{"id":32744,"date":"2023-01-08T09:32:02","date_gmt":"2023-01-08T17:32:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging-live.lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/sake-secret-long-beach-tasting-room-downtown"},"modified":"2023-01-09T12:45:05","modified_gmt":"2023-01-09T20:45:05","slug":"sake-secret-long-beach-tasting-room-downtown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging-live.lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/news\/business\/small-business\/sake-secret-long-beach-tasting-room-downtown","title":{"rendered":"Sommelier to educate Long Beach on \u2018secrets\u2019 of sake with new Downtown tasting room"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sake consists of the same four to five ingredients and there are no exceptions, according to Japan\u2019s purity laws for craft sake. As it turns out, there\u2019s a wide array of flavors that can be derived from this minimal formula\u2014the pages of Greg Beck\u2019s craft sake menu prove this, as they detail dozens of flavors in his selection of about 80 unique bottles from Japan.<\/p>\n

Beck\u2014a certified sake sommelier and owner of Sake Secret in Long Beach\u2014is on a mission to share the gospel of this ancient alcoholic beverage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat you know as the flavor of sake is likely just one possible thing. It\u2019s usually rice-y booze-y, overheated\u2014that\u2019s what we\u2019re used to drinking here,\u201d Beck told the Post. \u201cThat\u2019s just one spot on a wide spectrum of flavor.\u201d<\/p>\n

After running his successful pop-up for more than a year\u2014tucked inside Long Beach Beer Lab on the Westside\u2014he signed the lease for Sake Secret\u2019s future brick-and-mortar on Wednesday: 460 Pine Ave., which previously housed Romeo Chocolates.<\/a> He expects it to open this summer, of course, after a laundry list of permits and bureaucratic to-dos are checked off.<\/p>\n

Landing the Downtown location came after Beck spent years living in Japan, where he learned to speak Japanese fluently while working for the Japanese government. He\u2019s taken a slow and fiscally careful approach to get here. But now that he\u2019s got the storefront and funding from both his Kickstarter campaign, which surpassed his $50,000 goal by raising $64,030,<\/a> and a grant from the state of California, he\u2019s eager to educate Long Beach about sake and its history.<\/p>\n

In and around Long Beach, Beck will tell you there are plenty of breweries and wine bars to go around. But his pop-up shop, Sake Secret, is the only one of its kind in Los Angeles County.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Greg Beck, who became a certified sommelier in 2019, offers a unique and wide selection of Japanese sake at his pop-up, Sake Secret, where he dedicates his time to sharing the “secrets” of sake. Photo by Kat Schuster<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cAny tiny town in Japan is going to have a sake shop, no matter how tiny the village is. And any big city in Japan is going to have Western wine shops,\u201d Beck explained from behind his sake bar on Thursday evening. \u201cYou come here and any tiny town in America is going to have a wine shop. But in all of LA County, there isn\u2019t a single sake shop. Isn\u2019t that weird?\u201d<\/p>\n

One might argue that Beck\u2019s specialty shop is not much of a \u201csecret\u201d now, as he has gained quite the following, but he says the name is mostly tongue and cheek.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople often feel sheepish and embarrassed when they ask questions, as if they should know more about it already. It\u2019s almost treated like a secret,\u201d he said. \u201c\u2018Sake Secret\u2019 rolls off the tongue easily, but it’s also a metaphor. Sake shouldn\u2019t be a secret. The secrets of sake are free.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beck encourages anyone who wants to learn more to visit him at his pop-up bar. From dry to sweet, from junmai-shu to ginjo-shu, from hot to cold, there are several different types of sake, or nihon-shu as it\u2019s referred to in Japan. \u201cSake,\u201d in Japanese simply refers to all alcoholic beverages.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it comes to selection throughout Southern California, there really isn\u2019t any place that can rival what Greg does and that\u2019s just from a product standpoint,\u201d said Eric Imamura, a fellow sake sommelier sitting behind Beck\u2019s bar on Thursday. \u201cWhen it comes to the person that’s actually presenting the product, nobody has this guy’s passion, his knowledge and really the ability to connect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beck organizes the pages of his extensive menus by flavor profile rather than style.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost people are beginners, and they don\u2019t know one style from another, so what matters to them are the flavors,\u201d he said, flipping through the pages. For example, he said \u201cbright, juicy and plush are more for a craft beer drinker, like someone who\u2019s used to having big, bold, less-refined flavors that kind of hit you in the face with a big punch of flavor.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Beck first arrived in Japan as a 20-year-old exchange student, he felt like a kid in a candy shop, suddenly able to try a variety of Japanese beverages that he would ordinarily have had to wait another year to legally imbibe back in the States.<\/p>\n

Beck was so taken with Japan that he immediately moved back there after graduating from the University of Arizona in 2006 to teach English. He lived there for five years. And while he recalls drinking sake bombs during his stay as a college student, it was really the year he moved that he fell down the umami rabbit hole.<\/p>\n

Saij\u014d Sake Festival in Hiroshima Prefecture, where Beck lived for five years, is the place that he said really opened his eyes, or palette really, to Japanese brewers\u2019 ability to dexterously create complex flavor profiles in their sake.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s when I started to slow down and ask questions. The brewers that came to the festival to pour sake were coming from different parts of Japan, and I was like, \u2018Why is yours like this?\u2019 And they\u2019d say, \u2018Well we have different water and it gives you a softer, cleaner mouthfeel or we have a lot of minerality and that gives it more complexity,’\u201d Beck explained.<\/p>\n

After attending Saij\u014d, he became a well of curiosity. As time went on, he found himself asking questions that were often too difficult for the average restaurant server or bartender to answer.<\/p>\n

Some 18 years after Beck first tried sake in Japan, he would open Sake Secret within the Long Beach Beer Lab. Tucked in the corner of the lab, surrounded by stacked wine barrels and a row of clinking pinball machines, you\u2019ll find Beck\u2019s shop, with a rotating menu of nearly 80 sakes, all of which are Japanese.<\/p>\n

Most folks who aren\u2019t from Japan tend to think of sake as the hot rice wine beverage that is always paired with sushi. According to Beck, this is a misconception\u2014the \u201csecret\u201d of sake for many.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn one end of the spectrum, sake can be fruity, floral, delicate, ethereal, and with uber light bodies, as if you\u2019re sipping on a cloud,\u201d he told the Post. \u201cAnd then, on the other end of the spectrum, there\u2019s super caramel and mushroom flavors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Typically, light-bodied traditional sake pairs well with sushi, Beck says. Often \u201cfull body, viscous sake will have you like, \u2018I need to eat this with a cheeseburger or smoke a cigar.\u2019 It’s so strong. You would never have sushi with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact, Beck predicts that cheese and sake will be America\u2019s next craze. Long Beachers will be able to find out by ordering a charcuterie board at his shop as they sip sake this summer.<\/p>\n

Beck envisions both a hospitable and educational environment for his future Downtown location, where he will offer his revolving menu of Japanese sake, snacks, shochu and some newer American-made sake brands. He hopes to keep sharing sake\u2019s spectrum of flavor, as well as its rich history, which he\u2019s spent most of his life learning.<\/p>\n

Most of all, Beck wants his customers to feel that they are in good hands in terms of recommendations. He\u2019s also sensitive about affordability as, he notes, he did not grow up in a wealthy household. Beck\u2019s pricing for the bottles in his shop ranges from $600 to $24 or even $6 for 6 ounce vessels.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore you drop $100 on a really nice bottle or even just $50\u2014because $50 is a lot to a lot of people\u2014I want you to be able to taste it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s so many people whose first experience [with sake] was just terrible, \u2026 and I have to completely reshape that for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Until Sake Secret opens Downtown, Beck\u2019s shop will remain open at the Long Beach Beer Lab, Thursday through Saturday from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. and on Sundays from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Greg Beck has already gained a following with his Sake Secret pop-up tucked inside Long Beach Beer Lab. This summer, he\u2019ll open LA County\u2019s first stand-alone specialty sake shop and tasting room.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":302,"featured_media":72235,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","pmpro_default_level":0,"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","footnotes":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false},"categories":[32036],"tags":[257],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[32065],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-live.lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32744"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-live.lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-live.lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-live.lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/302"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-live.lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging-live.lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32744\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-live.lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-live.lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-live.lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-live.lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32744"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-live.lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=32744"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-live.lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=32744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}