Ben Hall is recognised as an expert in his craft – that is, understanding the Japanese rice wine sake.
So it was a surprise to learn the other week that he was boarding a flight taking him to the country for the first time.
Ben had already judged the International Wine Challenge Sake Competition in London. But in being invited back for its 20th anniversary, he learned that it would be taking place in Hiroshima.
‘It’s a real honour to be invited,’ he said.
‘The IWC has been going since the 1980s. It’s a very prominent, large industry award – not just for producers of wines and spirits, but also for boutiques, supermarkets and other distributors as well.
‘Their wine awards are pretty prestigious – really well recognised in industry as a marker of outstanding quality. It’s not easy to get to be an associate judge at this event. Somebody in industry probably vouched for me at some point, and I feel very lucky.
‘It’s especially exciting to be there for the 20th anniversary. When we arrive, we have an opening dinner. We go to a shrine to pray in Hiroshima, and then there’s a brewery dinner as well. The judging will be done over several days, and will culminate in an award ceremony.’
He said entries would be divided into a number of categories and styles, ensuring each sake is judged alongside comparable examples.
Ben has had a lifelong passion for quality food and drink pairing. During Covid, the former accountancy worker spent lockdown developing his love and knowledge of the locally lesser-known beverage – and opened his bar in September 2024 as a certified sake sommelier. He said he enjoys sharing the taste of sake with locals.
‘I was working in wine in Brighton when I was at university,’ he said.
‘I’ve always loved wine and food in general, learning how flavours work and how food pairing works. It was then that I tried my first sake – and it was awful. It was quite late at night, it was served at near-boiling temperature and I thought “Why does this taste so bad – this can’t just be an acquired taste thing?”.
‘When you work in wine, you get to know how these products get made over time, and that they develop. And sake is not unique in that respect. So that first taste sparked a professional curiosity – which was just a curiosity – until it snowballed wildly out of control. Covid was like its incubator.
‘And after a few twists and turns, my wife and I came to the conclusion that we were happy to start our own business. There were lots of good wine retailers on the island already, but no one doing sake. So we started by importing and selling on Seafront Sundays, online and directly to local restaurants.’
Ben is now the only islander with a Wine Spirit Educational Trust Level 3 qualification in sake, and is a certified shochu advisor with the International Sake School, as well as a member of the British Sake Association. He said the more he understands the product, the more his love for it grows, and he hopes to continue developing and sharing his passion in Guernsey.
‘What really frustrates me – from working in wine and to this day – is snobbery around what makes something good,’ said Ben.
‘The nice, refreshing thing about sake was that can’t happen, because of lot of it’s written in Japanese and you’re forced to accept that you don’t know it. As a learner, you have to be a bit humbled by the experience – remove yourself from the ego of “I’m European, I know what wine is and how it should be”.’
Though sake is referred to as a rice wine, Ben said it was actually much closer in production to beer. It is brewed in the same way, and made from only four ingredients – water, yeast, koji and rice.
‘There’s no fruit, no sulphites, that’s all it is and it takes a very long time to make.
‘Easily 90 days from start to finish. There is a common misconception that it is a spirit, but it is definitely not.’
Ben noted that the drink was becoming increasingly popular in Western culture, a fact that excites him.
‘We’re now looking at growing sake-specific rice in Spain,’ he said.
‘And there are at least three breweries producing sake full time in the UK – there’s a really lovely one in London Bridge. The activity around it is increasing massively across Europe, and it’s growing in the USA too.
‘It’s a beautifully interesting drink with a lot to say for itself. A really bring colourful history and an enormous variation in the actual product.
‘I’m constantly learning more, from many different sources. I love it, you get to talk to a lot of really interesting people in a really niche environment. And I love sharing what I learn with people who come to Tokkurri.’
