In this episode we catch up with the ever-charming Keith Norum from Masumi / Miyasaka Brewery in Nagano Prefecture.

We are thrilled to be able to interview Keith early on in our Podcast journey as he is the person who introduced Maki and Simone back in May 2020.

Since then, Maki has been a huge part of Simone's online project, 'Taste with the Toji' and the two are now hosting this podcast together as an extension of those Zoom room sessions ~ which just this week celebrated its 100th session.

Keith was a guest on the Taste with the Toji project, alongside Toji Atsushi Nakano, back in March 2021 for session #32.

Since then, not only has Keith seen some major changes in his personal life, but also a lot has changed within the brewery since we last spoke to him. We get the lowdown on some of those changes and elaborate on some of the things discussed in the Zoom room back in March 2021, including their re-branding and yeast #7, which was of course founded at the brewery back in 1946.

Keith will tell you himself that he never keeps an eye on the time, so we have just let this episode flow. Having said that, there is never a dull moment and it is always such a joy to chat with Keith - so much so that we hope to be able to do so again in the near future and have him back for another podcast episode, or perhaps even in the Zoom room for TWTT (The Project).

More information about Taste with the Toji - The Project can be found on our website: https://tastewiththetoji.com/

Music by: Kazuyoshi Sato (Koikawa Shuzo)

Other links from this episode:

Masumi website: https://www.masumi.co.jp/en/

Sake Tours: https://saketours.com/

John Gauntner: https://sake-world.com/

Yeast No. 7: https://sake-world.com/about-sake/how-sake-is-made/the-yeast/