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The founder of True Sake Beau Timken often jokes that over 300 years
ago he worked as a kurabito (sake brewery employee) in a remote
village in Japan making superb sake on cold winter mornings. Instead,
he was born in Canton, Ohio and didn't taste his first premium ginjo
until he was 28-years-old. That as he says is his greatest selling
point, "If a guy from Ohio can open the first truly dedicated sake
store outside of Japan, then anybody can learn to appreciate this
wonderful libation."
Whilst living and obtaining an M.B.A in the mid 90's in Cape Town
South Africa, Timken met a group of Japanese fishermen who were
drinking their own premium sake that they had brought into the local
sushi restaurant. In broken English these fisherman explained that
the Benihana-style piping hot sake that Timken was used to consuming
was in fact inferior sake. That day represented the official "First
Day of my passion and obsession for learning all things sake."
Beau Timken prides himself on being a self-taught sake aficionado. "I
read every book and article ever written in English about sake, and
then started writing the writers of these pieces," he explained. "They
soon discovered that my interest in understanding the essence of sake
was almost fanatical, but I could not get enough."
All the while Timken would visit various retail shops and markets in
San Francisco's Japan Town to buy sake that as he states, " I knew
nothing about." "I would take chance after chance, I would buy bottle
after various bottle, trying to disseminate what sake was about."
During this time Timken jokes, "I drank a lot of bad sake so that my
customers don't have to."
During his exploratory self-taught research Timken started a sake
journal that now numbers over 500 sakes listed in great detail. As he
doesn't read or speak Japanese Timken relied heavily on his own
creativity to break sake down into layman terms that today when shown
to sake masters amazes them in its complexity and sincere
understanding.
Having learned all that he could without instruction Timken joined
fellow Ohio-native and sake aficionado John Gaunter in Osaka Japan for
an in depth professional sake tasting course. This trip represented
Timken's first time in Japan, and as Beau stated, "My future became
abundantly more evident."
It was during this trip to Japan deep in the warm depths of a koji
room in a brewery in Kobe that Timken realized his eminent destiny, "I
knew then that I wanted to open the first sake shrine/school/store
outside of Japan."
Two professional sake-tasting licenses and a master sake sommelier
license later, Timken opened True Sake in San Francisco on August 7th
2003. "I chose the name True Sake because it represents the fact that
most Americans have never been exposed to real or true premium sake,"
Timken explained. "I then wanted to disarm sake and make a shopping
experience that rewarded those who wanted to learn more about this
outstanding beverage."
Timken quickly reminds people that they receive little to no education
or guidance when shopping in the vast markets in Japan Town, and he
quickly points out that liquor stores or wine shops that carry limited
sakes also provide little insight to the essence of sake. "I
specialize in sake - all things sake - because it is unlike any
beverage in the history of alcoholic beverages, and as such it
deserves its own temple and place of appreciation."
Along with True Sake, Beau Timken consults to the restaurant and bar
industry and does an array of sake tasting events through the store
and for private/corporate clients. True Sake hosts a monthly sake
tasting and food-pairing event that focuses on the education and
enjoyment of sake. Timken also is soon to publish a book on sake for
Chronicle Books.
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