Congratulations all TTSA Winners!

It is really all by God’s grace that we could finally organize the TTSA Awards judging this year and to have TTSA 2021 award ceremony on September 9. It is indeed an honour to have Ms Mari TAKADA, Deputy Consul-General of Japan and Mr. Hideaki ISHIHARA, Vice-Consul, Economic Section of the Consulate General of Japan in Hong Kong gracing us at the TTSA 2021 Awards Ceremony. All Trophy winners were excited to receive the TTSA trophies from Ms Takada. We were also very pleased to learn from Ms Takada that "… in 2020, over ¥6 billion [worth] of sake was exported to Hong Kong from Japan, which was about 50% increase over the previous year".

In 2017, Tomy, Co-Founder of TTSA and I first got the idea to establish a sake competition in Hong Kong to award the Brewers and to show respect to them for their immense contribution in making many beautiful sakes. At the same time, we wanted to educate the Hong Kong public so that they would know how to appreciate sake. On the other hand, we also respect end-users' feedback and so we invited both sake drinkers or users and experts to be part of the judging panel so that Brewers, their agents and sake importers know the comments of end-users. This is the reason why each sake entry may receive a medal each from the Expert Group and User Group, in addition to a trophy. Nevertheless 2020 and 2021 has been extra challenging for us to organize the TTSA judging and award ceremony, having to face with uncertainty of shipment and the epidemic prevention measures of Hong Kong SAR Government. In the end, we are most grateful that have many local sake importers' support Hong Kong TTSA 2020 and 2021!

Significance of TTSA 2021 Result:

1. We are delighted to see the Champion winner of 2018 (達磨正宗 熟成十年Daruma Masamune Juku Sei Jiu Nen) won again this year! Honestly speaking, it is not easy for a past Champion who already had the highest honour to join the competition again. We can see that both the brewer & importer are proud and confident of their sake. Now they have made it!

2. Two winners have received the trophy of "Awarded in Three Consecutive Years". It shows the professionalism and stability of their brewing techniques. This is an important index for both the brewer and the importer as different people sits on the Judging Panel at every TTSA. The Brewer and importer take pride in their persistence.

3. Vision and mission have been achieved in the 5th edition! One of TTSA’s supporting units has become a specialty shop of TTSA award-winning sakes. Thus some TTSA winning sakes are now found the on their shelves in a tourist hot spot at Central and Tsim Sha Tsui respectively!

4. We have invited a wine importer, Mr Albert Ko, to share his story at the beginning of TTSA 2021 Awards Ceremony. Mr Ko has turned into a Japanese sake importer after having been our TTSA User Group Judge in 2020 and 2021. At the 2021 Award Ceremony, Mr Ko remarked that: "After participating in the briefing session before the TTSA Judging session and tasting those entry sakes, I began to take a serious interest in sakes. Later on, I decided to try and become an importer of sakes myself! Indeed, I see that one of the most effective ways to get first hand feedback from potential customers about our sake collection and to know customers’ taste and preference is to enter our sake into the TTSA 2022!" As one of TTSA’s Co-founders, I really appreciate every TTSA participant's trust in TTSA for the critical role it plays, from branding to sales and marketing of sake. It is another achievement in our TTSA mission & vision.

5. It is indeed an honour to learn from Ms Mari Takada, the Deputy Consul-General of the Consulate-General of Japan in Hong Kong about the following at the TTSA 2021 Awards Ceremony: "Japanese sake is one of my country’s most famous exports and I value the important role that the Hong Kong Tasting Trendies Sake Awards plays in promoting Sake to the general public of Hong Kong and educating prospective purchasers regarding the different kinds of Sake available.

In 2020, over ¥6 billion [worth] of sake was exported to Hong Kong from Japan, which was about 50% increase over the previous year. I hope that everyone in Hong Kong who enjoys sake gets the chance to experience the wonderful varieties that are widely available.

I am grateful that the Hong Kong Tasting Trendies Sake Awards have been held annually since 2017. This event will undoubtedly heighten awareness not only of the popularity of Sake in Hong Kong, but also of the role that Sake plays in Japanese Culture".

We are so grateful to share the above highlights. Without the support from all of you, it would not have been possible and proud to say that apart from Japan, Hong Kong Tasting Trendies Sake Awards TTSA is the oldest sake competition in Asia and it takes place in Hong Kong.

So let us look forward to TTSA 2022! I pray that we will all enjoy good health and that our lives will be back to normal in late 2021.

Kennie SO

TTSA Co-founder & Organizer

TTSA 2019 Awards Ceremony & tour of Winning Sake Pavilion

TTSA 2018 Awards Ceremony & Tour of Winning Sake Counter

TTSA 2017 Awards Ceremony