SMS 1 - Build a Sake Festival from Scratch

Intro

0:00 · So I would encourage anyone thinking of starting their own festival to not do it in winter, I'm really, really jazzed about sake.

0:07 · But as far as like a quality of a festival is concerned, that was kind of lame.

0:12 · I know what kind of festival I want to see And I think it could exist in Portland.

0:16 · I think it was the perfect place for it.

0:18 · And there was a little bit of a panic that someone else would do it.

0:22 · complicated being a white person selling a Japanese product, right?

0:25 · I feel an obligation to make sure that I'm doing that in a way that is respectful and balanced you cannot experience everything at Fuyu Fest.

0:35 · You can't, you can't do it.

0:37 · So you have to pick and choose.

0:39 · you engage with these kind of once in a lifetime experiences selectively where you want to.

0:46 · and that's something that a lot of people who I speak to grapple with they're really passionate about sake, they live somewhere, they don't know how to reach people who also are passionate about sake, they don't know how to build their community or their audience.

0:58 · Throw a festival.

0:59 · If you're watching this, congrats.

1:01 · You are an early adopter.

1:03 · This is the very first episode of the Sake Master Sessions.

1:07 · I'm your host, Nick Loury, former sake brewer turned researcher and consultant through my company, Kitano Sake.

1:13 · This series is presented in collaboration with the Sake Brewers Association of North America, whose support helps make advanced trade-level sake content like this possible.

1:23 · The goal of this series is to answer one big question.

1:27 · What do people need to know?

1:28 · to not only make better sake, but to make sake better across the whole industry.

1:34 · Each episode is intended to be one practical answer to that question from someone who's earned their perspective through experience.

1:41 · Brewers, educators, operators, and trade professionals.

1:46 · We'll talk about production, sure, but that's not the only thing that makes a successful sake business.

1:51 · Over the course of the series, we'll discuss topics like how to train people to sell and serve sake.

1:57 · how to plan a well-rounded sake portfolio, or how to run a profitable taproom.

2:03 · If episode 1 feels like a bit of a generous pour, do not worry.

2:07 · Future episodes will be more measured.

2:09 · And I don't just mean shorter.

2:11 · This is a project in evolution.

2:13 · The conversations will sharpen, edits will tighten, and the format will keep improving as we go.

2:18 · The best way for you to watch that evolution and catch future sessions as they drop is to subscribe to this channel.

2:26 · For this very first session, I'm joined by Nina Murphy of Sunflower Sake in Portland, Oregon, and the founder of FuyuFest, one of the most thoughtfully executed festivals in the United States.

2:37 · We sat down to talk about her thoughts on running a successful sake festival.

2:40 · Not to say this is the right way, but to share what she did so that you can better understand how you might do it in your own market.

2:47 · During our talk, we covered Nina's experiences at previous sake festivals and the inspirations that led her to create one herself.

2:55 · We talk about how the festival sausage gets made, how the sake is procured, how to make participating easy so vendors want to pour, and her strategy to convert attendance to bottle sales.

3:06 · And Nina's transparent about the economics, real numbers, real trade-offs, what it costs to make an event like this work without it becoming a cash grab.

3:14 · We also wax a bit on what makes a unique and memorable festival that people will actually travel for versus just a room with sake.

3:23 · Nina talks about how bigger might not always be better and how accepting that attendees can't see everything, how that helped her lean into creating more small intimate moments sprinkled throughout FuyuFest.

3:34 · And of course, we talk about what she has in store for FuyuFest 2026.

3:39 · All right, let's get into my conversation with Nina Murphy.

3:43 · I've mentioned to you before the sort of premise for these video series is to try and illuminate sake in a way at a higher level to talk about not just the technical aspects of sake, not just how do we make literally better sake in the brewery, but also all of the other things that come along with making sake successful as an industry, as a business.

4:07 · So Nina, when I pitched this to you, we talked about a person that comes up as a brewer might know how to make a great ginjo, but do they know anything about finances?

4:15 · Do they know anything about marketing?

4:17 · How do we actually take this product and make it into a viable business uh so that the industry at large can survive and thrive?

4:23 · And so I'm really excited today to talk to you, Nina Murphy of Sunflower Sake and the focus of our discussion today, the founder, originator, what's your title when it comes to Fuyu Fest, the Pacific Northwest's preeminent sake festival?

4:39 · founder, let's let's say founder, founder/organizer.

4:43 · founder/organizer.

4:44 · OK.

4:44 · I think you should come up with a flashier title, maybe like Marshall, Sake Steward, something.

4:51 · I want something you can put on a banner that you can walk around with during the day.

Nina's Journey into the Sake Industry

4:55 · So let's start by talking a bit about your history and how you got into Sake.

5:01 · so you went into wine and you were it sounds like about three years that you were in the wine industry working as a Yeah, so I started, no, no, so a couple different roles.

5:13 · So I started, sort of dabbled from early 2019.

5:17 · I had employment in the wine industry from early 2019 until 2021.

5:25 · So it wasn't really even that long.

5:27 · It was only about, you know, two years maybe, two and a half years.

5:32 · And then I found this quote.

5:34 · You did an interview last year with Willamette Week and there was a quote in there that I loved.

5:38 · And so this is peak pandemic here.

5:40 · You said, sake was disproportionately affected because people weren't sure how to enjoy it at home.

5:44 · And that's why I opened my shop.

5:46 · So people have really enjoyed sake at restaurants, but had no idea how to find a bottle.

5:51 · So put me in that, that mind state.

5:53 · So how did you end up leaving?

5:57 · the wine realm?

5:57 · Was it strictly because of COVID?

5:59 · Were there other factors that caused you to leave?

6:02 · Portland is like unbelievably rich in high quality wine shops and wine bars.

6:07 · compared to the rest of the world, they're world class.

6:09 · They're on par with the best cities in the world, like, you know, Tokyo or, or Paris for that matter.

6:14 · so I had a very good idea of what I liked and I had been shocked at that point that I had never run into that in sake, um, certainly not in, the U S So the bar is really low there.

6:27 · And in Portland, we're lucky because key figures in this industry have been pushing by the glass programs for a very long time here.

6:34 · So Portland has had restaurants with 30, 40 by the glass selections of sake for a long time, five, 10 years.

6:43 · so people are a little more adventurous with their consumption.

6:46 · Absolutely.

6:46 · And of course we have sake one And that's twofold, which means that we have a reasonably good quality uh entry level sake on the market for a very affordable price So no matter where you can go, you can get sake that was probably brewed in the last six months and costs half that of equivalent style in Japan.

7:08 · And all of that has come together to like make Portland a sake city, disproportionately a sake city.

7:15 · And then the other thing that you said, the quote is that like people don't know how to engage with sake outside of the context of a restaurant.

7:23 · Of course, COVID happened and restaurants closed down.

7:27 · People were, of course, offering bottles to go, but, you know, nobody knows, nobody looks at a label and has any idea what it's going to taste like.

7:35 · And then of course, there's the added difficulty of chilled versus hot and customs and coming into it with a wine perspective, which is what should I pair?

7:46 · What are the rules?

7:47 · What glassware should I use?

7:49 · I don't have a sake set.

7:50 · Can I drink sake?

7:51 · So all of this is not addressed in the normal avenues where people purchase sake, which is at a restaurant.

8:00 · um So where is someone going to learn?

8:03 · you know, the natural...

8:05 · Way to do that is in person somewhere.

8:08 · Yeah, so you see these opportunities, this gap between the established wine market and the sake market in Portland.

8:15 · You see the lack of that outreach, the lack of resources for a consumer that wants to learn more, to drink more.

8:23 · And so then you say, that's me, I'm the person, I'm going to do it.

The First Iteration of Sunflower Sake

8:28 · Yep.

8:29 · OK, great.

8:29 · I want to talk about that vision of what you think a good experience is in a sake shop.

8:35 · But before we do that, I want to talk about this first iteration of Sunflower.

8:39 · Because when you first opened, wasn't the sunflower that we know today.

8:42 · Yeah.

8:43 · Your first shop was not brick and mortar.

8:45 · Literally, it was a metal container.

8:48 · Tell me about that venue.

8:50 · Tell me about how that situation came to be.

8:54 · As a wine rep, you know, I serviced a lot of different businesses in the Portland area, mostly like natural wine bars and restaurants.

9:03 · So I became aware of what sort of spaces were available, like hidden spaces were available, who has, you know, some extra square footage here, who has like something here.

9:11 · So there's this restaurant in North Portland called Dame, and in the midst of the COVID pandemic, they built out a bottle shop.

9:20 · in a shipping container next to their restaurant And then, know, like 12 months later, that retail boom has already started to wane and it was just being used as storage and extra seating.

9:34 · And so I approached Jane, is, you know, customer, but of mine at the beforehand, but also like, you know, good acquaintance um about the idea that I might use it as a pop-up.

9:44 · keeping her retail establishment staffed in her off hours and also I'm able to run my own thing.

9:52 · So I was only able to open Mondays and Tuesdays because that's when the restaurant wasn't operating.

9:57 · And this was, you know, 2021 winter pandemic in Portland, notoriously rainy and cold.

10:06 · My only seating was outdoor.

10:07 · And I had many, many days where I didn't have a single customer of course, and I just sat in my metal box and it was very depressing.

10:13 · So like I spent that time like building the website, planning, thinking what is what is good look like, you know, how can I bring people in and that kind of hustle is something that only comes in like that kind of moment of quiet despair.

10:30 · So I had a lot of those moments, but also people did show up for it and they were, we, built the tiniest start of a community and I felt a sense of responsibility for those people who did show up for me.

10:41 · And like, then I was like, okay, I've got this precious thing that I want to continue to take care of.

From Container to Current

10:47 · it sounds like you've been very strategic about this.

10:49 · Like if this project can work in the worst six months of the year, exactly.

10:54 · It's proof of concept.

10:55 · in a building with proper heating uh year round in the better months.

11:04 · So it sounds like you were already in the throes of trying to advance things So how much of a gap then was there between saying, shut this down and Sunflower as we know it?

11:15 · coming to be.

11:16 · So at that point, my husband and I went to Europe.

11:19 · And frankly, that was a very, very inspiring experience because we'd all been locked up for so long at that point So all of a sudden it was as if it never happened and people were out on the streets socializing deep into the morning.

11:33 · And I think that had a tremendous effect on both my husband and I because if we went out to eat and drink with friends, it was so prohibitively expensive.

11:43 · that it felt like it wasn't something you could do casually.

11:46 · know, whereas in Europe, you might go out four or five nights a week.

11:49 · So just seeing that in action was like, helped me kind of conceptualize what sunflower could be as well.

11:56 · So we got back and then I signed the lease.

11:59 · eventually found a spot and signed a lease on it in July.

12:04 · And it was a former coffee shop.

12:06 · in a historic building.

12:08 · So it's called the Olympic Mills building.

12:10 · It used to be um a factory for General Mills.

12:14 · and the building really wanted another coffee shop.

12:18 · So basically what I did is I was able to kind of like negotiate for a month to month, sort of like six month trial term.

12:28 · And because it was only 600 square feet, sorry, 250 square feet, my rent is incredibly low.

12:35 · You know, my rent is, and I'm happy to be transparent about it.

12:39 · Like with utilities and everything, I only pay around 1200 a month.

12:46 · So that's unheard of and That was a number that I could actually work I could probably pay that rent, you know, within like serving customers for like a week or two.

12:58 · And then.

13:00 · after that I can kind of figure it out.

13:01 · So I can buy myself more runway, You know, I pieced together enough to get it running and I, you we decided that I wouldn't have to pay myself for a while.

13:12 · Like we could make do with our expenses being what they were.

13:16 · Yeah, absolutely.

13:17 · you found this location.

13:18 · I would imagine that there was not only a benefit due to its size, but being a former coffee shop, probably it already had some rough-in done for plumbing, to meet the food code, and some of those other aspects that would end up being beneficial for you to cut down the cost.

13:35 · Because you're not just selling bottles, you're also doing that experience that you alluded to before.

13:40 · Exactly.

13:41 · what was your vision for this final form, if you want to call it the final form of Sunflower, the current form at least, uh what was your vision and how it would be different from a consumer's perspective, from your guest perspective compared to your run-of-the-mill bottle shop?

13:59 · my original vision was coming from a cold metal box.

14:02 · I was like, I want sun as much sun as I could possibly get.

14:05 · So that's why I have the south facing windows.

14:07 · I wanted it to feel like, you know, a study or like a little tiny library or something that was cozy and comfortable and frankly doesn't say party.

14:17 · So that's like also true about Fuyu Fest.

14:20 · I, that's not where my comfort zone is.

14:23 · don't like, I'm not like someone who goes out to like clubs and feels comfortable in that kind of place.

14:28 · my instinct is not to create a party, my instinct is to create a space where like some people can like get cerebral and some people are having deep intimate conversations with each other and some people are having dates and like some people want to geek out about sake intensely and so that's sort of what I, the vibe I wanted to cultivate and I wanted to rely on local craftspeople and like.

14:53 · secondhand as much as possible.

14:55 · And so when I did spend money, it was like for custom light fixtures that are shaped like different types of sake cups.

15:02 · Things like that where it was like there was a reflection of Portland and the place and the artistry here.

15:09 · Great.

15:10 · Yeah.

15:10 · So unfortunately, I have yet to visit Sunflower in the flesh.

15:14 · But uh from all media that I've seen, all of the pictures from the website and your Google profile, and all of the artwork that you work on, so what I would imagine tirelessly, there's so much of it I can't imagine.

15:29 · What portion of your job must be just making artwork?

15:31 · uh Well, I mean, it's fantastic artwork, so please don't stop.

15:40 · Fill up every second that you can with more of your art.

15:43 · But I get this sense of almost whimsy or coziness that it feels very inviting of a place to be.

15:52 · It feels like the place where people would be walking by and they'd see the sign and be like, that place feels like I'd be comfortable in there.

15:58 · I mean, I have to give credit to Each Other, which is a woman-run design studio here in Portland.

16:04 · And I...

16:05 · and like a hundred percent in their debt because they took my artwork and like all of these kind of disparate pieces, like whimsical pieces, and they were able to kind of coalesce it into a system and an aesthetic and a like colorway and fonts and like all of those sort of design elements that we take for granted that are essential to making a brand that communicates its vision well.

16:41 · that was like five grand, wasn't cheap, not then, certainly not now, but it was definitely the best money I ever spent.

16:50 · Sunflower Sake's branding is I think very on point.

16:53 · It's cohesive and consistent from start to finish.

16:57 · I think from a food scientist with no expertise in marketing or branding or design whatsoever, yeah, it seems like money well spent to me.

17:06 · Our industry is notoriously bad in the US.

17:10 · The industry is notoriously bad at spending money on aesthetics And also it's like moneyed breweries that put out new products and I'm shocked.

17:24 · I'm literally shocked because...

17:28 · It's almost like they have no idea what their audience looks like and what they want But I do think that the Japanese sake industry, maybe not the traditional side of it, but certainly the modern side of it has a really good understanding of what great aesthetics look like.

17:41 · And I look up to them.

17:43 · when I think about how I want my design to look, because I think that they set like gold standard.

Predecessors, Inspiration, & Birth of Fuyu Fest

17:48 · So let's shift gears a little bit.

17:50 · You're in Sunflower Sake as we know it now.

17:54 · So that was October 2022 that you opened?

18:01 · OK.

18:02 · in October 2021 and I opened up the permanent location in 2022, October.

18:09 · And so prior to this, you may have to correct my timeline on this, but there had been a longstanding sake festival in Portland called PDX Sake Fest.

18:20 · And my understanding is at that time it was the biggest sake festival in the United States.

18:25 · uh took place in the Oregon Convention Center.

18:29 · So it was like kind of your very classic sort of convention center setting, like ugly carpet, you know what I mean?

18:35 · Like all indoor.

18:36 · Sure.

18:37 · just a giant room filled with like tables, different importers, vendors.

18:41 · And I think that this had been a pretty recent development.

18:44 · Maybe in like the last two years, they were working together with Uji Maya, which is a Japanese grocery store chain here in the Pacific Northwest.

18:54 · And so there was a, also a sales function.

18:58 · So you had like a sheet of prices.

19:00 · Those prices were all discounted about 15 % from retail.

19:05 · and you were able to order sake from each of these tables.

19:08 · A lot of really, really important and key people in the industry were there.

19:12 · That was where I first met Monica Samuels.

19:14 · It was where I first met a lot of different importers like the Floating World importers were there.

19:19 · And 242 00:19:38,557 --> 00:19:29,033 our Liquor control laws here, which are in some ways very liberal and in some ways really really conservative So this is sort of the conservative side of it is that they really require that you have food around for these festivals But I actually think it's really a good thing um because my experience with festivals that don't have food is that people get really sloppy But anyway, so the food component was table, like they basically worked with local restaurants to produce, you know, a bunch of different like bite size appetizers essentially.

19:48 · I didn't have a single snack because the lines were so long for all those tables that I was like, it's like, I mean, I could spend 30 minutes waiting in this line for one small bite, but why would I do that?

19:58 · So we had food, but kind of didn't.

20:00 · And the whole, this, setting was very like kind of corporatey feeling.

20:06 · There was a lot of cool sake, of course.

20:09 · I thought it was the most awesome event ever.

20:12 · There was, you know, I even remember some of the sake that like the specific brands and stories that I took with me from there.

20:19 · And I was like, whoa, this is so cool.

20:21 · But, you it was kind of a pretty like limited experience all things considered.

20:24 · It like the main event was tasting and the secondary event was food, but it wasn't that high of a priority.

20:31 · And then, you know, it was pretty expensive.

20:34 · And yes, it was the largest in the country at that point at like, think around like a thousand, maybe 1200 attendees.

20:43 · It felt very crowded.

20:45 · It felt like there was lots of lines.

20:47 · There was absolutely zero curation.

20:49 · it was like, and at the time I knew very little about Sake.

20:52 · So there was the like, you know, the tables with the really, really not so inspiring stuff next to the stuff with the really like the tables with the really inspiring stuff.

21:00 · And there's really no way for you as a consumer to kind of know what you might like and uh where you should spend your time So I left that and having been to many wine events prior to this as well.

21:13 · So I left that and was like, okay, I'm really, really jazzed about sake.

21:18 · But as far as like a quality of a festival is concerned, that was like kind of lame.

21:23 · Like there's a lot that I would change if it was me.

21:25 · And that's I had no plans of running a festival at that point, but I certainly had points of criticism.

21:32 · fast-forwarding then you're finding yourself in 2022 opening your shop you're running on this enthusiasm and this gap in the sake market and so like how quickly after that do you start to conceive like okay sake fest PDX is no more here's another gap for me here's another way I'm not working enough as an entrepreneur and this artwork's not taking up nearly enough of my time.

22:00 · Can I add another thing to my plate?

22:04 · Sure.

22:05 · wouldn't, I shouldn't, wouldn't have done it.

22:06 · But I was like, well, know, Sake Fest is done and I have like, I have a bone to pick with a lot of different festivals and I was like, well, not a bone to pick, but I was like, I think it could be done better.

22:21 · And I think that we could do something really, really cool and really, really inspiring and very Portland coded.

22:26 · and like, let's just do it.

22:29 · So it was literally like December 10th that I started making steps to organize a festival for January 22nd.

22:38 · So oh it was incredibly.

22:42 · like thrown together and stupid and like, you know, the first step was just like reaching out to an artist that I really uninspired, like admired on Instagram.

22:51 · I knew that I wanted to use, I wanted to like draw on Portland artists, Portland, like Pacific Northwest artists, Pacific Northwest talent.

22:58 · I wanted to like do everything I could to lift them up.

23:00 · I wanted it to be philanthropic.

23:01 · I really looked up to Sake Day and True Sake for doing that.

23:05 · I think that that's like the way to go.

23:07 · I think that that like, is so important to give back to your community.

23:10 · And I knew that I didn't want it to be too long.

23:17 · I didn't want it to be so drawn out that people get really, really drunk.

23:22 · I had a lot of really idealistic visions.

23:24 · And I do want to stop to point out a couple of very specific points of inspiration that led to how I envisioned Fuyu Fest.

23:32 · And the first one is this event called ABV.

23:36 · or Anything But Venifera, which my former coworker, Jahdé Marley in New York City, organized in 2022.

23:45 · And she had done incredible work pushing for, really just like busting open the wine industry and all of its faults, know, the Me Too movement, uh racism, sexism, And it was all kind of organized under this ABV festival.

24:03 · where that was the kind of like main event where everyone would gather and there was a tasting component, but there was also a discussion component.

24:12 · and I participated in a conversation with Alice [Jun] at Hana Makgeolli and um George who runs Bin Bin.

24:21 · And so we sort of talked about like rice based alcohol.

24:23 · And it was the first time that I had ever seen makgeolli and sake and wine discussed in the same space as like sort of soldiers in arms, not against vinifera wines, but like celebrating them as equally important and equally relevant within a like an industry that is evolving and must evolve if it wants to survive.

24:51 · So I left that event like hugely fulfilled, hugely inspired, and that like immediately led me to reflect on how I felt when I left your average wine festival or sake festival.

25:06 · So I was like, I want people to leave Fuyu Fest or my festival feeling that kind of degree of inspiration, I wanna give people an opportunity to leave feeling full as a person.

25:19 · and then of course we had the first sake brewers association of North America summit, which was that, um, that November or October, right after I opened Sunflower, I closed for a little while so that I can go to that Summit.

25:31 · And that was at that point, such a small event that it was just a round table.

25:35 · of invited guests who were kind of just like hey, we're all here at a table.

25:40 · Let's talk about what's going on with our industry.

25:43 · Let's like have this conversation with all these different stakeholders, all these different sides of industry.

25:47 · And on some level I was like, I shouldn't be here.

25:50 · you know, the like CEO of the president of Dassai is across the table and you know, we have like people from the national tax administration over there and much bigger players are at this table.

26:03 · But, you know, with incredible gratitude to Wes, like I was given a platform to discuss my experience And, you know, people really listened.

26:15 · And I once again felt really, really inspired by that experience that I was part of a community that needed more voices and needed more diverse voices.

26:28 · And here we were at this table and there were only white people and Asian people, and it was mostly men.

26:35 · So that was also something that I pointed out while I was at that table and something that I still feel very strongly, which is that if we want sake to be relevant in America in 10 years, it can't look the way it does now.

26:47 · So I think that the only way to bring about a reality that you want is to like kind of force it into being.

26:54 · So I had a very, like I came out of those two events being like, I know what kind of festival I want to see like exist.

27:02 · And I think it could exist in Portland.

27:04 · I think it was the perfect place for it.

27:05 · And there was a little bit of a panic that someone else would do it.

27:09 · So I, you know, came up with the idea in December and...

27:17 · You gotta know, you gotta go, you gotta beat your competition to the punch, yeah.

27:21 · This theoretical competition, yeah.

27:23 · I got the art done and I got the posters out.

27:25 · And then I was like, oh shit.

27:26 · I have to fill in the blanks.

27:28 · Yeah.

27:30 · Okay, great.

27:31 · so you've got this concept, just come off the heels of these two events where you really saw and felt like something that could be more positive, more fulfilling, and you had those sort of opposing inspirations.

27:46 · for you to make this festival for yourself.

27:48 · You made your posters, you got the name out.

27:51 · Well, maybe pause there.

27:52 · Let's explain the name for those that don't speak Japanese.

27:55 · Explain the name and sort of the genesis and meaning behind Fuyu Fest.

28:00 · So Fuyu Fest, Fuyu means winter basically.

28:02 · it's immediately recognizable as a Japanese name.

28:05 · So it immediately makes the tie to sake without it naming sake because I knew that I wanted it to be about more than just alcohol.

28:12 · I knew I wanted it to be like kind of culturally inspired as well and like draw on art and other things.

28:17 · I knew I needed a word that wasn't just sake.

28:20 · And one thing that I think is so unique and special to sake is like first, it's intrinsic seasonality.

28:27 · The fact that we have these like this calendar of sake releases that are available throughout the year and they're all very different and they're all really unique and inspiring.

28:37 · I was like, wow, you know, this is so cool.

28:38 · So we can lean into the winter thing.

28:40 · this like really beautiful, wonderful, charming thing.

28:44 · And then on top of that, you know, like Japanese culture has like introduces onsen into the mix and this incredible seasonality of cuisine and like soups and you know, Okan, obviously.

28:56 · So I was like, wow, like this is such a wonderful thing that we uniquely get to engage with in Portland as well.

29:04 · So I just really wanted to lean into the seasonality of it.

29:08 · And my original concept was to do a Fuyu Fest and then a Natsu Fest.

29:14 · And, you know, I'm still leaving that open.

29:17 · Exactly, Natsu Festival.

29:18 · So I'm still leaving that open, but I kind of wanted to make the core theme around the season.

29:24 · And then, you know, with sake as like the anchor and then kind of build from there.

29:30 · I think it's a bit fitting that your Genesis in Sake was in those coldest months, and now you're turning it into your marquee event.

29:37 · OK, so you've got your name, you've got your marketing or your artwork.

29:41 · Then what?

Executing the First Year

29:42 · like how to execute it, you say you've got the building that you can lean on is that to say that first Fuyu Fest was in some of those rentable spaces in your building yes, so I'm gonna try and like make this kind of as relatable as possible to other people too.

29:59 · I think that, you know, coming into conceptualizing Fuyu Fest kind of made a, I literally made a list of like, what would my like perfect festival look like?

30:09 · because it's my first year open as a brick and mortar, and I have zero marketing budget, and I have no idea what I'm doing, I'm like, well, I really would like this to be affordable and accessible so that people are like, I'm probably gonna make a lot of mistakes.

30:23 · So if it's cheap enough, then I can be forgiven for my mistakes.

30:27 · so People give you some leeway.

30:30 · Yeah.

30:31 · price point where it was a little bit more of an easy sell.

30:34 · And so, you know, the budget was extremely constrained from the very beginning.

30:37 · So I needed to find a free space.

30:39 · Thankfully I had one right there with me because the most expensive cost now that Fuyu Fest has grown, you know, as soon as we had to start paying for a venue, that is incredibly expensive.

30:51 · So having a free or low cost space is everything.

30:55 · I will add that doing it in winter and having an enclosed temperature controlled low cost or free space is almost impossible to find.

31:04 · So I would encourage anyone thinking of starting their own festival to not do it in winter, to do it in like summer or somewhere where you can do it outside.

31:12 · Cause free outdoor space is a lot.

31:14 · cheaper and easier to come by.

31:17 · So thankfully I had access to this interior space and Other events had taken place in that space.

31:23 · So we were kind of ballparking it at around 200 people would be capacity.

31:28 · So we set.

31:30 · basically 200 tickets and 10 of those we kind of, or 10 or 15 we put aside for like VIPs.

31:36 · So I mean, don't literally see it that way, but like invite kind of important people in the community and encourage them to come for free.

31:46 · And so then that was like kind of the marketing budget essentially.

31:49 · And then kind of what that list looked like for my vendors.

31:55 · So they gave me a couple of really good pieces of feedback.

31:58 · which is of course like the number one thing that you are hoping to get out of this is sales.

32:02 · Cause you're working on a weekend and as a sales rep, you work all week and you're paid on commission.

32:08 · Most reps are paid on commission, usually 10%, sometimes less, sometimes more, So it's like, if you sell even a thousand dollars of sake to your vendor, you're still only really making a hundred dollars.

32:20 · And let's say it took you all Saturday and like, Yeah, okay, so you're still really giving a lot of your time.

32:27 · So we had to do our best to encourage sales and encourage sales for the sake of our vendors to make it worth their while.

32:34 · The individual vendors are typically donating product.

32:39 · You don't usually pay for product at these kinds of festivals.

32:44 · They are able to like...

32:46 · charge the cost of samples to their suppliers, who can charge the cost of samples to their suppliers.

32:52 · And hopefully at the end of the day, know, hopefully at the top of the chain, someone's only out like 20 bucks for like a couple bottles of sake.

33:01 · If I pay for that, you know, it might be out a hundred dollars, which is a huge part of my budget just for a couple bottles.

33:07 · So it tends to be that like it's a part of their marketing budget and the cost goes up the chain.

33:12 · So the rep comes.

33:14 · They provide the sake, they ask how many bottles they need.

33:17 · They want like good estimates.

33:19 · So you have to provide them with that.

33:23 · And they just want clarity.

33:24 · To whatever extent you can make their life easier by providing ice, ice buckets, like signage, anything that you can do to make it so that they don't have to do that extra work on their day off is always great.

33:37 · So that was sort of part of the picture.

33:40 · Exactly.

33:41 · And em then for us to, I wanted it to be a curated selection.

33:47 · One of my biggest gripes for Sake Fest [PDX] was that it was like, as I mentioned, completely uncurated.

33:53 · So you had all sorts of stuff and there was no sense about it.

33:57 · And it was like, maybe there was, you know, a hundred nigori, but there was only like five namagenshu.

34:02 · But if someone's not doing a top down kind of careful evaluation of what's being served, then you might have disparate representation and people are going to try and serve what they have.

34:13 · So.

34:13 · incentives may be misaligned with yours.

34:16 · Exactly.

34:16 · And what we've been able to do with that is so we basically gave our vendors a list and kind of did a little bit of back and forth.

34:24 · What do you have in stock?

34:25 · You know, what's fresh, what's new, what's exciting.

34:29 · And that's sort of where we started.

34:32 · And what we're doing now several years in is we're actually like analyzing sales statistics from the previous year to kind of help inform where tastes and trends are aligning because we want our vendors to be successful.

34:46 · We want them to sell as much as they can.

34:48 · This is not to sell people things they don't want, but we want our customers to be like, our attendees to be thrilled about what we're serving and like leave being like, wow, I liked like half of what I tasted.

35:00 · know, at the core level, like that's what you want them to feel.

35:05 · And then hopefully they feel inspired to take a bottle home that they can enjoy, you know, like not in the chaos of an event.

35:13 · And then, you know, the vendor benefits because they actually got to sell a little more.

35:18 · And then, you know, if something was really successful, we'll probably put it on the shelves and stock it permanently.

35:25 · That happens a lot where we're like, oh shit, I had no idea that Sparkling Sake was going to be this successful this year.

35:30 · Like it was crazy.

35:31 · Like the second year, how much it sold.

35:34 · So we leaned into that.

35:35 · We've also noticed that Sake that sells one year, you don't bring it the second year.

35:40 · It's not gonna do as well the second year, people want something new.

35:42 · So by curating top down, we are helping our vendors to perform better and we're also helping our customers to be happier and we are helping like all of the system like work better and be more holistic and sustainable.

35:56 · And the other thing that we do to help our vendors out and make them happy to be there is we take a substantial cut.

36:04 · So.

36:05 · we do offer discounts because I remember specifically being at Sakefest PDX and being like, oh God, these prices are so good.

36:15 · I should like get some of these bottles now because I can see what the retail is and 15 % is sizable.

36:22 · It's big enough that like psychologically it really has an effect on you.

36:25 · so the other thing that we do to make it better for our vendors, customers too, of course, but really it's to help our vendors come away from it, feeling like it was worth their time.

36:35 · It was worth the hassle with the samples.

36:37 · It was worth traveling here.

36:39 · Um, it was worth the entire expense to get there.

36:41 · And of course we don't charge table fees for our vendors either because they're already doing us an enormous service by coming, showing up, bringing labor.

36:49 · to us free labor and we're collecting the ticket cost and they're trusting that we are going to help make sure we're gonna go do as much as we can to make it worthwhile for them.

37:00 · And then the last thing is talking to our winemaker friends, know, like I asked them like, does a bad festival look like for you?

37:05 · Like what does a bad sales event look like for you?

37:07 · And she's like, well, if I sell under a case, I'm really bummed.

37:11 · So that kind of like gave me like a little bit of a metric for what an individual producer might feel.

37:18 · at an event.

37:19 · And the other thing she said is like, yeah, it's about sales, but it's also about community and feeling like you're part of something more important, part of something bigger and We did have a kind of vendor only time before the festival starts where we ask our vendors to come a little early so that they can taste each other's stuff and have a chance to like catch up with one another.

37:44 · So we asked vendors to set up like basically 30 minutes before they needed to so they had a chance to interact.

37:49 · But like those were major considerations that we had even from the start and that we've been able to refine over time.

37:55 · Because you want people to come back year after year.

37:57 · So the biggest challenge is when I was first starting, I was lucky that we had access to a free venue, essentially free.

38:04 · We ended up paying maybe $200 for the space there.

38:10 · We calculated the ticket cost based on a rough budget first things first, I talked about philanthropy.

38:18 · You know, I knew of this uh local nonprofit called Ikoi no Kai that's been doing incredibly good work for, you know, the last 50 years providing senior lunches to the Japanese American community and their friends.

38:29 · um Quiet, good work.

38:33 · you know, there's a lot of complicated being a white person selling a Japanese product, right?

38:40 · I need to, like, I feel an obligation and I feel an internal desire to make sure that I'm doing that in a way that is respectful and balanced And part of that for me is like, hopefully giving back to the people that have made Portland's Asian American community and particularly the Japanese American community so strong.

39:02 · And I could not think of a better example than this senior lunch program.

39:06 · know, $1,000, going to a small organization like that can go really far.

39:12 · So that was sort of part of it.

39:14 · So that was already 20 % then that's like off the top.

39:18 · I was gonna ask my friends to help run it basically.

39:22 · And a lot of them are broke.

39:23 · I was like, well, I got to pay my friends because I love them and maybe I can at least give them like 20 bucks an hour.

39:29 · You know what mean?

39:29 · For helping me out.

39:30 · So then I decided to pay all of our volunteers essentially for their time.

39:35 · So that was another piece.

39:37 · You know, we planned on like four or five volunteers and hope that that would work out.

39:42 · And then, you know, there's the like logistics costs.

39:46 · So insurance.

39:46 · Yeah. That first year it was about $200, you know, for 200 attendees.

39:51 · It's usually scaled.

39:52 · according to the number of attendees, the number of hours for an alcohol event.

39:58 · so there's that.

40:00 · And then we had to pay for an app on Shopify that handles ticketing.

40:06 · So that was another like, you know, it like two months of subscription cost.

40:11 · So maybe that's another $100.

40:13 · And then from there, we're...

40:15 · You know, I know this sounds crazy, but it's like you actually are starting to like run out of budget pretty fast because then there ends up being a lot of little like nuts and bolts things that you don't expect.

40:24 · Janitorial costs.

40:25 · We didn't hire someone for that, but we still like needed to like, you know, we needed to do a rental for like water containers.

40:33 · We needed to rent some tables.

40:35 · We needed to do like.

40:37 · a little bit of like Facebook marketing.

40:39 · We needed to like print posters.

40:41 · We needed to print pamphlets for guests.

40:43 · Like very, very quickly all of these costs run down.

40:47 · Plus also like my time, which of course I did not pay myself for my time.

40:52 · have, there's no way, but it's like that is still an opportunity cost with other things.

40:58 · anyway, at that point it was like, well, I need to solve a couple of problems.

41:01 · I need to lower the cost of equipment rentals or like rentals for tables and chairs, like these basic things.

41:10 · And I need help with promotion.

41:12 · we had other expenses that we kind of created.

41:16 · So one of the things I want to do with this festival is like, okay, you have this audience of people who are really excited about sake and I really want to promote local artists.

41:24 · So of course, for me from the beginning, it's like, as an artist, I'm like, obviously I want to involve local artists in this because we have a really cool artist community here.

41:31 · So I'm going to hire a local artist for the poster art.

41:33 · No brainer.

41:35 · Um, I'll be, I'm going to pay them for their time.

41:36 · Obviously I'm going to like do what I can to promote their work and their name.

41:40 · I'm going to, I really hate the like disposable, low cost tasting cup kind of thing that you get at festivals.

41:50 · It's another gripe.

41:51 · So we ended up doing a kind of two part idea where we hired a local artist, a local ceramic artist to make a collectible sake cup that was a value added thing where you could buy it for an extra $20 on your ticket.

42:04 · It would be washed and ready to use at the festival.

42:07 · And we decided to give a vast majority of that earnings to the artists.

42:12 · So of that $15 went to the artist and $5 went to us to kind of help cover our like the management of the whole thing.

42:20 · And also it's really low risk for us because we're collecting that money ahead.

42:24 · telling the artists how many to make, they're making them.

42:26 · So it's like, great, easy, like get art in people's hands, get people's sipping, stocking, homemade cup.

42:34 · How awesome is that?

42:35 · self-funded, low risk, reward.

42:37 · That sounds great.

42:37 · And then you also get to put that money into the artist community, which now in the age of AI is that much more important.

42:43 · So um yeah, but anyway, I'm going to get back to the nuts and bolts again.

42:46 · Insurance of course, so permits here in Portland.

42:49 · The permitting process isn't too difficult.

42:51 · It's about two weeks and we have to get the Oregon Liquor Control permit.

42:56 · That's I want to say around like No, it's like $150 and then we need to get the one from the city, which is also connected to the fire department.

43:06 · I think that's around a total of $200.

43:10 · And then we did not have to provide security in our own building.

43:14 · Also, that's kind of a function of size.

43:16 · As soon as you have a large enough festival and it's long enough where people are drinking enough, then you have a problem.

43:23 · That's one of the reasons why our festival isn't longer because the more people are drinking, the higher there is a risk of people causing problems and we need security.

43:32 · So, you know, of course it's illegal to serve alcohol to someone who's already drunk, but it's really difficult to control that in a festival setting.

43:39 · um So one of the best ways you can do that is providing NA alternatives, encouraging people to eat food.

43:45 · first year, what do we do?

43:47 · We hit up our good friends and regulars, Obon Shokudo, who run a vegan Japanese restaurant very, close to us.

43:55 · And it's like so much of the first vessel was calling in favors with friends.

43:58 · It's like they have a great shared audience of people who enjoy Japanese food and sake so they can help promote.

44:05 · So they were like, cool, we'll do a really simple menu of just soup and onigiri, easy.

44:11 · like not a big lift on their part, they sold out, we were stoked.

44:15 · Brought in our friend who had the coffee shop.

44:18 · We paid him a minimal amount, we got some of the tea donated by another friend.

44:23 · We got to benefit from his promotion to you and his audience.

44:27 · He's still a great friend today and still has continued to do Fuyu Fest for years.

44:32 · And then we brought in all of these artists.

44:35 · They share with their community.

44:36 · That brings other people.

44:38 · The other thing that we were able to do that first year to, and of course, speakers.

44:42 · So brought in my friend Miguel, who's a sommelier who works with sake and wine and beer and agave spirits.

44:49 · He did a talk, Marcus Pakiser sake samurai did a talk.

44:53 · Our friend Andy from Tohoma Fuji came and did a talk.

44:56 · So they also are sharing with their audiences.

44:58 · And then finally, we, probably the most important one was we partnered with Snowpeak.

45:04 · a really strong Japanese owned business here in Portland with a lot of visibility and a big audience.

45:10 · And so...

45:12 · What we proposed and what kind of ended up working out was two parts.

45:16 · First was to utilize their camp furniture as our like tables, chairs, So we got a lot of like positive comments from people who were like, wow, these are super nice tables, know, which is like cool for them.

45:29 · And then we also set them up with a space where they were able to do a kind of like pop-up hot sake camp experience where they did these like hot sake sessions using their little camp burner and kind of show people what like having like Okan in nature might look like.

45:48 · And then they also did uh anodizing and sold some like accessories like anodizing of their like sake cups and like anodizing of their sports cups.

45:57 · So, but then they were also willing to help promote the event, which was so huge, so huge for us for that first year.

46:04 · um So basically, yeah, it was just drawing on friends, community, anyone we possibly could to help make it happen.

Lessons from Year One & Growth into Year Four

46:13 · So we got lucky, we sold out, it was crowded.

46:16 · We really benefited from the fact that we like, I saw how the flow of the event did and didn't work.

46:22 · I saw what people like went to, I left that with like a massive headache, but also a lot of areas of improvement for next year.

46:30 · And from there, was just like tons of lessons learned, tons of lessons learned.

46:36 · I'm so glad that we didn't charge people that much.

46:38 · Overall, they enjoyed it and overall they got their money's worth, which thankfully wasn't too much.

46:42 · We tried to earn a hundred dollars.

46:45 · That would have been such a, not a ripoff, but I would have felt terrible.

46:50 · So I'm glad that it was as ramshackle as it was.

46:55 · Okay, great.

46:55 · So now you're coming into the 2026 Fuyu Festival.

47:01 · now you're in year three, so tell me what are the big improvements then that the lessons you've learned that you're putting into place now?

47:08 · Right, so we're actually in year four.

47:10 · So we're going into year four now.

47:13 · Yeah, so to summarize the big improvement from year one to two was we got event organizers and they deal with my bullshit.

47:22 · So now a big chunk of the budget.

47:25 · So the budget has gotten bigger.

47:27 · The cost of the tickets have gotten bigger.

47:30 · That's gone to pay for in the second year event organizers.

47:34 · we rented a bigger space in the building, happened to be empty at that time.

47:37 · And so now the cost of the venue started to creep up and um we started to offer some more experiences that we ended up having to pay for.

47:45 · So we didn't end up working with Snowpeak again, but we did then have to pay for rentals of things.

47:50 · But we did start investing in more experiences, which has been really, really rewarding.

47:55 · And we've seen so much that's been such a big feature of Sunflower's, like cultural development.

48:00 · So one of them is bringing Okon Lover, which is a like, Otsukon, hot sake, kind of pop-up education team from Tokyo.

48:11 · And went to his restaurant and I was like blown.

48:15 · It was just.

48:15 · completely blew my mind of what's possible.

48:17 · I had never seen this kind of mastery before in sake, in any aspect of sake for that matter.

48:23 · Not with sommeliers, not with anything.

48:25 · So I was like, we've got to bring you to Portland.

48:27 · So thankfully he was into it and he and his friend who put it together were into it.

48:33 · And then I was like, okay, well, what else can we do that's fun?

48:36 · So we hired my friend who is a washoku chef, really, really like loves fish, whole fish butchery.

48:42 · Hired her to break down a local fish, like a salmon basically.

48:47 · But that was like only 20 people could fit in that room.

48:50 · So this was like a small experience for a small number of people.

48:53 · And that's sort of what's we've evolved into where it's like, there are Easter eggs everywhere.

48:59 · And we keep building on that, where we add more and more Easter eggs.

49:02 · And then I also hired a friend of mine for 500 bucks to design a immersive experience and an immersive storyline while you're in Fuyufest.

49:09 · And that was pretty much a hide and seek thing, a series of different quests that you could go on.

49:18 · And then at the end, could get this, I'm sure you've seen Yuki Otoko, the Yeti from Aoki Shuzo, that sake.

49:26 · they were willing to donate a bunch of like sakuzuki and like stickers as rewards and the whole story was like yeti themed.

49:36 · So, and then also we worked with local mixologists to come up with novel sake cocktails and to serve those in different sessions in different rooms.

49:47 · So it was like, you cannot experience everything at Fuyu Fest.

49:51 · You can't, you can't do it.

49:53 · So you kind of have to pick and choose.

49:55 · And that's sort of like the first, that year, that second year was where we kind of came up with that idea of like, Fuyu Fest is a choose your own experience.

50:02 · And you engage with these kind of once in a lifetime experiences selectively where you want to.

50:10 · And you get to like, hopefully leave not just boozed up, but like excited and fulfilled about sake as a category and what its potential has.

50:19 · And then I'm fast forward to the next year, which was last year.

50:22 · So last year was a big grow up year in terms of scale and venue.

50:27 · So last year was the first year that we paid for a real venue and that was really, really rough.

50:32 · So $7,000 to get an internal space, an indoor space that was large enough to house all of our people.

50:40 · And to be honest, I...

50:43 · still feel like we have a lot to figure out as far as making the most of that kind of space.

50:50 · um We had unfortunately a last minute venue change from one area which we're gonna be in this year to a smaller one that was kind of bifurcated into a couple of different like rooms that were kind of disconnected.

51:03 · So we tried to do our best to take advantage of that by offering a lot of, again, Easter eggs, hidden experiences that you could find.

51:11 · And that was also, we brought back Okan Lover.

51:14 · We brought our first brewers from Japan who came specifically for Fuyu Fest to offer a really interesting experience.

51:24 · That was Haccoba from Fukushima.

51:30 · And that was kind of kickstarting the Portland launch, the West coast launch of Hakoba's imports.

51:36 · And so he gave a talk on the craft sake scene, which is something that we don't have any discussion of here in the U.S.

51:44 · But, you know, I'm more interested in what's happening at the cutting edge of sake around the world than I am about what's just happening in the U.S.

51:51 · So if something really cool is happening in Japan, I would like to tell our audience about it.

51:56 · And Fuyufest is kind of like That last year was the year where I kind of realized Fuyu Fest can be the venue where we bring like the coolest cutting edge stuff from Japan to the U.S.

52:11 · you know as much as we can and kind of like make this a place.

52:14 · So last year we really were like I kind of came up with the idea that okay what is Fuyu Fest?

52:20 · I want it to be not the biggest festival, but hopefully the most interesting festival in the world, sake festival in the world.

52:27 · And I want it to be the festival that sake geeks around the world are like, that's the one I wanna go to.

52:32 · I want it to be the place that's like, yeah, I could go to all these places, I could taste all these different types, but that's not who I'm necessarily looking to attract in the longterm.

52:40 · I'm looking to attract people who are like really big sake geeks and they like really want to network and feel enriched and like come out of it feeling like.

52:49 · Whoa, you know, like all this cool shit's happening.

52:52 · So last year was that grow up where it was like, okay, this is what we kind of want this to be.

52:57 · And so this year we're in The Redd, which is a really gorgeous space.

53:02 · is itself a nonprofit.

53:03 · So everything that we pay towards our venue is going back to the community in its own way.

53:08 · We are continuing to support Ikoi no Kai, which feels incredible.

53:12 · Every year we work with a different sakuzuki artist.

53:14 · This year we're working with a glass artist, which is new, which is super cool.

53:18 · and you know, this year we're once again, exploring more things that I kind of just cooked up based on like what I've experienced this year.

53:27 · And I hope that one day we'll have like a crew of people who all contribute really cool ideas, but I'm that's part of the ongoing growth.

53:35 · And so this year we're in what I hope will be our final venue.

53:39 · So it's 500 person capacity.

53:41 · have no intention of making Fuyu Fest bigger.

53:44 · This is where.

53:46 · 500's it.

53:47 · Okay.

53:48 · to 500 is it.

53:49 · So thankfully, hopefully after this year, I don't need to spend any more on marketing and PR because we'll be a capacity and then it'll be like, cool.

53:56 · You want to come, come.

53:57 · You don't want to come.

53:57 · That's fine.

53:58 · And then, you know, maybe hopefully we'll get like the most badass people from around the world coming over time.

54:04 · But we're of course bringing Okan Lover back.

54:07 · We have a bunch of really cool craft brewers who are going to be coming.

54:11 · We have more regional representations.

54:14 · So we have rad people from like Fukuoka representing Kobe representing other areas.

54:20 · So you'll find out.

54:20 · But we will also, you know, want to provide more experiences for people who are like traveling to Japan right now.

54:26 · That's obviously really common.

54:27 · That's really common for a lot of our of our regulars and for them to like go to a table and not just be like, this is the Kobe sake table for them to be like, they're telling a whole complete story with the sake and the snacks and everything at this table.

54:41 · And I can see like into this little story that exists in this little place in Kobe.

54:46 · And now I feel inspired to like go and learn more about it.

54:48 · And we're also exploring music and sake this year.

54:51 · So that's the other really big theme that I wanted to play with.

54:54 · with music, one thing that I've done with a friend of mine who is a professional musician in Seattle.

55:00 · So he comes down, we do something called piano sake, piano sake, maybe once or twice a year.

55:06 · And basically, he's an incredible improv musician on the piano.

55:10 · And so I serve him sake.

55:12 · And I I tell the audience a little bit about the backstory.

55:14 · And then he just riffs for like five, seven minutes and composes a piece that's inspired by that.

55:20 · everyone's drinking that same sake then, like everyone's experiencing this sake as this live music is happening around them.

55:26 · That's amazing.

55:27 · the sake tables.

55:28 · We still have that aspect of the tasting where it's like, you can go and, enjoy whatever you want and, and follow our pamphlet and be like, I really want to try sake from here, here, here, the style.

55:40 · So you can do that, but you could also elect to take a minute to go to the musician area, to go to the concert area and drink the same sake that the musician is improvising upon, hear the story of the sake and participate in that kind of little microcosm of experience.

55:59 · And that music will be transmitted throughout the space this year is going to be like the music year where we really explore the idea of like, what is it like to, how do you improve sake with music?

56:10 · How do you affect the experience of sake with music?

56:12 · while also bringing back our favorites, like from Okon Lover and really, really cool, interesting sake from, you know, around Japan and, uh, yeah, more, more fun experiments.

56:24 · Awesome.

56:25 · that idea, that mentality you have of the Easter egg concept of like, I mean, I think we all know that trope of you walk into this giant room and then to your point, you'll never see it all.

56:36 · You'll never get everything.

56:38 · So how do you walk away from that with feeling like you've found the value just from a money standpoint?

56:45 · Like, was this worthwhile for me?

56:47 · But then...

56:47 · to give people the options to have those sort of culturally enlightening and engaging, those artistic moments, yeah.

56:56 · So like pick and choose what they want.

56:59 · Yeah.

57:00 · last year we did a Kuheiji horizontal tasting and that was led by two sommeliers in San Francisco Bay area.

57:06 · And they just did a run.

57:08 · So like if you wanted to opt out of the craziness of the main hall, the first 20 people to line up could go in that room and spend the next 30 minutes doing a horizontal tasting of Kuheiji.

57:18 · And it's like, You don't get that opportunity to do that in most places.

57:22 · It's like, there might be totally different people who engage in each thing.

57:26 · And that's the point.

57:27 · That's awesome.

57:28 · Well, is there anything that we haven't talked about that I haven't asked you that that the people got to know?

57:35 · Anything you were hoping to talk about that we didn't?

57:38 · You know, the big thing is there is, if you are wondering how to build your local sake community, and that's something that a lot of people who I speak to grapple with is like, they're really passionate about sake, they live somewhere, they don't know how to reach people who also are passionate about sake, they don't know how to build their community or their audience.

57:58 · Throw a festival.

57:59 · It's really like, start small, think small.

58:03 · Don't start big, just plan something that is maybe for 50 to 100 people.

58:07 · People do show up for alcohol festivals.

58:09 · There's gonna just be people who are like, hell yeah, alcohol festival.

58:13 · Do it on the cheap.

58:14 · Don't charge too much.

58:17 · People don't wanna spend a lot of money right now.

58:19 · Everyone's really, you either have shit loads of money or you got none, kind of, right?

58:24 · So offer people something, make it as fun as you can with as little as you can and, you know, draw on local distributors.

58:35 · They have an incentive to sell, draw on your friends.

58:38 · Maybe they make like snacks or onigiri.

58:41 · They want an audience to sell.

58:42 · Find a group of like-minded people who are all looking for the same audience and then put it together and make it as fun as you possibly can so that the right people find the right people and then you can...

58:57 · all come together and it's like, that's the way to start building this.

59:00 · I really, you know, I think that just festivals have been the most effective way for me to grow my audience at Sunflower and to kind of communicate with the world what I want this to be.

59:17 · And people are so willing to show up for it and so willing to like, come taste a bunch of things and it can be, you know, it can be as small as it needs to be.

59:26 · Maybe you only have friends with like two importers or providers.

59:31 · Maybe you just hit up all your friends and you're like, I'll buy, you know, I'll treat you to some sake afterwards.

59:37 · We'll go out and like get pizza and you you want to pour it for me for a little bit.

59:43 · So just bullshit it at first.

59:45 · That's okay.

59:46 · Yeah.

59:48 · Yeah.

59:48 · go along.

59:49 · At the end of the day, people will be drinking sake and having fun.

59:51 · So as long as you can deliver on that, then just try it.

59:55 · Yeah, start small, but start.

59:57 · Yeah, yeah, 100%.

59:59 · Yeah.

Shu-Box & the Lighting Round

1:00:00 · Great, fantastic.

1:00:01 · let's enter the stage of the plug zone.

1:00:03 · Let's give you the mic now to tell us when's Fuyu Fest 26?

1:00:07 · uh Where can people find you?

1:00:09 · Where can they find Sunflower Sake?

1:00:12 · Where do people find you on the internet so that they can get more Nina Murphy, more Fuyu Fest, more Easter eggs in their life?

1:00:18 · Yeah, okay.

1:00:19 · So Fuyu Fest 2026 is happening on Sunday, February 22nd.

1:00:24 · It's from 1 to 5 p.m.

1:00:26 · Sake tasting officially starts closer to 2 p.m.

1:00:29 · But we open up the halls for our like kind of NA side of the experience.

1:00:33 · So a bunch of different local artists, rad food vendors, that kind of thing.

1:00:40 · So we encourage people also it gets you a chance to like be in and checked in and ready to go because then you can beat the lines.

1:00:47 · So that's when it takes place.

1:00:49 · It's happening in Southeast Portland at a venue called The Redd.

1:00:53 · There will only be 500 people.

1:00:54 · Last year we sold out at 450 tickets.

1:00:57 · So we do hopefully expect this year to sell out as well.

1:01:01 · And there's a bunch of great hotels, Airbnbs, everything in the neighborhood.

1:01:08 · It's a really, really good space to throw a festival.

1:01:11 · So you can look forward to tasting.

1:01:14 · around 100 different sake of which probably about 10 to 15 % will be something rare enough that you wouldn't be able to find it ordinarily or it might be hand carried from Japan or um it might be, you know, brewers that are kind of like looking to break into the American market and they would love to hear what you have to say.

1:01:31 · As well as a lot of the experiences that we have offered in the past such as like hot sake tasting and special breakaway sessions where you get to hear from experts and engage more deeply with subjects if you want.

1:01:45 · To learn more, you should go to www.fuyufest.org or sunflowersake.com.

1:01:51 · That's where tickets are available.

1:01:52 · Right now, as of speaking about this, there is still about 50 early bird tickets left, although those are probably going to be sold out soon.

1:02:00 · Only 200 were allocated to early bird and then the balance is $10 more.

1:02:05 · So it's not like a huge amount in addition.

1:02:09 · There's also other ticket types where you can invest in a handmade locally crafted glass sakuzuki made by Maria Inamoto, who's a fantastic local artist.

1:02:21 · And she and I worked together to design two different types.

1:02:23 · So that's something that you can also use at the festival.

1:02:26 · It'll be washed and ready to go.

1:02:28 · Or you can just pack it away safely and bring it home.

1:02:32 · Yeah, we are entering our fourth year and every year it gets better and more exciting and we invest more deeply in experiences and putting a hundred percent really of your ticket cost into the community and into making it the best possible festival that we can.

1:02:50 · Great, fantastic.

1:02:52 · let's do let's just do a quick lightning round and get you out of here.

1:02:56 · OK, tell me if you weren't in sake, what would you be doing instead?

1:02:59 · Hmm Probably not back in insurance.

1:03:02 · No, not back in insurance.

1:03:04 · I mean, I would be I mean, I would be in wine probably.

1:03:07 · The thing is like, I love this business.

1:03:09 · I chose to be in this business.

1:03:11 · Yeah.

1:03:13 · Yeah.

1:03:14 · Most recent sake that wowed you?

1:03:16 · Ooooo mean the Daijiro Yamada Nishiki 2022 uh namagenshu that we included in our seasonal club this quarter is so insanely good.

1:03:28 · I absolutely love it.

1:03:29 · It's like velvety chocolate and like one of my customers said it reminds him of like corduroy pants rubbing together and I was like, oh yeah, that's what it is.

1:03:39 · also Daijiro-san is phenomenal and amazing and I love him so much.

1:03:42 · So it's like That is where my heart is right now.

1:03:46 · You still have bottles for it at sale?

1:03:47 · Sunflower, you out.

1:03:48 · I think we're almost out em because we pour it for club members.

1:03:52 · So it's like, then we sit for everybody and then everyone's like, this shit is really good, but we'll get more in the new year.

1:03:59 · Great OK, then last question.

1:04:03 · One, this is a question that I plan to ask everyone that's on as a guest.

1:04:07 · Who is someone else that I need to talk to, either in the sake industry or in an adjacent industry?

1:04:12 · Who's the person um that has the voice, the knowledge that either I need to hear because I don't know what I'm talking about or that the industry needs to hear that doesn't get?

1:04:23 · Who needs to be on the show next?

1:04:25 · Yeah, I would really love this is self-serving.

1:04:28 · These are two people who I would love to see interviewed in English There's a shitload of interviews out there in Japanese, but as my Japanese language is like not up to par I would love to see More more written about them.

1:04:43 · So Umiko who runs Sake Suki I would love to hear so much more about her perspective in the time that I've grown Sunflower from like, you know, small shop to slightly larger small shop.

1:04:58 · She's grown Sake Suki from new entrant in the import and import market to probably the most influential and important importer in the US, not numbers wise, but cultural influence wise.

1:05:11 · And while I don't necessarily I feel like I would have so much to learn from her perspective on the market and, and on running a sustainable business and on growing so effectively and so successfully.

1:05:25 · So I think she's.

1:05:27 · Brilliant, I would love to hear more.

1:05:28 · And then there's one more person, which um is Aki Kawana, who runs Sake Jump in Japan, but who has also been like incredibly instrumental in the growth of, promoting sake culture within Japan.

1:05:46 · And currently he's expanding that throughout like China and Southeast Asia.

1:05:50 · So I would love to see like his perspective and honestly, his honest take on the American market, which I think, you know, there's a lot of hesitation around.

1:05:57 · He's, you know, a native level English speaker.

1:05:59 · spent time living in Nashville.

1:06:01 · So he knows this place.

1:06:02 · And, you know, I think that he would have some hard takes that we might benefit from hearing.

1:06:08 · Okay, awesome.

1:06:09 · They both sound like two awesome potential future guests.

1:06:13 · I hope they're open to coming on here and dealing with my up-and-coming interview style.

1:06:19 · definitely.

1:06:21 · uh Great.

1:06:21 · Well, Nina, thank you so much.

1:06:23 · I really appreciate your perspective on Fuyu Fest.

1:06:27 · It's really grown in amazing strides.

1:06:29 · Just to see it from a distance, I'm very excited to be there for my first time this year.

1:06:34 · um We'll figure out exactly what capacity I'll be in there as, but I'm very excited to share that with you.

1:06:44 · It's been a long time since I've been to Portland.

1:06:46 · very excited to come back.

1:06:48 · And it is, it is.

1:06:50 · And I'm excited to get to see Sunflower Sake in person for the first time as well.

1:06:54 · That'll be fantastic.

1:06:56 · and underwhelming, but it's cute.

1:06:58 · you know, I spent seven plus years at moto-i You could reach out and touch two sides of the brewery at once.

1:07:03 · So I'm used to big sake in small places.

1:07:06 · I'm used to it.

1:07:06 · So awesome.

1:07:08 · Well, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to chat about running a festival.

1:07:13 · And yeah, I look forward to an awesome Fuyu Fest number four.

1:07:18 · yeah, me too.

1:07:19 · Cool, great to see you.

1:07:21 · Likewise.

1:07:21 · Thank you.

1:07:24 · That's it for episode one of the Sake Master Sessions with Nina Murphy.

1:07:27 · Thank you so much for watching.

1:07:29 · I really hope that you're leaving this inspired to create a festival of your very own.

1:07:35 · If you've got a question that you wish I had asked Nina, drop it in the comments and I'll be sure to follow up.

1:07:40 · If you want to see more of this type of advanced trade level sake content, like this video so others will find it and subscribe because the next sessions are already in motion.

1:07:49 · Lastly, Another thanks to the Sake Brewers Association of North America for supporting this kind of content for the sake community.

1:07:57 · Alright, see you in the next video.