Attendees at the festival will enjoy canapes and sake tastings. Photo: Australian Sake Festival.
The Australian Sake Festival is hosting its first event in Canberra: Kanpai and Canapes.
Kanpai is the Japanese equivalent of ‘cheers’ when drinking, but this event will be more than just another booze fest. The ticket includes access to some of the world’s leading sake experts, and endless Japanese-inspired canapes designed to pair perfectly with the drinks on offer.
Simone Maynard is a curator and educator with the Australian Sake Festival and has also been awarded the honorary title of Sake Samurai for her efforts to champion the traditional beverage. She says that sake hasn’t always had a good reputation in Australia, but that is changing.
“Maybe 20 years ago, we really only had poor table quality sake, which was served hot, and people would wake up with a terrible hangover!” she told Region.
“But now there are a lot more Australians travelling to Japan, and they’re coming back and wanting to find some of the more elevated drinks they had; whether that was a pairing of sake and food, or a visit to a brewery where they learnt about regional variations or brewing methods.”
“And more restaurants are serving great sake. Sommeliers and chefs are educating themselves about Japanese flavours and ingredients and incorporating them into menus and wine lists.”
Simone Maynard is a sake educator and was awarded the honorary title of Sake Samurai in 2022. Photo: Supplied, Australian Sake Festival.
Sake is a traditional Japanese beverage brewed with rice. Simone compares the process to wine and beer:
“With wine, the sugars in the fruit go through a single fermentation. In beer, there are two steps where malted barley is made into a mash, which is then fermented. But for sake, both of those steps happen at the same time, in a process called multiple parallel fermentation.”
The resulting beverages can range from sweet to dry, with a variety of different flavour profiles. Like wine or beer, once you start learning more about the nuances of this rich tradition, there are many rabbit holes to fall down!
On the day, attendees will receive their own traditional ochoko cup to taste the sake from. In Japanese culture, a host is required to refill the cup of their guest: the smaller the cup, the more they refill and therefore the more they honour their guest.
The Australian Sake Festival has been running events since 2019, starting with a small event in Sydney. This year, they are running five festival events across Sydney, Melbourne and Queensland, and are hosting their first Canberra event.
All attendees will receive a festival ‘ochoko’ sake cup to take home. Photo: Supplied, Australian Sake Festival.
Simone and festival director Tsuyoshi Endo (also a fellow Sake Samurai) have put together an education program for the festival events. In between tasting different sake and Japanese-style fruit liquors, participants can learn about the history of sake, how it is made, how to enjoy sake at home, and ideas for pairing sake with food.
Simone explained that sake is uniquely suited to pair with food because it is low in acidity (unlike wine) and doesn’t have any tannins or strong hops flavours that might drown out food flavours. Sake is rich in amino acid compounds, created by natural lactic acid fermentation in the brewing process, making it high in umami.
On the day, attendees can expect unlimited tastings of different sakes, with plenty of sake sommeliers to guide you through the experience. Canapes designed to pair perfectly will circulate throughout each session.
Simone hopes that the festival will also attract some local hospitality workers to get sake onto more menus, and to encourage collaboration between the festival and local businesses in future years.
The Australian Sake Festival hosts Kanpai and Canapes Canberra and will take place on Saturday, 18 October, at Manning Clark Hall, ANU. Three sessions will run throughout the day from 11 am to 2 pm, from 2:30 pm to 5:30 pm and from 6 pm to 9 pm.
Buy your tickets and find out more at Sake Festival, or follow the festival on Facebook. Find out more about Sake Samurai and educator Simone Maynard at Sake Mistress.
