A special Mashiko sake dinner

British Sake Association Annual Sake Dinner: Tickets for Members Now On Sale!!!

This year marks one hundred years since the renowned British potter Bernard Leach set up his pottery in St Ives, Cornwall, with “Living National Treasure” Shoji Hamada from Mashiko, the world famous pottery town in Tochigi, Japan. 

The friendship between Leach and Hamada forged a link between the two towns, and two countries, which is still celebrated today. The British Sake Association is delighted to commemorate this friendship at our Annual Dinner. We are honoured to welcome the Japanese photo journalist Mr Setsuo Kato MBE as our guest speaker. Mr Kato interviewed and photographed Leach at his studio in St Ives in the 1970s; his book Bernard Leach and the Leach Pottery was published in Japanese in 2020.

Mr Kato’s wife, Jill Fanshawe Kato, a celebrated potter herself, has kindly donated a piece for our special Christmas prize; and Goldmark Gallery has offered several books on Mashiko and its potters.

Sake will be kindly provided by SanRan Brewery, Mashiko and Tengu Sake and The Sparkling Sake Brewery.

The dinner will be an elegant shokado bento served with a number of specially selected sake; followed by a festive cheeseboard, including a ‘cheese’ made from sake kasu, and artisan-made local cheeses from the West Country. Accompanying the cheeseboard will be our president’s home-made quince mostarda di Venezia and Philip Harper’s Tamagawa Time Machine 1712 sake.

The tasting is an Official Event of the Japan-UK Season of Culture 2021 – click the image below to visit the official Season of Culture website!

Event details

7th December at So Restaurant
5, Middlesex Street, London E1 7AA
(nearest tube: Aldgate)
Start time: 6pm 
Cost: £65 to members; £85 to non-members and guests

Please bring your favourite guinomi to enhance drinking enjoyment!   
 (although glasses will be provided)

PRIORITY BOOKING FOR MEMBERS CLOSES ON 18^th November

After this date, ticket sales will be open to all. Places are strictly limited, so please act quickly to secure your place at this very special event.

To purchase tickets: email events@britishsakeassociation.org and we will issue you a Paypal invoice 

**Cancellation Policy: We will issue a refund (less Paypal processing fees) to anyone who cancels up to a week before the event; but after that we will give a credit for future events only.

*For anyone curious to learn more about Leach and Hamada, Japan House London hosted a wonderful talk on this special relationship that can be viewed on youtube here.