his eventual co-author Chris Bunting, who had written a very handy little pocket travel guide called Drinking Japan (out of print). Stephen wanted Bunting to update the guide with a new edition, but Tuttle claimed travel guides were now on our smart phones (they were probably right).

Nevertheless, they were given the opportunity to write a complete guide to Japanese beverage alcohol instead. Chris Bunting, who had moved back to the UK by that time after years in Tokyo, shared his photography and original notes, and Stephen did his own research, took his own photos, and took on the heavy lifting of putting the book together.

In 2020, completely unexpectedly, the book was nominated for a James Beard Award despite having no marketing budget whatsoever.

Much More to Explore

If you want to know how Stephen Lyman and Christopher Pellegrini actually met, you’ll have to sign up for our Japan Distilled Patreon. That episode is for our patreons only. We are panning a number of other exclusive offerings for patreons as well, though given how busy we’ve been with everything, we haven’t been able to announce much.

Kanpai!

INTRO

In episode 84, Christopher Pellegrini finally gets around to introducing himself.

CREDITS

Theme Song: Begin Anywhere by Tomoko Miyata (http://tomokomiyata.net/)

Mixing and Editing: Rich Pav (https://uncannyjapan.com/)

HOSTS

CHRISTOPHER PELLEGRINI Vermont born and bred, long-time Tokyo resident and author of The Shochu Handbook, Christopher learned about delicious fermentations as a beer brewer at Otter Creek (Middlebury, VT). He now spends most of his waking hours convincing strangers that shochu and awamori are unlike anything they’ve ever tried before. 

STEPHEN LYMAN discovered Japan’s indigenous spirits at an izakaya in New York City. He was so enthralled that he now lives in Japan and works in a tiny craft shochu distillery every autumn. His first book, The Complete Guide to Japanese Drinks, was nominated for a 2020 James Beard Award.

Stephen Lyman and Christopher Pellegrini are now joined at the hip, but it has not always been that way.

If you have any comments or questions about this episode, please reach out to Stephen or Christopher via Instagram. We would love to hear from you. 

SHOW NOTES

Who the Heck is Christopher Pellegrini, anyway?

Christopher Pellegrini is a native of Bristol, Vermont, who developed an interest in and relationship with beverage alcohol from a very young age when he served as the ad hoc bartender at his parent’s dinner parties. He quickly learned guest’s preferences and how to make drinks to order.

From there it was a relatively short leap to high school home brewer (we believe the statute of limitations has run out) and subsequently a commercial brewer at Otter Creek Brewery in Middlebury, Vermont, where Christopher legally could make beer, but was not old enough to drink it.

College dreamed interrupted his brewing career where he focused on cross country running at a liberal arts college in Ohio. After a year in Spain he found himself teaching in South Korea where he met a young woman who wanted to live in Japan and the rest, as they say, is history. Christopher Pellegrini and his better halve have now been denizens of Tokyo for about 23 years.

Shochu Discovery

Shortly after moving to Tokyo, Christopher discovered shochu on a rainy day in a tiny sake bar when the bored bartender decided to trip up the foreigner. After tasting through a flight of Honkaku Shochu, Christopher’s attention was good and got. Within weeks he was on a plane to Kagoshima and knocking on distillery doors. His early attempts at education were rejected. Nobody wanted him poking around their distilleries.

Through friendships he made at shochu bars in Kagoshima City he eventually was able to find some introductions started visiting distilleries. As of today he has poked his head around hundreds of distilleries across Kyushu and Okinawa.

As an educator, before long he had the itch to introduce the wonders of Honkaku Shochu and Ryukyu Awamori to others. His shochu meetups in Tokyo began drawing dozens of guests and he eventually became a local Airbnb Host, teaching shochu and awamori to overseas visitors.

The Shochu Handbook

Eventually Christopher realized that his reach was limited in Tokyo, which brought him to write and publish The Shochu Handbook, the first English language guide to shochu. The book now in its second edition and remains required reading for anyone interested these beautiful spirits.

Much More to Explore

To learn even more about Christopher Pellegrini, listen to the catalog of this podcast, his episodes on Sake on Air, watch the archived livestreams on our Japan Distilled YouTube channel. You may also want to dig around Japanese TV, movies, and commercials as he’s been acting professionally for a long time. Oh, and follow him on instagram @christopherpellegrini.

Kanpai!

INTRO

UNESCO Koji Fermentation recognition? In episode 83, we discuss the recent announcement that Japanese koji alcohol fermentation has been named an intangible cultural heritage.

CREDITS

Theme Song: Begin Anywhere by Tomoko Miyata (http://tomokomiyata.net/)

Mixing and Editing: Rich Pav (https://uncannyjapan.com/)

HOSTS

CHRISTOPHER PELLEGRINI Vermont born and bred, long-time Tokyo resident and author of The Shochu Handbook, Christopher learned about delicious fermentations as a beer brewer at Otter Creek (Middlebury, VT). He now spends most of his waking hours convincing strangers that shochu and awamori are unlike anything they’ve ever tried before. 

STEPHEN LYMAN discovered Japan’s indigenous spirits at an izakaya in New York City. He was so enthralled that he now lives in Japan and works in a tiny craft shochu distillery every autumn. His first book, The Complete Guide to Japanese Drinks, was nominated for a 2020 James Beard Award.

Stephen and Christopher are longtime proponents of the unique beauty of koji fermentation in Japan. This UNESCO announcement just confirms our beliefs.

If you have any comments or questions about this episode, please reach out to Stephen or Christopher via Instagram. We would love to hear from you. 

SHOW NOTES

UNESCO

UNESCO is the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, which is tasked with fostering peace through cross cultural understanding. The “intangible cultural heritage” program is intended to help countries protect their unique cultural heritage and receive international recognition that this cultural heritage is unique to their society.

There have been 788 intangible cultural heritages recognized by UNESCO since the program’s founding. Twenty-three uniquely Japanese cultural heritages have been recognized with both washoku (Japanese food preparation) and now kokushu (Japanese alcohol production) being recognized.

Koji Fermentation

While it is completely fair to say that koji fermentation started in China, it is also completely fair to say that koji fermentation as is used in Japan is completely unique to Japan. The reason is that the Chinese fermentation methods that were imported to Japan in the 500s CE included a slurry of micro-organisms: yeasts, bacteria, and molds. by the 700s, Japanese Buddhist monks in Nara had isolated both lactobacillis bacteria and aspergillus mold to create sake as we know it today.

When distillation technology arrived in the 1400s or 1500s, distillation of koji fermentations created awamori (Okinawa) and shochu (Japan) respectively. These spirits now outsell sake in Japan and are as much a part of the UNESCO intangible cultural heritage for koji alcohol fermentation as their more well known brewed cousin.

How Far Does it Extend?

It is obvious that this UNESCO koji fermentation recognition includes nihonshu/seishu (known as sake overseas), Honkaku Shochu, Ryukyu Awamori, and the lesser known doburoku (a rustic non-filtered alcoholic rice brew that only recently became commercialized).

But what about umeshu (the misnomer plum wine) or other fruit liqueurs made using sake or shochu or awamori as their base alcohol source? How about drinkable honkaku mirin (no salt added)? What about koji spirits that use shochu or awamori as their base spirits as many Japanese gins do?

And perhaps most interestingly, what does this mean for koji whisky? That style that was being made in America decades before malt whisky was made in Japan?

Also, what will this do for koji alcohols overseas? We know that there has been a global boom in Japanese cuisine, but how much influence did UNESCO’s recognition for washoku really have? Likewise, how likely is is that the UNESCO koji fermentation announcement is going to move the needle on global exports of these alcohols? Or is this also just confirmatory?

Much More to Explore

As you can probably tell, we are just beginning to unpack the meaning of the UNESCO koji fermentation announcement. Would love to hear your thoughts as well.

Kanpai!