Christopher Pellegrini

Christopher Pellegrini is a shochu and awamori expert, author, and podcast host. He launched Honkaku Spirits in March 2020 to bring artisanal Japanese spirits to American consumers, particularly
koji-based spirits including shochu, awamori, and koji whiskey.

After honing his skills as a brewer at Otter Creek Brewing Company in Middlebury, Vermont, Christopher moved to Tokyo and ran headlong into Japan’s indigenous spirits, shochu and awamori. Prior to the
launch of Honkaku Spirits, he was named a shochu and awamori ambassador by the Japanese government.

Christopher judges the Tokyo Whisky & Spirits Competition, Spirits Selection by Concours Mondial de Bruxelles, and IWSC in London. He contributed to the newly released “Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails,”
and wrote the first non-Japanese book about shochu and awamori, “The Shochu Handbook.”

He co-hosts two podcasts focused on Japanese spirits: Japan Distilled, a 2023 Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards® Finalist, and Sake on Air.
Christopher was the first person to be simultaneously certified by the Sake Service Institute as a Shochu Kikisakeshi (sommelier) in Japan and as a Shochu Advisor by the Sake School of America; he is one of a select few who hold both accreditations. He is fluent in English and Japanese, and conversational in Spanish and Korean.

He recently spoke at Vin Expo (2019), BCB (2021), Tales of the
Cocktail (2023), and BCB (2024). In 2018, he was awarded the Culture Prize by the Brewing Society of Japan for his efforts to spread shochu and awamori internationally.

Christopher has been featured on FOX and CBS television, as well as in SevenFifty Daily, Imbibe Magazine, Inside Hook, and The Cocktail Guru Podcast. Additionally, Honkaku Spirits has been covered in Departures, The New York Times, Dow Jones Marketwatch, and
Forbes, among many others.

+1 646.797.2829
New York & Tokyo