Episode 109: Have You Been Drinking Sake Wrong? | Noah Sain of In Between Days
When most people hear sake, they probably think of hot sake at a sushi restaurant or doing a sake bomb with friends.
That was part of what made Ryan Bogden’s conversation with Noah Sain so interesting. Noah is a sake sommelier, sake educator, and the beverage director and general manager at In Between Days in St. Pete.
He grew up in St. Pete and spent years working in bars and restaurants. Wine, beer, and cocktails were already familiar to him. Sake wasn’t.
Once he started learning about it, he wanted to know more. That eventually took him to Toronto for his certification and later to Japan twice to learn more about the drink and the culture around it.
In Episode 109 of Talkin’ St. Pete, Noah gives Ryan a much different introduction to sake than most of us have probably had.
Hot or Cold? Shot or Sip?
One of the first things Ryan wants to know is simple: How are you actually supposed to drink sake?
Noah’s answer makes things easy. There isn’t one way everyone has to drink it.
A lot of people in the U.S. first experience sake warm at a sushi or hibachi restaurant. Noah says the hot sake commonly served at those places is often lower quality, but that doesn’t mean good sake should never be warm. He serves some higher quality sake warm at In Between Days too.
Other bottles may be better cold or closer to room temperature.
And you don’t have to shoot it.
During the episode, Ryan and Noah taste two very different bottles and talk about how much the flavor can change from one sake to another. Noah even explains how everyone can pick up something different in the same glass.
If you taste pear and the person next to you doesn’t, that doesn’t mean you’re wrong.
For Noah, the point is much simpler: find something you actually enjoy drinking.
Sake Can Go With More Than Sushi
Ryan also asks a question a lot of people probably have: What are you supposed to eat with sake?
Sushi is an easy answer, but Noah says sake can work with a lot more than Japanese food.
He talks about pairing it with cheese, pasta, curry and even pizza. One of his favorite sake memories came from bringing a bottle to his mom’s house while they made homemade pizza on the grill.
That’s part of what makes sake fun for him. You can try different bottles with different foods and see what works for you.
Noah also explains some of the basics behind how sake is made. It starts with rice, water, koji and yeast, but the process is very different from making wine.
There are different styles, different levels of rice polishing, different serving temperatures, and a long list of Japanese terms that Ryan quickly realizes can get confusing.
Luckily, Noah has spent years learning them.
How a St. Pete Bartender Became a Sake Sommelier
Noah didn’t grow up planning to become a sake expert.
He had already spent years in the service industry when he started working at In Between Days. Sake caught his attention because he knew almost nothing about it.
Within weeks, he wanted to learn more.
He eventually traveled to Toronto for sake sommelier training, which included two full days of classes, tastings, and exercises designed to train his sense of smell and taste.
Since then, he has traveled to Japan twice and now teaches sake sommelier classes himself.
His education isn’t finished either. Noah talks with Ryan about wanting to continue his training in Japan and spend time inside a brewery learning directly from the people making sake.
What started as curiosity turned into something that now takes up a huge part of his life.
Inside In Between Days in St. Pete
The conversation also gets into the place where Noah’s sake journey started.
In Between Days began as a small sake and vinyl bar. Noah describes how it has grown into a place where the food, sake, and music all matter.
It’s intentionally small and intimate. Noah even suggests using that to your advantage instead of showing up with a huge group.
And some St. Pete couples apparently have.
Noah shares the story of a couple who had their first date at In Between Days. About three years later, the man reached out because he wanted to propose there.
Noah arranged a private tasting before the restaurant opened and hid the ring under the sake cups.
The same place where their relationship started became the place where they got engaged.
For Noah, stories like that connect back to something he loves about sake in the first place.
Why Sake Is Better When You Share It
One Japanese tradition Noah explains is oshaku, the practice of pouring drinks for other people instead of only filling your own glass.
You pour for someone. They pour for you. You eat, talk, and spend time together.
It sounds simple, but Noah sees something bigger in it.
Sake has been part of Japanese culture for generations, and a lot of the experience happens around a table with other people. That sense of sharing is one of the reasons he became so interested in it.
It also fits the city he calls home.
Noah grew up in St. Pete’s Central Oak Park and has watched St. Petersburg change throughout his life. He remembers wanting to leave when he was younger, travel, and experience somewhere different.
He did travel. But St. Pete stayed home.
His family is here. His friends are here. His favorite restaurants are here. Even the beach, which he admits he used to take for granted, became something he missed whenever he left Florida.
Now he gets to bring something he discovered through travel back to the city where he grew up.
And if your idea of sake still begins and ends with a hot shot at a sushi restaurant, Noah would probably tell you there’s a lot more waiting in the bottle.
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