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Pomona College Magazine is published three times a year by Pomona College
550 N. College Ave, Claremont, CA 91711
Online Editor: Mark Kendall
For editorial matters:
Editor: Mark Wood
Phone: (909) 621-8158
Fax: (909) 621-8203
PCM Editorial Guidelines
Contact Alumni Records for changes of address, class notes, or notice
of births or deaths.
Phone: (909) 621-8635
Fax: (909) 621-8535
Email: alumni@pomona.edu
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Sake for the sake of sake
Forget sushi. Sake's on its own now.
By Lori DesRochers '06 Step into the sake boutique
owned by Beau Timken ’88
on Hayes Street, and you are
greeted with his booming welcome: “Are you
sake drinkers?”
Whether you are a sake aficionado or have
never touched a drop, Timken serves up the
same enthusiasm. “Sake is so elegant,
nuanced, powerful,” he says. “Once people
have tasted sake, my job is done. Then they’ll
want to know more.”
 True Sake, which opened in 2003, is the
first store in North America to focus solely on
sake, a Japanese beverage brewed from rice,
with an alcohol content slightly stronger than
wine. The tiny store seems to glow from the
inside—due to the radiance of the multicolored
glass bottles and mod lighting, but also
because of Timken’s warm demeanor.
Timken first tasted sake while living in
Cape Town, South Africa, in the early 1990s.
At a sushi bar, a group of Japanese fishermen
offered him a sip of their cold sake, which
they had brought to the restaurant. Timken
fell in love with it. “I’m just a guy from
Ohio,” says Timken. “But sake spoke to me.”
Since then he’s been on a mission not only
to provide sake to the American public but
also to dispel the frequent misinformation
about his favorite beverage.
He finds that most of his customers first
taste sake at a sushi bar, where it is served piping
hot, even though most premium sakes
taste best chilled. The practice of warming
sake dates back to the days when the only sake
that reached our shores was so damaged that
Japanese breweries didn’t want it. Bottles were
shipped with instructions to heat before drinking
in order to remove some of the sting.
At True Sake, where customers can find
more than 200 varieties of sake, Timken
advises customers to look at the instructive
diagrams on the back of the bottle. Each contains
information about whether it is best
served chilled, at room temperature, warmed
or hot. Even if all of the instructions are in
Japanese, Timken can teach customers how
to figure out what they are looking for.
Sake has been brewed in Japan for more
than 1,500 years, but only recently gained
popularity on this side of the Pacific. Part of
what fascinates Timken about the drink is its
simple composition; he is astounded by the
complexity of flavors produced from only rice
and water. One of the subtle factors that contribute
to the taste of the completed beverage
is the polishing of the outer layers of the rice
kernel. The more a grain of rice has been
milled, the higher the quality of sake it yields.
At his store in the trendy Hayes Valley
shopping district, Timken arranges the bottles
by their milling ratio, which is divided
into three main categories: junmai, junmai
ginjo and junmai dai ginjo. Sake in that last
category—junmai dai ginjo—is made from
the most finely-milled rice and therefore is
considered the highest quality. The bottles
are hung with markers so that customers can
distinguish among the varieties, and Timken
writes descriptions of the flavors and pairing
suggestions in easy-to-comprehend language.
True Sake offers a variety of reservations only
tasting events, from “Funky Sakes” and
“Sake 101” to dinners with local chefs
and explorations of high-end bottles.
Timken recently coauthored a book
called Sake: A Modern Guide,
explaining the history and ritual connected
with sake and offering a variety
of recipes.
Timken says only 10 percent of
his customers are sake fanatics; the
other 90 percent are “disenfranchised
wine people” looking for something
new. He is skeptical of what he sees
as the snobbery associated with wine
drinking, and instead prefers for sake
drinkers to invent their own language
to describe flavors, and only drink
what appeals to their own palate.
As just-curious customers become
converts, he prides himself on his
ability to match customers with a
particular kind of sake based on their
taste in beer and wine—a unique
practice that he developed through
his own tasting experiences. “I’m the match.com of sake,” he says.
From Beau Timken ’88
Sake-Steamed Clams with Ginger
An elegant start to a meal, sake and clams
are a typical Japanese pairing, but here a little
butter is used to enrich the broth.
Although Kaffir lime-infused sake makes the
dish even more aromatic, it’s perfectly delicious
using non-infused sake too. Look for
clams that are tightly closed with no cracks.
Serve by itself, with a bit of bread for sopping
up the juice, or even try it over noodles.
Serves 4.
2 tablespoons butter
1 shallot, finely chopped (about ¼ cup)
1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely
chopped (about 2 tablespoons)
1 clove garlic, finely chopped (about
1 tablespoon)
1 cup Kaffir lime-infused sake
1 cup water
Kosher salt to taste
2 pounds live clams in the shell, scrubbed
clean
2 green onions, green parts finely sliced
In a pot over medium heat, melt the butter.
Add the shallot, ginger and garlic, and cook
until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the
sake, water and salt to taste (taking into
consideration the clams will release their
juices, adding their briny flavor). Bring to a
simmer and let cook 5 more minutes. Add
the clams, cover and simmer for 5 minutes or
until the clams open. Serve hot, scattered
with green onions, placing an empty bowl on the table for discarded shells.
From Sake: A Modern Guide, by Beau
Timken and Sara Deseran |
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