Welcome to Sake Advocate.
This site was originally started as an Australian-centric approach to sake over at sakeaustralia.com as a source of info on what is available locally through restaurants and retail with the intention being to bring sake to a wider audience back home. However since I returned to Osaka (my second stint living here) to live in August 2013 this has meant a bit of a stray from the original MO and I felt it made little sense to keep writing under the Sake Australia moniker.
Nihonshu, sake, call it what you will (but don’t call it rice wine) is a rising force in the beverage world as well as something of a comeback kid on the local Japanese scene. Now more than ever information on sake abounds. However a little knowledge is a dangerous thing and it’s easy to get confused with conflicting viewpoints, half-truths and myths flying about the internet.
I am not an advocate of any particular style, region, rice variety or brewing method. If it’s done well, I like it. Simple. There’s no grading or scores here, it’s not my place to put a number to someone’s work. If I don’t like something, I won’t write about it. All I hope to do is present good sake, food for thought, and maybe stir up the odd hornets’ nest here or there. But it all stems a from a good place; that is to see sake appreciated for what it is and the history, tradition and skill that goes into making this amazing drink.
As for my own background, a previous life as a bassist saw me move into the hospitality/liquor retail industry nearly twenty years ago, having worked in Japan and Australia in several different capacities. My interests in sake have seen me acquire the Sake Education Council’s Advanced Sake Professional Certificate as well as the Sake Service Institute’s Kikisake-shi (Master of Sake) accreditation (in Japanese).

I write regularly for Sake Today (the world’s only English- language sake magazine) and also act a editor in chief of Sake Industry News. A bi-monthly onlone news source of all things happening in Japan’s sake industry. I am also an ambassador and judge for the Mondial Concours De Bruxelles Sake Selection.

Mostly, I can be found propping up the bar wherever good sake is found in and around Osaka.
Kampai!

Julian Houseman

最近、世界で日本酒ブームが起こっている。日本以外の諸外国では日本酒の情報は殆どなく、又いい加減な情報が広まってしまうという現状もある為、このサイトで正しい日本酒の情報と、日本酒の魅力を広めようと奮闘中。私は、飲食業界に携わって約12年。ワイン＆ビール好きから始まり、今ではすっかり日本酒側の人間…別名ヲタク？である。出身はオーストラリアで、私の日本との関係は、かれこれ約15年前に遡る。数年前に日本酒にハマってからというもの、猛勉強の末に、酒エジュケーションカウンセル主催の酒プロフェッショナルと、SSI（日本酒サービス研究会）主催の唎酒師の資格を取得した。
現在は大阪在住、特にどこかの蔵との繋がりがあるわけでなく、私がここで発信する声は、完全に宣伝なしの私個人の意見。
外国の日本酒市場に興味のある方、酒関係のホームページやチラシ作製等に際して英訳を希望されている方など、お気軽にお問い合わせ頂きたい。
ハウスマン
ジュリアン