Sequoia Sake: Reviving 115-Year-Old Sake Rice in San Francisco

Our guest is Jake Myrick who is the co-owner and toji, or brewmaster, of Sequoia Sake in San Francisco, which was founded in 2015. It is the first local artisanal sake brewery in the city. In 2019, only 4 years after their first production of sake, the brewery received both the gold and silver awards for best sake produced outside of Japan at the Tokyo Sake Competition. Jake has been relentlessly pursuing the best quality sake, and as a result, he has successfully revived the original sake rice brought to California from Japan back in 1906 in collaboration with UC Davies and local rice farmers. Now it is called Sequoia Sake Rice. In this episode, we will discuss how Jake got into sake and ended up opening a sake brewery in America, how sake rice is different from regular table rice, the outstanding quality of the sake rice Jake has revived, Sequioa Sake’s classic and innovative styles of sake, and much, much more!!!