Season 1. Episode 35. "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." When Shakespeare's Juliet is coming to terms with the fact that she is crushing hard on Romeo - her family's sworn enemy - she muses on the meaning and importance of names. Is what's true for roses also true for sake? This week John and Timothy dive into the word of "re-branded" or so called "white labeled" sake. That is, sake that is purchased from a brewery and sold under a different brand name.
There are a couple of ways these sakes show up on the market. The above-board way is to truly partner with a sake brewery and be completely transparent about who the producer is when selling and promoting the re-branded sake. However, some brands buy sake to re-label and <u>don't</u> disclose the producer. This is a tricky situation as you can never really be sure of the source or quality of the sake. Because of this, we'll be focusing on a few re-branded sakes that put their brewers front and center where they belong.