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Ep 10 – Erika Haigh: Sake educator, relationship builder, and marathon runner

Release Date: 05/13/2026

Season 1 round up & what's next for Season 2!

Cheers with Nat

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Mandy Naglich: Professional taster, author, and silent retreat regular

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Tara Hankinson: Brewery co-founder, customer experience whiz, and loves a chilled red

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Welcome back to Cheers with Nat – the podcast dedicated to cheering on women in drinks. We’re continuing our four episode mini-series from NYC! Today’s guest is Tara Hankinson, co-founder and co-CEO of . TALEA was founded with a mission to bring craft beer to a broader audience – and you’re about to hear exactly how they’re doing it. From brand voice, to customer experience, to collaborations and partnerships, Tara tells us how her early inspiration and entrepreneurial spirit snowballed to get her where she is today… and she’s got loads of great insight to share. What stuck...

Courtney Iseman: Drinks writer, media consultant, and obsessed with creative people

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Welcome back to Cheers with Nat – the podcast dedicated to cheering on women in drinks. We’re about to kick off a four-episode mini-series from my recent visit to NYC! Today’s guest is , freelance drinks writer and media consultant. Courtney shares how her childhood love of Broadway turned into a degree in journalism and screenwriting and, later, a career as a writer. We also learn how she went from writing about fashion to craft beer, and the surprising parallels between the two. You’ll hear about how she spots trends and makes connections, the many hobbies that keep her grounded...

Lucy Do: Micropub owner, community builder, and finds magic in the mundane

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Annabel Smith: Beer taster, women-in-beer pioneer, and swimmer

Cheers with Nat

In this throwback episode, we’re catching up with someone from season two of Beer with Nat who I recorded with back in May 2019. Today’s guest is Annabel Smith, Beer Sommelier and founder of the training, consultancy, and events business, . We’ll start by hearing what Annabel has been up to over the past 7 years, then we’ll revisit our original conversation. You’ll hear about Annabel’s journey from pub landlady to self-described professional beer taster. She also shares her passion for cask beer, her many firsts as a woman in beer, and her research into why so few women...

Lotte Peplow: Beer ambassador, judge, and field hockey fan

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Jane Peyton: Drinks educator, novelist, and befriender

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In today’s episode, we’re digging into the archives! You’re going to hear from a guest from the first season of Beer with Nat, who I initially recorded with way back in December 2018. Today’s guest is drinks educator, author, and founder of the , Jane Peyton. We’ll start by hearing what Jane has been up to over the past 8 years (wow!), then re-run our initial conversation. You’ll learn how a Venn diagram helped Jane to discover her perfect career path after she left behind her previous role as a documentary film producer, what it took to set a Guinness World Record, the aspect of...

Ep 10 – Erika Haigh: Sake educator, relationship builder, and marathon runner

Cheers with Nat

Welcome back to Cheers with Nat – the podcast dedicated to cheering on women in drinks. Today’s guest is Erika Haigh, founder of . Erika talks us through her career to date, including how her work in wine led her to discover her true passion for sake, and how she went from opening London’s first dedicated sake bar to setting up a boutique fine sake merchant. A true sake educator, Erika tells us about her training, both within and outside of the classroom, helps us to bust some sake myths, and reflects on her role as a representative of Japanese culture more broadly. You’ll also hear...

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Welcome back to Cheers with Nat – the podcast dedicated to cheering on women in drinks.

Today’s guest is Erika Haigh, founder of Mai Sake.

Erika talks us through her career to date, including how her work in wine led her to discover her true passion for sake, and how she went from opening London’s first dedicated sake bar to setting up a boutique fine sake merchant.

A true sake educator, Erika tells us about her training, both within and outside of the classroom, helps us to bust some sake myths, and reflects on her role as a representative of Japanese culture more broadly.

You’ll also hear about her recent TV appearances, her love of travel, how she stays grounded outside of work, and more.

What stuck with me from this conversation:

On running a small business: “Primarily, I do think it really revolves around human relationships. I think it’s about cultivating and nurturing relationships I have. Whether… it’s with those producers in Japan or it’s with the beverage buyers or sommeliers in the restaurants I partner with or it’s my team… I do think a lot of it is relationship building is really what I do.”

On helping people through hospitality: “I do think the world of food and beverage is about brightening people’s day to day”

On finding and following her passion: “I had a few things happen that led me to realise that you only live one life, why not make your passion into a job… I thought why not just make something I love into something I dedicate myself to day to day. So I started off in the world of wine, but quickly transitioned to sake when I really felt that I could make an impact with my background.”

On opening a sake bar: “You really could not find a place like a wine bar or a pub for a pint of beer that you could go to very casually to enjoy sake. Of course, there has been sake in the UK for a decade or two, but it was purely in Japanese restaurants or somewhere very premium perhaps. You know, there wasn’t this casual offering that people could just rock up to and have a glass of sake, so that is truly what I wanted to open.”

On being a small business owner: “I think every single business owner – regardless of whether they’re in hospitality or not – will tell you that every single day is filled with challenges, but it’s truly about how you tackle those challenges and just knowing that everything you can figure out. Or at least having that confidence… that’s what’s key.”

On the importance of education: “I think it’s just basic human nature that you don’t really want to approach something that you don’t really know much about. You don’t want to seem foolish… And especially in the UK where there are so many other drinks available, why would you seek out sake. So with that, I think education comes first and foremost, [on] how delicious these drinks are and also how varied the world of sake is.”

On representing Japanese culture beyond sake: “It’s always great for me to travel and its wonderful for me to be able to eat these things and go to this location, but it if stops with me, I feel like that would be quite a shame. So, yes, I do like to chat about the sake, but I always involve an element of something about the culture or the history, as well.”

On combining her love of running and travel: “I love travelling after booking a running race. It also keeps me very responsible, let’s say, because the days leading up to the race, I can’t drink as much. And then I get to overindulge after the race because, you know, we’re celebrating. So it keeps me in check. But again, you see more of the city and you just have this sense of accomplishment… so it adds to the fun of travelling there, as well.”