Christopher Pellegrini

Christopher Pellegrini was born in Vermont to two educators who met while teaching at a private school in the UK. An artsy jock growing up, he finished high school a two-time state champion in the pole vault. He also ended up becoming the youngest commercial beer brewer in America for a short while in the 90s, working the night shift at Otter Creek and too young to legally drink what he was making.

He strongly advises against combining pole vaulting with beer. Under any circumstances whatsoever.

After living in Spain and South Korea, he settled in Tokyo, Japan where he developed an intense fascination with the country's indigenous spirits, shochu and awamori. His first book, "The Shochu Handbook," represents the culmination of several years of research and is the first and foremost English-language publication on the subject.

He is now a certified shochu sommelier (SSI Shochu Kikisakeshi in Japan; SSA Shochu Adviser in the US) and a leading expert on shochu and awamori. Pellegrini is also nurturing a long-term acting career that includes several English and Japanese-language film roles over the past several years. In 2018 he was awarded the "Brewing Culture Prize" by the Japan Brewing Society for his continued efforts to publicize shochu and awamori internationally.