In episode 32 of the Japan Distilled podcast, your hosts Christopher Pellegrini and Stephen Lyman tackle the mysterious world of spirits cuts. It turns out these are not so mysterious and experienced distillers use a number of variables to determine "the cuts" ... listen in for more details.

In the 31th episode of the Japan Distilled podcast, your host Stephen Lyman interviewers the founders and owners of Umami Mart in Oakland, California. What started as a blog has turned into a near national direct to consumer Japanese alcohol business and a neighborhood bar/liquor store.

In the 30th episode of the Japan Distilled podcast, your hosts Christopher Pellegrini and Stephen Lyman swim into uncharted waters. That is the water of life, eau de vie. An uncommon spirits style that's only very recently begun capturing the attention of Japan's spirits community.

In the 29th episode of the Japan Distilled podcast, your hosts Christopher Pellegrini and Stephen Lyman take a look back at the most important man in the history of Japanese whisky. Masataka Taketsuru not only build the Yamazaki Distillery for Suntory, but then set out on his own and founded Nikka. The ripples of his contribution are still being felt today.

In the 28th and second episode of season two of the Japan Distilled podcast, your hosts Christopher Pellegrini and Stephen Lyman dive into the huge increase in new Japanese whisky making licenses that have been issued in the past 5 years as well as who may be behind some of these new ventures.

In the 27th and first episode of season two of the Japan Distilled podcast, your hosts Christopher Pellegrini and Stephen Lyman tackle the sticky topic of the difference between malt vs. koji when it comes to breaking grains down into fermentable sugars.

In the 26th and final episode of season one of the Japan Distilled podcast, your hosts Christopher Pellegrini and Stephen Lyman reflect on the the year in review and muse about what might happen in season two.

In the 25th episode of the Japan Distilled podcast, your hosts Christopher Pellegrini and Stephen Lyman take a closer look at the history and modern enjoyment of the original hard seltzer - the Japanese chuhai.

In the 24th episode of the Japan Distilled podcast, your hosts Christopher Pellegrini and Stephen Lyman take a deep dive into shimazake (island spirits), which refers to those shochu and awamori not made on one of the 4 main islands of Japan. At least that's our working definition.

In the 23rd episode of the Japan Distilled podcast, your hosts Christopher Pellegrini and Stephen Lyman explore American shochu (made in the United States). American shochu is in its infancy, but there is a lot of creativity and experimentation.