Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1787
B eau Timken was drinking inexpen- sive heated saké in a sushi bar in Cape Town, South Africa, in the early 1990s when he noticed a group of Japanese fi sherman in a far corner of the restaurant. They were pouring their own premium saké—cold—and offered Timken a taste. His drinking life was revolutionized. After a decade of researching, tasting and writing about saké—including obtain- ing two professional saké-tasting licenses and a saké sommelier certifi cation—Timken took the plunge and opened his dream shop in San Francisco's happening Hayes Valley neighborhood in 2003. True Saké is the fi rst dedicated saké retail store outside Japan. "When I fi rst started, I wanted to abso- lutely master 100 sakés to the point that I could tell people verbatim what was in the bottle," recalls Timken. "By year two, I was at 150; now I have access to 250 different sakés that are either in stock or can be in the store within a day." Timken's distributor chain originally num- bered fi ve, but now he works with around a dozen different importers. Dealing with saké-savvy importers such as Ed Lehrmann and Nick Ramkowsky of Bay Area–based Vine Connections, has proved to be a perfect match for True Saké. "Originally, it was Japa- nese food people who were bringing saké into the States," explains Timken. "Then it was Japanese saké importers. Now the white guys—the gaijin—have gotten into the game. Some of them have hooked up with incred- ible saké breweries." True Saké is more than a retail store; it's a saké education center from which Timken teaches about and consults on saké for the restaurant and bar industry. It has also set a precedent for saké retailing. "My store has really changed the landscape for the retail sale of saké in the United States," says the outspoken Timken."I'm the fi rst guy who ever sent bottles back. They were bringing in old saké and I told them, 'Don't bring that into my store. It's bad for the industry. Do you want to do it the way it's been done, or do you want to do it the way they're doing it in Japan?'" These people developed an in- creased respect for Timken, and that's good for saké. "I thought my clientele would be 50 per- cent Japanese/50 percent wine drinkers," reports Timken, "but it's 90 percent disen- franchised wine drinkers—people who don't like the attitude of wine and are looking for their own kind of home. Then I get the guys with $200,000 wine cellars who curse me on a dailiy basis: 'Damn you, Beau, I'm not drink- ing my wines—I'm hooked on saké!'" —David Gadd Retail Concepts Saké Samurai San Francisco's True Saké has changed how this Japanese beverage is sold Beau Timken's Saké: A Modern Guide (Chronicle Books, $18.95), co-written with Sara Deseran, is a useful and beauti- fully-illustrated introduction to the mysteries of this age-old Japanese beverage. Beau Timken, cre- ator of True Saké in San Francisco. july 2009 / the tasting panel / 55