A Night of Sake and Community - Bottle Share @ Wild Child

21 Aug 2023

From the SakeCraft Times archive, first published 21 Aug 2023. Dates and plans mentioned are as they were then.

On August 8th 2023, the night before national day, the Sake Community came together that evening at Wild Child Pizzette. The event was attended by 24 sake enthusiasts (both newbies and seasoned drinkers), and the goal was simple, lets drink sake and grow the love for the beverage and the community.

Why bottle share?

Why bottle share? Well I attended one hosted by Charlie/Orh Gao and I was hooked. Not only was there such a glaring communal love for sake (and still growing), but there was just a sense of sincerity and willingness to share with others. No one was "better than the rest" and there was such a sense of community and helping each other out.

While there are many sake bars and restaurants in Sg, I feel it in my gut that there just isn’t enough. Not enough places for people to go try (without having to buy a whole bottle), and certainly not enough places where there’s a friendly face to handhold you through this seemingly complicated beverage. Even in this largely chinese-majority country where many have been taught mandarin as a mother-tongue, Sake continues to bewilder and confuse many, with many still focusing on sei-mai buai, and few having the courage to order sake off the restaurant menu convincingly or authoritatively.

So having officially joined the F&B industry in late July this year, and having hosted several private Sake parties in the years prior, and also after being infamously known as the dude who always has his cooler bag to bring some sake to gatherings, I find myself in this nice little niche, to share the joy of Sake, and to occasionally decode this seemingly complex beverage for others. And despite my ACS upbringing (ahem), I somehow have the ability to recognise labels and recite the Japanese name instead of reading the characters. Lastly, Sake is generally easy to pair and pleasingly familiar to the typical Singapore palette that I see so much more potential to share the love for Sake. Almost anyone (and the seasoned somms would know this) would tend to give you the response of “Wow, I didn’t know sake could taste so good” or “I didn’t expect it to pair with this cuisine” by the end of the evening.

So back to the event! Danni, my lovely cohost, and I, wanted to continue the tradition started by Charlie / Orh Gao to have a platform for the community to get together and practice “Sake brings people together“.

And bring people together it did. We got to try 24 different sakes (and more) and it was paired amazingly with the pizza and desserts at Wild Child. We started the evening’s “Kanpai” with the Nabeshima Kakushi Junmai Ginjo, thanks to Danni, the unofficial "glue" of the event and community. Other notable Sake and moments include:

Noguchi Naohiko 01, where Eddie gave the most heartfelt introduction I've ever seen. Thank you for sharing this bottle with us and sharing your love for sake.

Alex sharing the Doburokus and the aged "Regulus" sake, which kept surprisingly well.

The ever so generous Seana, who was ever so willing to explain Gozenshu's version of Bodaimoto and also the Kikkawa Afuri sake.

Feedback from the event was overwhelmingly positive. Many shared that they couldn't wait for the next one.

Save the Date

So save the date for September 19th evening. We will share more details soon. We apologise that we couldn’t accommodate more at Wild Child. It was space constraints ultimately. If youd like to host future events too please WA me or leave me a DM.

Special Thanks

I would like to specially thank the following people:

Danni-san, for being the gracious co-host, the glue and also the engine.

Ronald, for hosting the event at his restaurant.

Julian, for giving up his seat and helping with serving.

Everyone who spoke up that evening and shared about sake, however difficult initially. You all are the reason why there’s a bottle share in the first place.

Thank you all!