Michael John Simkin

With extensive experience in the wine and spirits industry, and having visited more than 50 sake breweries on 40 separate trips to Japan, Michael John Simkin, 43, is one of the preeminent sake experts in the field. Having moved smoothly through all the major areas of the industry, Mr. Simkin has found his calling in sake. Along the way, he has garnered expertise which has resulted in an unsurpassed mastery of sake (nihonshu). As Mr. Simkin says, his knowledge stretches ''from the mouth of the tank to the mouth of the consumer.''

Mr. Simkin’s fascination with the culinary world surfaced while he was growing up in Cayuga County, NY working on farms and was cultivated by years spent working in restaurants while in high school and college. By this time, Mr. Simkin had developed a love for Japanese culture, studying Japanese language and completing a degree in East Asian Cultural studies at Cornell University and the University of Rochester. This marriage of Japanese culture and restaurant experience would later come together harmoniously in his current vocation as a sake expert.

While in college, Mr. Simkin and his passion for Japanese culture led to a marriage of another kind: there he met his girlfriend, a Japanese student, and she eventually became his wife. After managing the dining room at the Greystone Inn in Ithaca NY, which boasted a cellar with 750 labels, Mr. Simkin and his wife moved to New York City. Soon he took a job at the landmark institution, Tavern on the Green, as executive banquet sommelier. That experience was followed by a logical progression into distribution, as he worked for Premier Wines and Spirits, and importing, working for Paterno Wines International (now called Terlato Wines International). Finally, to be ‘closer to the source’ he became Northeastern Regional Manager for Heron Wines.

Mr. Simkin’s love of Japanese culture and food led to a fortuitous encounter at his favorite Japanese restaurant, a meeting which brought his background and skills to the attention of a family member of a sake brewery from the Niigata Prefecture whom wanted to begin importing. Given Mr. Simkin’s knowledge of Japan and of the wine and spirits importing industry, it was a match made in heaven. Already a seasoned traveler to Japan, he would return another six times that year as National Director of Sales and Marketing for Niigata Sake Selections.

Mr. Simkin fine-tuned his sake knowledge under the tutelage of John Gauntner, author of The Sake Handbook. Having already completed three internships at Japanese sake breweries, Mr. Simkin has committed to doing two more every year, always conscious of and dedicated to expanding his understanding of sake production methods. Over the past 20 years he has visited more than 50 different breweries on 40 separate trips to Japan, an experience base which has afforded him a detailed overall philosophy on sake, starting with the rice and ending with the consumer.

Mr. Simkin’s outgoing personality, charisma and passion lend themselves to multiple functions in the world of sake. In addition to advising sake breweries on U.S. market development, he consults for a Japanese importer, New York Mutual Trading Company, which offers the largest portfolio of sake in the U.S. Restaurateurs, chefs and mixologists alike have sought his services to host tasting dinners and seminars, and to develop their sake menus. Additionally, he has conducted tastings for companies such as JP Morgan Chase and Interface Flooring. Quoted in several publications including The New York Daily News, The Los Angeles Business Journal, and Urbansake.com, Mr. Simkin is the perfect ambassador for Japan’s ‘drink of the gods.’

Q & A for Michael

Q: What's your favorite cheese?
A: Petit Basque from the Pyrenees

Q: What's your favorite cheese-pairing?
A: My favorite cheese pairing would be to grab a wheel of the above, Petit Basque (or a cheese of similar style) from a reputable cheese purveyor, run down to Balthazar Bakery and pick up a clover loaf of their Cranberry Raisin Pecan, slice it paper thin and place lovely slices of room temperature Petit Basque upon each slice of bread. I then would uncork a bottle of vino from the neighboring regions, possibly some Bordeaux grape varietal from the Northwest or some Tempranillo from the South and savor the experience.

Q: What's your favorite beverage type?
A: Depends on the mood and day, but I must say I quaff much sake and wine and take great pleasure in doing so.

Q: What's your favorite non-alcoholic beverage?
A: Passion fruit juice

Q: What's your favorite beverage-food pairing?
A: Being at a sublime sushi/sashimi counter here or in Japan and eating fish that I know is not available to mortal man; and with the fish quaff sake that you know the To-ji has poured his heart and soul into.

Q: How did you get involved in this business?
A: From the time that I stood on the counters of my grandparents’ kitchen as a child watching my grandfather (a hefty Sicilian man whom loved to cook), and my aunts’ and mother’s cooking, I have been involved with food. I have been working in restaurants since Junior high-school and eventually ended up in the wine side of the industry and currently only work with sake from Japan.

Q: Any unusual ways that you like to enjoy cheese?
A: I love being outside in the summertime for little picnics and taking along plain crackers or a good baguette and placing cheese on them with a slice of Granny Smith apple. I know that this is not that unusual, but I love it and I’ve been doing this for years.