Australian Sake Awards 2026 celebrates 50 years of friendship between Australia and Japan.

Judges

Judge Leader

Daniel Zahrooni
Cerbaco Distribution

Dennis Han
Wine Knight Consulting

Kana Aoyama
Sake Journey

Mark Ferguson

Matt Froude
Municipal Wine & Sake

Simone Maynard
Sake Mistress

Slava Beliakova

Will McIntyre

International
Guest Judge

Muneyoshi Kanai
National Research Institute of Brewing (NRIB), Japan

Judge

Akit Fong
Warabi, W Melbourne

Alan Trinh
Heaven's Sake

Andrew McDonald

Anna Yoshida

Ayuri Michimoto

Ben Williams

Charlie Francis Lehmann
Ramblin' Rascal Tavern

Chingchi (Kiki) Huang
Uminono

Christopher Kam
Cellar Mates

David Barnett
Toku Toku Sake

David Barron

David James Peddle
Tamura Sake Bar

Ed Lynch-Bell

Fay Chen
Fenrir Corporation, Taiwan

Fiona Thompson

Flynn Trent McLennan
Otter Craft Distilling

Fumi Tamura
Tamura Sake Bar, Izakaya by Tamura

Geoff Koch

Giovanni Rinaldi
Lua Sydney

Graham Jones
YoiYoi

Guy Vaillant
Dan Murphy’s

Hideko Toyokawa

Howard Chen

James Rattray
JQWS

Jasmine Yang

John Stamatakis
The Fig Tree KI

Kanae Omote
sakelier

Kei Tokiwa
The Kissaten Group

Kylie Eklund-Denman

Li Min

Marika Rinno

Mari Nakatani

Mathew Barnes

Megumi Misu
YoiYoi

Mike (Minoru) Nishiyama

Naomi Washiashi

Natsui Otsuka
Bar Kaeru

Nick Oliveiro
Chotto Motto

Noah Connell
Hyatt Hotels

Peter Ehemann
The Cumberland

Ray Gao
SakeMeta

Raymond Tang
Sake Nami

Rina Shibata
Izakaya Fujiyama

Samuel Lam
Pinnacle Drinks

Sean Lam
+81 Sushi Kappo and Aizome Bar

Stu Denman

Tadayoshi Hayakawa

Terry Ng

Thomas Hart
Kuraguchi

Thomas Ng
sakelier

Thomas Sutton

Tony Gardiner

Tullia Hookins

Wai Shun Chan
Sydney Mason Centre

Yik Yu (Kim) Cheng
Ippin Japanese Dining

Yoko Langford
Minato51

Yuchen He
Rie Izakaya

Yuichi Kanamaru
Kiyomi, The Star Gold Coast

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