The Experience

An Authentic 2-Hour Interactive Sake Masterclass

This is a boutique, guided Sake experience led by a Forbes-featured Japanese Sake Scholar, fully tailored to your group.

Perfect for:

• ✓  Corporate team-building events
• ✓  Birthday and private celebrations
• ✓  Cultural institutions and museums
• ✓  University programs and alumni groups
• ✓  Hospitality and restaurant staff training

Includes a 30-minute pre-consultation to tailor the masterclass to your group. Sake is not included. A tasting kit of 4 Sake profiles can be arranged separately for Japan-based participants (¥3,800 via SSI). International groups: personalized local selection guidance provided.

What's Inside

Highly Interactive. Deeply Educational. Genuinely Fun.

Suitable for all levels - no Sake knowledge needed. Every masterclass is fully tailored to your group.

• ✓  Sake Quiz - kick off with a fun knowledge check
• ✓  Origins and 2,000-year history of Sake
• ✓  The decline of Sake in Japan - and why it matters
• ✓  The rise of women master brewers (toji)
• ✓  Sake temperature: 5°C to 60°C - which is which?
• ✓  Sake ingredients: rice, water and koji
• ✓  Multiple Parallel Fermentation - Sake's unique method
• ✓  Exploration of four different Sake flavour profiles
• ✓  Food pairing made simple
• ✓  Optional Sake Tasting Meditation when a tasting kit is arranged

Optional add-on: Official SSI Sake Navigator Certificate or Sake Sommelier Association Sake Ninja Pin - in recognition of your newly acquired knowledge.

Your Host

Ciao! I'm Sarika 

I´m your Sake Fairy Godmother - and former United Nations official who traded policy papers for 2,000 years of Japanese brewing wisdom. Even Forbes couldn't resist writing about it!

My grandpa drank the bad stuff, so I actually hated Sake growing up. Then in Fukushima 2009 , I discovered proper Sake by complete accident - and suddenly I understood why my ancestors have been perfecting this craft for 2 millennia!

It´s heartbreaking that Japanese breweries are closing every month. My ancestral Nagano - historic Sake capital - is watching this precious craft slowly disappear. That's why I left my UN Permanent Appointment. Someone has to preserve this!

🌸 As an SSI Official Sake Lecturer, Sake Competition Judge and Master Sommelier fo Sake, I've taught 11,500+ students across 5 continents and judged competitions from Paris to Tokyo. But my favorite moments are sharing Sake with curious souls like you who appreciate that every sip helps preserve tradition.

Ready to know Japan deeper through Sake? Let's connect! 

Kampai, Sarika 🍶

Sarika is a UN official turned Forbes-featured Entrepreneur | Founder of Sarika International Limited, on a mission to share the beauty of Sake, in support of the declining 2000-year-old craft, focusing on sustainability and women in Sake. (SDG 5, 9, 12).

She is appointed as Doburoku Ambassador in Japan, and has undertaken various Sake & Shochu education & collaborations including with the MIT Japan Program, Polish Vodka Museum, Japan Sake & Shochu Makers Association, and Harvard Business School's Asian American Business Association.

She teaches online and offline, with 11,500+ students worldwide. Her Sake Certification Course in Japanese is hosted by the SSI, the Japanese Sake education authority in Tokyo. She serves as a judge at the World Sake Sommelier Competition, Féminalise World Wine Competition (France), Tokyo Whisky & Spirits Competition, Japan Women's Sake Awards, and Women's International Trophy.

Sarika was selected for the first cohort of the EU Women Entrepreneurs Fellowship 2022 and the London School of Economics Female Founders Program.

Prior to entrepreneurship, she worked with the United Nations in Asia and Africa on gender equality and sustainable urban development for a decade (Vietnam, Kenya, Thailand), after completing her MSc at the London School of Economics and joining the UN through its Recruitment Exam.

She has travelled to over 60 countries and lived in 14 across 4 continents. She is a mother of two, married to an Irishman, and she loves to eat and drink.

Full Credentials

Sake | Shochu Certifications

• 日本酒学講師 (No.000456) Official Lecturer | Certified Master Sake Sommelier, Sake Service Institute, Japan
• Official Lecturer, Food & Beverage Specialists Organization (FBO), Tokyo, Japan
• Judge, Féminalise World Wine Competition, France, 2022-2026
• Judge, Japan's Women Sake Award 2023
• Judge, Tokyo Whiskey & Spirits Competition 2024
• Judge, Women's International Trophy 2026
• Appointed as Doburoku Ambassador
• Graduate, Sake & Shochu Academy, Japan Sake & Shochu Makers Association (JSS) 2019
• Certified Sake Scholar
• Sake Pioneer, Sake Sommelier Association
• 国際利酒師 (No.116451) Certified International Sake Sommelier Kikisake-Shi (English)
• 日本酒利酒師 (No.031523) Certified Sake Sommelier Kikisake-Shi (Japanese)
• Certified Sake Professional, Sake Education Council
• 日本酒品質鑑定士 Certified Sake Quality Evaluation Expert
• 焼酎利酒師 (No.030172) Certified Shochu Sommelier
• 焼酎品質鑑定士 Certified Shochu Quality Evaluation Expert
• Certified Spanish Wine Scholar, Wine Scholar Guild
• Certified in Wine Level 1, Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET)

A Living Legacy

Women in Sake Project

Celebrating Women's Achievements and Contributions to the Craft of Sake

Only 30-50 of Japan's 1,200 breweries are headed by women toji masters. 

EXPLORE SARIKA´S PASSION PROJECT →