‘This is the first time this has ever been done in history.

‘When humanity eventually settles on the moon, we want Dassai to be there to accompany people in their daily lives on the lunar surface as well.

‘The project began when our chairman and president [Hiroshi Sakurai], who had long dreamed of “one day brewing sake on the moon,” were approached by a space equipment manufacturer about conducting an experiment in space. Because of my background in life sciences, I was selected to lead the project.

‘I joined the company in 2021 after completing graduate school. Before joining the company, I conducted research on glaucoma at university. After joining, in addition to this project, I have also worked on research into the functionality of exosomes (extracellular vesicles) produced during the sake fermentation process.

‘Becoming the top researcher in the world is no easy task, but if I worked at the Dassai brewery, which is known for producing the best sake in Japan, I thought I might be able to help create the best sake in the world. That's why I decided to join the brewery as a kurabito (sake brewer).

‘Fermented foods such as miso, soy sauce, and vinegar form the foundation of Japanese food culture. This is not only because of their flavour, but also because of their functional and nutritional benefits. We believe fermented foods will also be essential for life on the moon.

‘I am responsible for designing the experiment to be conducted inside the ISS, while the actual brewing equipment was developed in collaboration with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Mitsubishi has decades of experience in the space development business, so they brought invaluable expertise to the project.

‘First and foremost, I don't know if you’re aware, alcohol is prohibited on the International Space Station. So, when we brought this proposal that we would ferment and produce alcohol on the ISS, NASA was like, “What’re you guys thinking?”

‘As you know, sake has been brewed in Japan for centuries. So, we were able to prove, not just anecdotally, but we gathered data and proved scientifically without a doubt that the actual production and brewing of sake is not dangerous.

‘We [sent] ingredients such as pre-steamed and dried rice (Yamada Nishiki) and dried koji mold from Earth to the ISS [on October 26, 2025]. These ingredients go into the equipment, and with the help of the astronauts, water [was] added to see if fermentation occurs.

‘The International Space Station, or ISS, is a completely confined space. If something goes wrong during an experiment, no one can go to help the astronauts. Sake brewing has a long history, but there's no data and knowledge about brewing in space. So we had to make a comprehensive list of all the byproducts generated during the fermentation process and submit data to show that each one of them met safety standards. Proving the safety of the experiment was our first major hurdle.’

‘The worst-case scenario would have been that fermentation does not progress in space, meaning sake cannot be brewed. However, this mission has ruled out that possibility.

‘The biggest difference on Earth is that yeast produces heat, and that heat then leads to convection. However, that’s really delayed and is slower in space. So, the moromi, which is the fermented mash, doesn’t mix very well, so everything progresses at a slower rate.

‘We have confirmed that under lunar gravity conditions, fermentation proceeds slightly more slowly compared to on Earth. We were able to confirm alcohol was produced.

'Our goal moving forward is to learn how to control this different behaviour from Earth and produce fine sake like the ones brewed on Earth … to prove that brewing sake under lunar gravity is technically feasible.’

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Exploring books on sake: literary escapism

It seems as though almost everyone I know is going on holiday to Japan – and I’m filled with envy.

I drool over their pictures of ramen and yakitori, ogle the backstreets of Tokyo and gape at the landscapes spied on their high-speed train journeys.

While I wait for someone to whisk me away (invitations are welcome, please and thank you), I’ve been making do with literary escapism – dipping a toe into the sake waters, looking for the best books about Japan’s national drink.

The Story of Dassai: The Art of Sake

Anthony Rose (who wrote the Classic Wine Library’s Sake and the Wines of Japan; £35 Académie du Vin Library, 2024) has recently published The Story of Dassai: The Art of Sake (£40 First Press Editions, October 2025).

While this is a producer-funded publication, and therefore has a certain PR angle, there’s an interesting story within, covering how the relatively modern brewer shifted its focus to quality and became one of Japan’s leading names.

Kanpai: The History of Sake

Last year, too, Eric C Rath published Kanpai: The History of Sake (£17.99 Reaktion Books) – the first history of the drink to make its way into English (kanpai equates to ‘cheers’).

Academic and a little heavygoing in places, this compact publication is nevertheless fascinating, tracing sake’s evolution over two millennia and its place in Japanese history – from why it was once made almost exclusively by women to how medieval samurai had their own version of ‘splitting the G’ (ensuring that the line between the head of a freshly poured Guinness and the beer beneath bisects the word Guinness on the pint glass after your first sip).

Sake: The Art and Craft of Japan’s National Drink

For the ultimate guide to sake, however, look no further than Yoshiko UenoMüller’s Sake: The Art and Craft of Japan’s National Drink (£50 Prestel, 2024).

It swept up awards on release (taking home a James Beard and Fortnum & Mason’s Debut Drink Book 2025, to name two) and it’s easy to see why. It’s stunning – beautifully designed, the text given space to breathe, with gorgeous photography (mostly from Markus Bassler) and serious paper with a mix of finishes that all combine to make it very coffee-table-esque.

This is much more than just a pretty book, however, with thoughtful, precise and evocative writing from Ueno-Müller.

It’s broken down into three main sections: Origins (covering a brief cultural history of sake, raw materials and production), The Country and the People (a look at the places and people that define sake culture today), and A Feast for All the Senses (a tasting and drinking guide, including pairing advice – how to appreciate and enjoy sake).

She brings life to the topic with profiles of real people – brewers, mainly, but also a rice farmer and barrel-maker, for example – in among all the reference material.

It left me desperate to go and buy a whole host of bottles – and maybe book those flights myself. Kanpai, indeed.

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From junmai to daiginjo, nigori to koshu, the sake world has a unique glossary of terms – most of which refer to stylistic choices made by the brewer. One of the most commonly used phrases in this lexicon is ‘nama’. But what exactly is nama sake, and how does it differ from other types of the rice wine? That’s exactly what this article will explain.

Defining nama sake

The word ‘nama’ – signified by the kanji character 生 – means ‘raw’ or ‘living’ in Japanese. It’s often used to denote a fresh, uncooked or natural product in Japan. In the world of sake it refers to bottles that are unpasteurised.

Whereas most sakes will undergo heat pasteurisation twice – once after filtration and before storage, then again around the time of bottling – sakes labelled as ‘nama’ won’t have seen this process at all.

As with other unpasteurised products, nama sake (or namazake – 生酒 – in Japanese) contains active enzymes and live microorganisms. While this brings an added element to the drinking experience, producers must use extra care when making it. ‘That means colder, faster handling after filtration and strict cold-chain storage and transport,’ says Natsuki Kikuya, sake educator at WSET.

Because of the need for cold storage in preservation, nama sake has traditionally been made only during the winter months in Japan – typically from December to March – with bottles designed to be consumed quickly before summer heat spikes.

While modern technology now allows nama to be made year-round, most producers – particularly small ones who might lack the specialised equipment required – still release it only as a seasonal ‘fresh’ bottling over winter and early spring months.

How does it taste?

There is no single flavour profile associated with nama sake. As with other sakes, character is influenced by a combination of factors. These include the rice variety, growing conditions, koji mold used and local water, as well as other stylistic elements – for example, the rice polishing standard (ie honjozo, ginjo or daiginjo).

Nama can be made with any rice type, in any place. However, in general terms, nama sakes tend to be brighter, fresher and zingier than their counterparts.

‘Nama showcases more lift and zing, often sharper and more vivid aromatics, and sometimes a soft natural spritz or “alive” sensation,' says Kikuya. 'Its flavour profile can feel more immediate and energetic than pasteurised equivalents.'

Storing and drinking

Nama sake has to be drunk cold, insists Ryosuke Mashio, sommelier at Roketsu restaurant in London. ‘While other sakes can be enjoyed warm, or at room temperature, nama has to be cold to preserve its vibrancy and fragrance.’

Maintaining those delicate unpasteurised flavours requires careful storage, and consumption within six months of production date is often recommended. ‘Cellaring is key with namazake,’ says Mashio. ‘As low as possible, between 0℃ and 5℃ or even in minus temperatures.’ Each winter when he buys a dozen bottles for Roketsu, he ensures they are transported in cold storage and keeps them in a dedicated sake fridge.

Once open, even when kept refrigerated and away from light exposure, nama sakes can develop rapidly; which, of course, is part of what makes them interesting to drink. Kikuya recommends finishing any bottles within five to seven days, whereas other sakes may keep for up to two weeks.

New styles

While nama sake is typically designed to be drunk young and fresh, just as in the wine world, the space is seeing innovation.

‘Aged nama sake is a whole new territory,’ says Anthony Yukio, sake sommelier at Kioku in London. ‘When aged at low temperature, that wild character is tamed slightly, flavours concentrate on the palate.’ He points out that the same bottle served in Japan and London will taste entirely different due to individual storage conditions, and that’s part of what keeps the category exciting.

Certain styles of nama sake can be carefully stored at room temperature too, but this can be a risky business as it pushes things into a wilder, more oxidative and nutty state. It’s best to leave this kind of ageing to venues that know their stuff (like Kioku). Be wary of nama sake that appears too hazy or is unpleasant on the nose, as it may have gone too far.

Buying nama sake: tips

Because nama sake is easily perishable it’s important to buy from quality sources – for starters, somewhere that keeps its bottles in a fridge, notes Mashio. Also do consider when you are buying it. Unless you’re deliberately seeking out an aged example, if you pick it up in late summer or autumn there’s a chance it’s been sitting around a bit too long.

Nama is a specific style and producers will usually state it on the label. Saying that, most Japanese sake labels are written in kanji, and can be difficult for English-speakers to decode – particularly when they contain many other terms.

Memorise the simple kanji character for namazake – 生酒 – and you’ll instantly be able to recognise it. Just don’t be confused by similar kanji such as namazume (生詰め) or namachozo (生貯蔵), both of which refer to single pasteurisations (before and after storage, respectively), rather than nama sake’s characteristic zero-pasteurisation profile.

Six nama sake bottles to try

Kikunotsukasa Innocent 50 Junmai Ginjo Nama Sake

£49.90/720ml, Yutaka

Made in Iwate, in the northern part of Japan’s main island Honshu, Innocent is known for its slightly lower alcohol and easier-drinking style. Produced as a junmai – which means it’s free from added alcohol or sugar – as well as nama, this is richly rice-y and white peachy. Alcohol 14%

Masumi Arabashiri Junmai Ginjo Nama Genshu

£TBC/720ml, The Whisky Exchange

A higher-alcohol form of nama sake, genshu (‘undiluted’) is bottled straight from the tank without added water. This one is made by Masumi in Nagano, which has roots dating to 1662, and its robust profile can stand up well to white meats and grilled fish. Notes of fresh plum, cherry and apricot. (This year’s edition had not been released at the time of publishing.) Alc 17%

Narutotai Gingo Nama Genshu

£30/720ml, London Sake

Vibrant, sweet caramel and nut notes meet a zippy fruitiness. Produced from Yamada Nishiki rice in Tokushima, on Shikoku Island, this namazake is bottled in UV-resistant aluminium to protect it from light damage. Fruity and generous in aromatics, yet dry. Alc 18%

Tamagawa ‘Red Label’ Yamahai Genshu Junmai

£35.99/720ml, London Sake

The Tamagawa range is made by Cornish expat Philip Harper, the first non-Japanese tōji or Master Sake Brewer. His ‘3U’ approach (unfiltered, undiluted, unpasteurised) means his range is all nama. The Red Label from Kyoto uses ambient yeasts and delivers a bold profile that can pair with meats and strong cheese. Alc 21%

Tsuji Honten Evolution

£30/720ml, Tengu Sake

Containing only heritage rice variety Omachi, and unfiltered, unpasteurised and undiluted, this experimental sake is brewed using the ancient bodaimoto technique – so it’s really one of a kind. Medium-bodied, rippled with ripe fruit flavour and flecked with nuttiness and sweet spice, it’s higher in acidity and very precise. Alc 16%

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If sake is an acquired taste, then the world is divided into two kinds of people: those who have acquired the taste and those yet to acquire it.

For wine lovers especially, you will find many familiar elements in sake – similar or slightly higher alcohol levels, fruitiness ranging from floral and citrusy to savoury, earthy and tropical (but with generally much milder acidity), and diverse styles that include vibrant sparkling to sherry-like aged versions.

Our ability to identify the flavours of wine and our understanding of how the final drink is shaped by the raw material – from grape varieties to rice varieties and polishing ratios – together with the delicate adjustments made by the winemaker or Toji (master brewer), put us in an advantageous position to explore and appreciate sake. Let’s begin the journey by briefly talking about the basics.

Scroll down for our sake recommendations

The basics

Sake just means alcohol (酒) in Japan, whereas the rice-based drink that we know as sake is in fact called ‘Nihonshu 日本酒’, Japanese alcohol made from rice. Derived from ancient China, rice-based alcohol beverages have been made in Japan for over 1,000 years.

Many (some say 100) varieties of rice can be used for sake production. The most widely used sake rice include Yamadanishiki 山田錦, Gohyakumangoku 五百万石 and Miyamanishiki 美山錦. These are deemed most suitable for making sake due to the large percentage of the ‘white heart 心白’ – or the starch in the core.

Sake generally weighs in at around 15–20% abv (so not too far from wine), depending on the style and production method. It has just a fifth of the acidity of wine. What it lacks in wine’s crisp, refreshing acid bite, however, it more than makes up for in texture, subtlety of flavour and diversity of style.

Polishing

Quality grades are determined by the polishing ratio, or ‘Semai Buai 精米歩合’. This ratio indicates how much of the rice grain is milled away, removing the protein and fat on the translucent exterior, before the starchy core is revealed and ready to be converted by the koji mould to fermentable sugar.

Generally speaking, sake gets more expensive when more rice is milled away (at a lower polishing ratio) and tends to showcase a more delicate, fruity aroma profile. However, it’s worth noting that the milling ratio isn’t necessarily an indicator of quality. The savoury, punchy rice flavours from protein and fat, which are considered an impurity, may well be the desired style for some producers.

Fermentation

Perhaps the most significant contribution to the style and flavour comes from the aims and techniques of the ‘Toji 杜氏’, the master brewer.

For the most common production method, the rice is first washed, steamed and cooled. A small proportion of the rice is then spread out on wooden tables, where the starch is broken down into fermentable sugar by the addition of koji mould spores. Subsequently, more steamed rice, yeast, and beneficial bacteria are added, allowing the simultaneous transformation of starch to sugar and sugar to alcohol.

More variations in flavour can also come from the method used to break the rice down into a sugary porridge, where slower, more traditional approaches and careful temperature control can lead to deeper and more savoury expressions.

By the end of fermentation, the brewer has the option to add alcohol to refine the flavour profiles or keep the sake ‘Junmai (purely rice or 純米)’.

Decisions at the bottling stage, such as whether to pasteurise, when to do so, and how many times, can also shape the flavour and the longevity of the final product.

Sake styles to know

Daiginjo 大吟醸 – Super premium sake with a 50% polishing ratio. Usually showcasing elegant fruity, floral perfume with great purity and finesse. If there is no indication of ‘Junmai’ on the label, it means the sake is polished by a splash of distilled alcohol.

Ginjo 吟醸 – Premium fragrant sake with a 60% polishing ratio, can have a slight hint of savoury complexity. Also contains additional alcohol if no mention of Junmai on the label.

Honjozo 本醸造 – The entrance to the premium category – made using rice polished to 70% and up to 10% alcohol – tends to yield an easy-drinking, ‘ricey’ and less aromatic sake.

Junmai 純米 – Literally, it means ‘purely rice’. It refers to sake made with nothing other than rice, water, yeast and Koji fungus. Junmai sakes, compared to styles made with added alcohol, tend to exhibit a richer mouthfeel and more savoury and complex flavours. The term, on its own, doesn’t indicate a milling ratio. When appended to Daiginjo and Ginjo, it suggests that the premium sake hasn’t been fortified with alcohol.

Futsushu 普通酒 – ‘Basic alcohol’. The basic table sake that is widely available. There are no limits to the milling ratio, the use of rice varieties, or the choice of additives (including alcohol and sugar). Quality sakes with a wide range of flavours and styles can be found in this category, and they usually offer great value.

Broadly speaking, Daiginjo and Ginjo, with their beguiling fruity and floral fragrances, tend to be popular as chilled drinks while Honjozo and generic Junmai sakes can often offer a broader range of flavour and versatility, especially when drunk with food, and can be served at a wider range of temperatures.

Our top sake picks

While a little learning can prise the gates to sake heaven ajar, only the taste will fling them open and convert you to the delights of Japan’s national drink.

Here we have listed 21 picks, fresh from the 2025 edition of the British Sake Association’s grand tasting and beyond, covering a wide range of styles and characters – all ideal for wine lovers beginning to explore the category. Kanpai!

*Prices accurate at time of publishing

Value tries under £25

Shichiken, ‘Yama No Kasumi’ Sparkling Sake

Made in the Champagne method, this is a cheerful crowdpleaser. Melon and green fruits lead the nose with a touch of steamed rice creaminess. Lightly citrusy and vibrant with generous bubbles, it is smooth in texture and light-hearted, showing plenty of honeydew melon and a hint of yuzu peel on the crisp finish. Perfect with a wide range of dishes.

£24.50 for half bottle at Amathus

Takara Shuzo, Sho Chiku Bai Shirakabegura, MIO Sparkling Sake

A cheerful, crisp sparkling sake with a polishing ratio of 69%. Blossom, melon, freshly squeezed pear juice and steamed rice perfume. Zesty citrus on the sweet and fruity palate, accompanied by notes of banana peel and egg tart. With an alcohol content of just 5%, it’s easily enjoyable. Chilling is a must.

£5.60 for 150ml and £9.90 for 300ml at Yutaka

Akashi-Tai, Junmai Sparkling Sake

The Junmai sparkling sake from Akashi-Tai was naturally fermented in the bottle to create fizz. It features aromas of freshly steamed sticky rice and jasmine blossom on the nose, followed by a crisp palate of citrus and ripe pear, with lovely acidity to balance. With alcohol content at a mere 7%, it’s easy to drink and cleansing, making it great for pairing with raw fish.

£15 for 300ml at Master of Malt

Lachamte, Sparkling Junmai Hideyoshi

This might not be one of those crisp all-rounders but it is packed with character. For anyone who prefers a more salty, earthy and lactic style of sake, this will be a treat. Extremely savoury on the nose with miso paste, soya beans, dried figs and bacon. Zingy red-berry acidity follows, with cranberry fruits, yogurt, red apple and soya leading to a lovely savoury depth on the finish. Maybe not for everyone – but at an affordable price it could be a fascinating new discovery for you.

£15 for 280ml at Suzune

Shimizu Seizaburo Shoten, ZAKU Junmai ‘Ho no Tomo’

The producer was founded in 1869 in Suzuka, Mie Prefecture, a region blessed by the springs of the Suzuka Mountains and top-quality rice from the Ise Plain. It crafts a brilliant, fruity Junmai sake with a 60% polishing ratio. Aromas of pear skin, melon, steamed rice and cereal greet the nose. The palate is smooth and sweet, reminiscent of pear drops with crisp freshness. A quaffable beauty perfect for everyday enjoyment.

£10 for 750ml at Kurashu

Sora Junmai Sake

An easy-drinking and affordable canned Junmai sake, perfect for those who’d like to give sake a try for the first time. Creamy rice porridge and yuzu zest on the nose and palate, smooth with a gentle hint of pepper, it finishes clean on the drier side. A delightful thirst cruncher at any occasion.

£6 for 180ml at Yutaka

Browse by style: Rice only (‘Junmai’)

Heavensake, Junmai 12

The Heavensake Junmai 12 marks the collaboration of Régis Camus – the acclaimed Champagne winemaker – and Hyogo-based family producer Konishi. Savoury on the nose with seaweed, salted caramel and honeydew melon. Fresh and dry on the palate with nutty umami depth and a clean finish. An affordable entry-level sake that offers an easy way to explore the range.

£29.95 for 720ml at DrinksOne

Shichiken, Junmai Ginjo Sake

A Ginjo sake at 57% polishing ratio from Yamanashi. Creamy citrus and melon with fresh blossom on the nose. The palate shows plenty of juicy melon and ripe peach with great purity and hints of savoury, ricey umami. Easy-drinking with a velvety texture (as the label ‘天鵞絨’ suggests), fresh acids and a clean finish with a touch of peppercorn. A refreshing, classic choice.

£33 for 720ml at Amathus

Nanbu Bijin, Tokubetsu Junmai

The Nanbu Bijin Brewery was founded in 1902 in Ninohe city, Iwate. This special pure rice sake has been pasteurised only once in the bottle to best preserve the complex aroma of the raw sake. With ripe yellow apple and a hint of savoury bacon on the nose, it is gentle and smooth on the palate, featuring sweet pear and melon flavours balanced by citrus peel bitterness and mild acidity.

£34.99 for 720ml at London Sake

Kay Sake, Junmai Daiginjo

A crisp, fresh Junmai Daiginjo from Niigata. Citrusy and floral with nashi pear on the nose and palate. Creamy rice pudding richness is refreshed by decent acidity, leading to a clean finish. An light-hearted, allrounder food sake.

£34.60 per bottle at Amathus

Urakasumi, Misty Bay Junmai

Established in 1724, the Urakasumi Brewery is located in the town of Shiogama on the east coast of Japan. Fresh citrus zing overlays a nose of sweet pear and peach in the ‘Misty Bay’ Junmai sake from Urakasumi. The sake uses rice milled down to 65%, featuring a pure and soft palate of sticky rice cake and mellow pear liqueur, with a lovely line of acidity to refresh. The finish is dry and clean, with umami notes lingering on.

£35.99 for 720ml at London Sake

Dassai, 39 Junmai Daiginjo

The number ‘39’ indicates the polishing ratio and also hints at the style of this classy, refined Junmai Daiginjo from Dassai. Delicate and fruity on the nose with creamy melon, mango, pear and white blossom. Sitting on the drier side, the 39 entices with lovely freshness on a silky, well-integrated palate of white and yellow fruits, finishing with a pinch of white pepper.

£42.99 for 720ml at London Sake

Daimon, Rikyubai Hanzaemon

At the summit of Daimon brewery’s Rikyubai range, the name ‘Hanzaemon’ pays tribute to the brewery’s founder – the ancestor of the current Toji. Banana peel, yogurt and a touch of peppermint on the nose. Generous and warm exotic fruits, rice pudding and some yellow fruits on the palate, dusted with hints of sweet spices. A Junmai Daiginjo with a polishing ratio of 50%.

£42.50 for 720ml at More Sake

Shirakabegura, Junmai Daiginjo

The Junmai Daiginjo sake is made using 100% Yamadanishiki rice (milled down to 45%) and the water of Miyamizu. Red berry candy and banana on the nose, followed by gentle, pure sweetness of steamed rice and honeydew melon, with a fragrant, lingering finish.

£42.99 for 640ml at London Sake

Akashi Tai, Junmai Daiginjo Genshu

A constant resident in my fridge – this is a comforting Genshu (undiluted) Junmai Daiginjo with fantastic purity and floral charm. With a milling ratio of 38%, it boasts ripe nashi pear, melon, yuzu citrus and yogurt on the nose. Lovely citrusy freshness sits behind a mouthful of honeydew melon, rice pudding and banana peel. A satisfying sipping sake that is enjoyable even for those who are not familiar with the category.

£25.95 for 300ml at Lea & Sandeman and £47.25 for 720ml at Master of Malt

Essence 5 by Chartier, Drunk Monkey

The ‘Essence 5’ range was created by aroma specialist François Chartier. The ‘Drunk Monkey’ was crafted in collaboration with Nagayama Sake using 100% Yamada Nishiki rice at a 40% polishing ratio. Fresh and fruity on the nose with citrus, green apple peel and jasmine blossom. Silky on the palate with ripe melon, refreshed by decent natural acidity. Easy-drinking purity with hints of umami toward the finish.

£48.90 for 500ml at Mai Sake

Essence 5 by Chartier, Yamazaru Aged Sake 2019

Most sakes are made for drinking fresh but some are also capable of ageing, as this one shows. Made by the same producer of the ‘Drunk Monkey’, the ‘Yamazaru (mountain monkey)’ offers a savoury, complex style derived from six years of ageing in steel tanks. Citrusy yogurt on the nose with pronounced savoury notes of salted caramel and butterscotch. Rich and rounded on the creamy palate with rice porridge, melon, banana peel and sweet spices, backed by fantastic freshness. Complex but clean.

£59.25 for 720ml at Mai Sake

Kanpai, ‘Tori’ Junmai Daiginjo

With only 500 bottles crafted by this London-based craft sake producer, this is a serious treat for enthusiasts curious about a UK expression of Junmai Daiginjo. Ricey, savoury notes are underlined by ripe yellow fruits with hints of yogurt. Smooth and juicy on the palate with lovely freshness. An abundance of rice pudding garnished with yuzu and green apple peel. Minerality is the key point of difference here – thanks to the mineral-rich water in the UK – which tends to result in more ‘aggressive’ fermentation, according to the producer.

£60 for 750ml at Kanpai London Craft Sake

Opt for the producer’s more affordable Honjozo ‘Hiro’ Genshu (undiluted sake) for a more savoury, drier, bolder and more spiced option – which the producer recommends enjoying over an ice cube.

£38.00 for 750ml at Kanpai London Craft Sake

Browse by style: Fortified with alcohol (‘Honjozo’ & ‘Ginjo’)

Hatsumago, Densho Kimoto Honjozo

First founded in 1893, the brewery adopted the name ‘Hatsumago’ (meaning ‘first grandchild’ in Japanese) in 1930 following the birth of the family’s first grandchild. The producer is known for the traditional Kimoto method of sake brewing. This is a funky, vinous Honjozo sake, featuring a nose of bruised apple, miso paste and sour berry candy, which follows to the mild palate, in addition to almonds and citrus zing. Complex and fun.

£29.99 for 720ml at London Sake

Konishi Shuzo, Hiyashibori ‘Konishi Silver’ Ginjo

The Konishi family first started making sake in 1550, even earlier than the Itami region developed the technique of making ‘clear sake’. This is a fresh, welcoming entry-level sake featuring Jasmine rice, white fruits and pear blossom. Mellow, smooth and easy-drinking, relatively dry on the palate with a cleansing finish. One for food.

£21 for 720ml at Tengu Sake

Tosatsuru, Azure Ginjo Sake

Bottled in an ocean blue bottle and made using Yamada Nishiki rice, the Azure Ginjo sake from Tosatsuru has a vinous nose backed by tropical fruits such as pineapple and mango, in addition to fresh citrus. Ripe peach and steamed rice sweetness are well balanced with limey acidity, followed by a savoury, warming finish.

£44.99 for 720ml at London Sake

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Prior to the American Civil War, rice fields were largely tended by enslaved labour, holding a deep-rooted significance for the crop in the region. These days, rice is a major player in migrant and Black food in the South, with Arkansas being the rice capital of the US.

In the beverage world, rice is turning yet another page. This time, it’s a significant cash crop in fermentation. Not sushi rice or stir-fry rice, but sake rice — the kind grown in vast, flat fields by multi-generational farmers in the Mississippi Delta — is being turned into some of the most promising new sake in the country.

Don’t miss the ultimate wine experience – book your tickets now for the Decanter Fine Wine Encounter London 2025

Sake in the American South

Ben Bell, founder of Origami Sake in Arkansas, still remembers the first time he brought a bottle of sake home. He was working retail at a wine and spirits shop in Little Rock. ‘It looked like white wine, so I chilled it and poured it into a wine glass,’ he says. ‘Then I tasted it… and was floored. It had this fruitiness, finesse and craftsmanship I didn’t expect. I had to know more.’

Bell moved to Japan, learning how to make sake at Nanbu Bijin, later earning advanced certifications from the Sake Education Council, and working as an importer for Skurnik in New York. But Arkansas kept calling.

‘We’re the rice state,’ he says. ‘Why not make sake here?’

Origami Sake opened in 2022, housed in a sleek Hot Springs facility, not far from Isbell Farms, which quietly grows Yamada Nishiki, the most prized rice for sake production. (Only one other farm in California does this in the US.)

‘Arkansas grows more rice than any other state. And not just any rice, it’s world-class rice,’ he says. At Origami, they work with local farms to use Omachi, Somai and Yamada Nishiki rice.

The water for brewing comes from the Ouachita Mountain aquifer and is naturally filtered, low in sodium and iron, and has a suitable pH for sake production. Hot Springs has been a sister city to Hanamaki, Japan, another onsen-rich town, since 1993.

Origami’s Angelfish single-origin Junmai Daiginjo is a lovely, fruit-forward sake with ample body. Bell recommends pairing it with steak, crawfish or tacos. ‘I want people to go to a Southern restaurant and see a sake list,’ he says. ‘I want Arkansans to say, rice is our thing.’

Rice has fuelled the Southern economy throughout history, and now it’s quickly becoming a cash crop for fermentation, lending not only to sake, but also gin (Wonderbird in Mississippi), soju and Makgeolli (Minhwa Spirits in Atlanta), and whiskey (Bluffton Whiskey made with Carolina Gold rice in Tennessee).

Is it even sake?

The question comes up a lot.

In 2015, Japan designated ‘Japanese sake’ or nihonshu, as a Geographical Indication, meaning that only sake made in Japan with Japanese rice and water can wear the label. However, sake made elsewhere can simply be called ‘sake’ and style labels such as Junmai, Junmai Daiginjo etc. can be applied.

At Bin Bin Sake, a small sake boutique tucked into a Brooklyn strip of design-y shops and small eateries, co-founder George Padilla sees a new kind of customer walk in every week.

‘So often customers begin with them saying, “Sorry, I don’t know anything about sake,”’ he says. ‘I’d say that hardly anyone really knows much about sake, and why should they? Very few of us in the US grew up with sake or have had many opportunities to learn about it. The education really begins with an intention to connect the dots by tasting, tasting, tasting.’

Padilla carries domestic sake brands like Brooklyn Kura, Kato Sake Works and Dassai Blue, a bold American outpost from one of Japan’s most revered breweries. ‘I really think of these Brooklyn-based sake breweries as having their own distinctive style but are still all undeniably recognisable as sake,’ he says.

Brooklyn Kura uses California-grown rice and Catskill Mountains water, fermented in small batches right in the city. The resulting sake is crisp and floral, with a rounded texture. Padilla sees an emerging category, one that mirrors the growth of natural wine or craft beer.

‘I have noticed wine professionals enthusiastically placing sake on menus at non-Japanese restaurants. The future of sake is here,’ he says. ‘But [consumers] are not ordering it enough yet.’

The Napa parallel

It may seem surprising now, but there was a time when Napa Valley was just farmland and grapes, not a shorthand for wine prestige.

Bell sees sake in a similar moment. ‘No one knew Napa. They had to build that reputation from nothing,’ he says. ‘That’s where American sake is right now.’

Eric Crane, training director at Empire Distributors, agrees. ‘Sake has been a darling of the sommelier community for a while now,’ he says. ‘But only recently has it started showing up in retail and restaurants that aren’t Japanese. People are finally drinking sake.’

He points to the pandemic as a turning point, when curious home drinkers started exploring beyond wine and cocktails. ‘Americans know the “greatest hits” of sake knowledge from their exposure in restaurants and retail. There is still a lot we need to do as an industry to better inform consumers.’

It’s no secret that Americans are having a love affair with all things Japanese: You can chalk part of it up to tourism. Americans are visiting Japan in droves, and they’re bringing the taste home, like edible souvenirs. The surge of Michelin-star omakase counters, H Mart, anime, Studio Ghibli, and shows like Shōgun have made Japanese culture more mainstream — and with it, sake.

That’s where education and access come in. ‘Organisations like WSET now offer sake programs,’ Crane notes. And in Brooklyn, Brooklyn Kura’s Timothy Sullivan runs the Sake Studies Center, offering classes that feel more like wine tastings and less like Chemistry 101.

Japan’s betting on it

Dassai Blue, the American offshoot of Japan’s revered Dassai brewery, opened a facility in upstate New York, betting big on American production. For sake traditionalists, it was a seismic move.

‘It’s important to bring more awareness to domestic sake production, and having such a reputable brand as Dassai investing in local production should help illustrate that serious brewing is possible outside of Japan,’ says Padilla.

As a result, more producers are springing up every year. In San Francisco, Sequoia Sake utilises NorCal water and locally grown organic rice. In Virginia, North American Sake Brewery is housed alongside a ramen bar, and in Arizona, the namesake Arizona Sake is using desert conditions and wild-harvested Navajo tea to brew something rooted specifically in the state.

‘Don’t be scared’

Padilla says you don’t have to be precious or ceremonial about sake. ‘Don’t be scared, buy a magnum of sake, keep it on hand at home and sip it with everything you eat or pour it anytime you want to enjoy a drink,’ he says. ‘That’s how you will learn to live with sake.’

As rice takes on yet another veil of industry in the South, it will be key to note which culture it borrows from next. In the meantime, it’s a free-for-all, and that’s pretty American.

Unlike in Japan, where sake is tightly regulated and must adhere to strict rules on water, rice and additives, American brewers have more freedom. That’s both liberating and, as Bell puts it, ‘a little scary’.

‘There are no official US regulations on what sake can or can’t be yet,’ he says. ‘That means you can innovate, but it also means you need to self-regulate to maintain quality and authenticity. We’re constantly asking ourselves, are we respecting the tradition, are we appropriating it?’ he says. ‘It’s important that we get this right.’

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I’m at La Maison du Saké in Paris’s 2nd arrondissement, watching the rain shatter the pavement outside as I sip a cockle-warming glass of sake from organic, natural producer Katori. It’s aromatically complex – smooth yet textured, much like the sandstone walls and blonde oak shelves of the shop.

‘I was expecting you to want something that tastes like fruit and is really easy,’ says Dmitri David, the store manager, who poured me this glass after I mentioned I needed something with depth to combat the dreary weather.

For the last three years, the shop has focused on traditional sakes with lower polishing ratios. ‘Even young people in their twenties want to try something that tastes like soy sauce and mushroom,’ says David.

The market was once dominated by fresh, fruity Junmai Daiginjos made in modern styles. Today, there is a full spectrum of profiles, leading to a diversity of places to enjoy the drink – something the shop has recognised from their sales, with natural wine bars being the latest market sector they’re targeting.

With Japanese cuisine so strong in Paris, traditional Japanese contexts – from high-end to noodle spots – still remain an excellent way to enjoy the drink, while high-end gastronomy has always celebrated sake for its umami and sweetness, with renowned chef Alain Ducasse even venturing into own-label sparkling sake. But Paris’s sake scene is evolving in intriguing ways. So keep your eyes peeled, sake lovers – this list is just a starting point.

La Maison du Saké

11 Rue Tiquetonne

Aiming to showcase the diversity and complexity of sake, this shop organises its selection into distinct categories: modern vs traditional, rice-driven vs water-driven, with entire sections dedicated to natural sake and Koshu (aged sake). The natural sake category is particularly distinctive, emphasising both a technical and philosophical approach – featuring low polishing, no added yeast or lactic acid, and a strong focus on terroir.

There are always up to twenty varieties available for tasting in the shop, while any bottle can be enjoyed at a slightly higher price point in the shop’s bar, Golden Promise, or its restaurant, Erh, where Chef Ryuichi Utsumi crafts dishes that blend Japanese techniques with French ingredients.

Stand Tora (Kunitoraya)

6 Rue de la Sourdière 75001 Paris

At this tiny bar in the heart of Rue Sainte-Anne, the supple piano notes of Bill Evans and Oscar Peterson drift from a vinyl player in the corner as Masumi Nomoto, owner of bar and udon restaurant Kunitoraya, pours sake into coupettes from a diverse range of styles. The selection changes monthly, but the focus remains on her home region of Kochi Prefecture.

While sake hasn’t gained the same foothold in Paris as it has in New York or London, the kind of independent, highly personalised experience that Nomoto’s bar offers thrives in the city. Any food order from the excellent-value chalkboard menu should include the umaki – a dish of tamago (Japanese rolled omelette) layered with black truffle and eel.

L’Ecrin

10 Place de la Concorde

Xavier Thuizat – who was named Best Sommelier of France in 2022 – is one of those key voices emphasising sake’s dynamism and adaptability to French fine dining. At the one-Michelin-starred L’Ecrin, Thuizat has curated a sake pairing alongside a wine pairing. He believes it is a phenomenal way to enhance an umami-forward menu featuring meticulously sourced premium ingredients such as spider crab, turbot, blue lobster, red mullet, Bresse chicken, and wagyu beef from Burgundy.

Wakaze

31 Rue de la Parcheminerie

At this casual sake bar and izakaya-style restaurant, a unique blend of Japanese brewing and French ingredients is showcased. Founded in 2016, the sake is produced at a brewery just outside Paris, using Camargue rice, Burgundy white wine yeast, and house-made koji rice, blending yellow koji for umami and white koji for a citric kick. The baseline sake has a white wine-like profile and is poured fresh from taps into natural wine-style glasses marked with a playful logo. With around twenty-four sakes on offer – many of them experimental – one standout creation is the Sauternes-barrel-aged sake, which carries the saffron and caramel profile of Sauternes, with a Junmai-like savoury, umami finish.

Omasake

27 Rue du 4 septembre

In this futuristically designed space, you can experience a wide range of prices, styles, and geographies, surrounded by sleek, brass-lined walls. The food menu is izakaya-style, with simple dishes, sashimi, and sushi created from the surplus of their Michelin-starred omakase, Sushi Yoshinaga, which is upstairs. With a focus on modern styles of sake production, there is a rotating selection of six sakes by the glass at any one time, with two from each of the categories: Junmai, Junmai Ginjo, and Junmai Daiginjo.

Sushi B

5 Rue Rameau

Offering a more traditional approach to sake, this is one of many Japanese-run places where finely executed Japanese cuisine is beautifully enhanced by sake. With only eight seats, the intimate omakase restaurant ensures that Head Sommelier Jangbae Hong is always on hand to guide you based on your preferences. You can enjoy a glass alongside the more accessible sushi lunch menu, or, if opting for the full omakase experience, a sake pairing that evolves with the three main stages of the meal, or a seven-sake flight to experience the full range of Hong’s precise selections.

Kodawari Ramen (Yokocho)

29 Rue Mazarine

Given the quality of Japanese food in Paris, often regarded as one of the best outside Japan, a perfect way to enjoy sake is with udon, soba, or ramen. Kodawari is one of the best ramen spots in the city – with a consciously transportive décor – and the speciality pairs perfectly with the only sake available, Dassai 45. This excellent-value Junmai Daiginjo is mineral, fruity and cereal-y, with top notes of Asian pear and sesame. It’s ideal then with the Kurogama ramen, a rich, charcoal-hued chicken broth that gets its colour from black sesame. Return to your glass with each slurp, and whatever you do, don’t forget to take a sip after the nori (seaweed), which releases waves of umami on the palate.

Echizen Soba

33 Rue Saint-Roch

A phenomenal soba experience awaits at this intimate spot, where you can watch the craftsmanship of soba production at the bar. Order cold or hot soba and pair it with sake from their short list or the sake du jour, a rotating artisanal selection. For the ultimate experience, go for the herring soba in hot dashi. The herring is caramelised, with a lingering fishy flavour, and the overall umami in the dish is subtle, nurturing, and refined – a quality that could only be enhanced by sake.

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With rice as its soul, sake offers endless possibilities for food pairing due to its gentle, delicate, and umami-rich nature, as well as the wide spectrum of styles. Here are our top tips for navigating the diverse expressions of sake for those beginning their journey with the category.

Choosing sake for food: The advantages

Compared to wine, which Decanter readers may be more familiar with, sake is naturally low in acidity and lacks tannins, but tends to have a slightly higher alcohol range.

Rice as its most crucial ingredient brings the beverage a mellow, umami-rich backdrop and usually, a touch of sweetness – which is the key to its potential to ‘blend in’ with a wide range of flavours. Meanwhile, sake can enhance the depth and richness of foods abundant in umami, such as mushrooms, tomatoes, cheese, soy sauce and miso, as well as cured meats.

‘Sake contains up to five times the level of umami found in wines,’ says Sarah Stewart – head of sake programming at West London Wine School – who is working with The Japan Food Product Overseas Promotion Centre (JFOODO) on its ‘Sake Seafood Sensations’ campaign this year.

‘It’s the only alcoholic beverage with naturally high levels of the fifth taste (in addition to sweet, sour, salty and bitter),’ says Stewart. ‘This sense of “savoury deliciousness” that coats the palate and synergises with umami-rich foods to create a truly moreish combination.’

Common sake styles and their typical flavours: A recap

Junmai 純米 – Literally means ‘purely rice’. Sake made without added alcohol, tends to exhibit a richer mouthfeel and more savoury and complex flavours. This term can be appended to premium categories Daiginjo and Ginjo.

Daiginjo 大吟醸 – Super premium sake with a 50% rice polishing ratio (broadly speaking, the lower the ratio, the purer flavours tend to be). Tends to showcase elegant fruits and floral perfume. If labelled without ‘Junmai’ that means it contains additional alcohol.

Ginjo 吟醸 – Premium sake with a 60% polishing ratio, tends to be fragrant with a slight hint of savoury complexity. Also contains additional alcohol if no mention of Junmai on the label.

Honjozo 本醸造 – Made using rice polished to 70% and a small amount of alcohol – tends to yield an easy-drinking, ‘ricey’ and less aromatic sake.

Futsushu 普通酒 – ‘Basic alcohol’. A wide range of flavours and styles can be found in this category.

Other styles:

Namazake (生酒) – Unpasteurised sake (need to be refrigerated), known for its fresh, zesty taste.

Nigori (濁り) – Unfiltered sake. Cloudy with creamy, rice-forward flavours.

Sparkling sake – Fizzy sake, typically vibrant and light, sometimes has a touch of sweetness.

Koshu (古酒) – Aged sake, often showcasing nutty, oxidative flavours, resembling sherry.

Kimoto (生酛) & Yamahai (山廃) – Produced with slower, traditional methods. Usually displays exceptional complexity, richness and earthiness, even some funky characters.

The ‘staple go-to’ choices

If you’ve completed the one-day WSET sake Level 1 course and learned the basic styles by heart, the sake list at a restaurant can still be difficult to decipher – even for those who speak Japanese.

What if you’re just mildly tempted to give the category a try? Are there any relatively ‘failure-proof’ choices for beginners?

‘Yes,’ is the short answer. Generally speaking, styles with a more mellow mouthfeel, umami-rich flavours and lower alcohol levels are more likely options as ‘all-rounder’ choices, according to sake experts we interviewed.

Junmai

Junmai sake, made solely from rice, water, koji (a mould that helps convert starches in rice into sugars), and yeast, has ‘the highest potential for food pairing,’ says Vicky Vecchione, sake sommelier and head of bars at Danish-Japanese restaurant group, Sticks’n’Sushi.

‘It is full-bodied, starchy, quite tasty, making it perfect to serve at any temperature. It also pairs well with a wide range of foods, from Asian to Italian, from Mexican to Spanish food. Junmai sake is what you want to try to experience the umami character inherent in sake.’

The food-friendliness also applies to the premium end – such as Junmai Ginjo, which ‘combines gorgeous fruity-floral character alongside some grain-forward elements that provide an easy bridge for pairing,’ as Stewart puts it.

See also: Sake: A beginner’s guide & top recommendations

Honjozo

Honjozo, with the additional splash of alcohol for a crisp fragrance, can bring freshness to greasy, meaty dishes while enhancing the spiciness of strong-flavoured dishes such as curry – but chilling is a must.

It can be ‘a perfect accompaniment to barbecued food, meat stews, grilled fish and seafood in general,’ says Miho Komatsu, Akashi-Tai brand’s ambassador. She added that the Akashi Honjozo, when served chilled, is also a good companion to cheddar and Comté cheese.

Sparkling sake

Like sparkling wine, sparkling sake – made either by second fermentation in the bottle or carbonation – is easily pleasing as a food companion or aperitif.

‘We would suggest starting any meal off with sparkling Mio, aperitif style,’ says Vecchione about some of her customers’ favourite choices.

This particular sparkling sake features refreshing, delicate bubbles with a hint of sweetness, which ‘goes well with any sushi or light food bites’, she says.

Sharing platters and richer-flavoured dishes

For sharing dishes enjoyed ‘Izakaya-style’, Vecchione recommends Hiya sake (冷や酒, chilled sake) and Genshu sake (原酒, undiluted sake) on the rocks.

The Genshu sakes, with their higher alcohol and more intense flavours, are an alternative answer to pairing strongly-flavoured dishes without being over-shadowed.

Komatsu recommends tuna tartare seasoned with chilli, ginger and sesame, calamari salad, sea bream or grilled white fish, and pork medallions with truffle to go with Akashi-Tai’s Junmai Daiginjo Genshu, which features a melony, steamed rice-flavoured palate and complex depth.

Likewise, the milky-textured Nigori sake calls for spicy food, such as Indian curry, Thai green curry or Korean spicy food, according to Vecchione.

Sake and wine: The style match by Sarah Stewart

‘Very broadly, premium sake with the words Ginjo (吟醸)/Junmai Ginjo (純米吟醸) or Daiginjo (大吟醸)/Junmai Daiginjo (純米大吟醸) on the label will have a more fruity/floral profile and are sure to appeal to crisp, fruity white wine drinkers.

‘Premium sakes labelled as Honjozo (本醸造) or just the word ‘Junmai (純米)’ will tend to have a more savoury, grain and lactic flavour profile that may appeal to lovers of earthy, savoury red wine styles. They can be enjoyed at a wide range of temperatures from lightly chilled to room temperature or warm and are a greater match with richer, heavier dishes or meats.’

Serving temperature

From Atsukan (熱燗, heated sake) to Hiya Zake (冷や酒, chilled sake), sake can be served in a much wider range of temperatures than wine.

Generally speaking, chilling brightens up the taste buds and brings out more delicate, fruity and floral notes, which is especially helpful when paired with greasy, heavy dishes, as sake is lower in acidity.

Heating, in turn, accentuates the umami richness and reveals deeper, more complex flavours (and enhances the sweetness), making it ideal for savoury meals.

‘Most Junmai and almost all savoury or rustic styles of sake (Honjozo or higher-acid Kimoto 生酛 and Yamahai 山廃) can be enjoyed at a full spectrum of temperatures,’ as Anna Lee Iijima explains in her How to taste sake  guide.

‘Premium sake has a more delicate character and subtle aroma, so we suggest serving this chilled,’ Vecchione says.

Ordering food for sake: Try it out

‘I strongly encourage wine lovers to branch out and try pairing for the sake of whatever they are eating – I promise you’ll be very pleasantly surprised,’ says Stewart.

‘The only general “rule” I watch out for is trying to match intensity: pair the delicate, ethereal sake styles with lighter dishes to allow them both to shine, and heavier, more impactful sake styles with bigger more intense dishes so neither overpowers but instead they can amplify each other.’

The exploration can start from a sake tasting menu found in a restaurant – and these commonly-seen Japanese dishes are easily enjoyable with almost any sake you’d like to try out:

• Chicken/pork gyoza: The creaminess of cooked cabbage goes nicely with the ‘ricey’ umami of sake
• Karaage chicken, squid or softshell crab: The crunchy, savoury coating works especially well with chilled sake
• Nabemono (Japanese hot pot): The seaweed-based Dashi broth pair matches the umami depth of sake
• Soya or miso-seasoned stewed fish or meat
• *Sushi: Given the delicate nature and the diversity of the category, it’s worth consulting the sommelier to find the best match for the specific sushi you have chosen to enhance the pairing experience.

Besides its compatibility with cured meat, cheese, tomato and dried fish, sake can also make a ‘perfect combo’ with Italian, Spanish and French dishes, says Vecchione.

And why not try sake with dishes that are much more challenging to pair with wine? Stewart says: ‘Certain ingredients, like eggs (due to the sulphur), artichokes, and bitter green vegetables, are difficult to pair with most wines, but for sake generally work a treat. Styles with a green character (often made with the heirloom rice varietal Omachi) pair perfectly with vegetables like asparagus and bitter greens.’

Finally, it’s worth noting that although sake generally doesn’t ‘fight’ with food, finding the best match still requires gourmet knowledge of producers and regions, just like wine.

Production methods, rice strains used and the local ‘terroir’ (especially the water source) endorse nuanced differences in sake that are hard to generalise, says Stuart Hudson, head of sales and advocacy at Toku Saké.

The premium sake brand, for example, is produced using snow-melt water from Daisetsuzan mountain range, Asahikawa of Hokkaido, the northmost prefecture of Japan where temperatures regularly drop to -20°C in winter.

His top recommendations for the ethereal, mellow super premium Toku Junmai Daiginjo include garlic and mayonnaise-flavoured asparagus, or Italian Prosciutto and melon for the interplay of savoury and sweetness.

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Sit at the semi-circular bar at the new 25-cover Kioku Bar in London’s The OWO hotel, and sake will be the order of the day. Helmed by sake sommelier Anthony Yukio and head of bars Angelos Bafas, this groundbreaking new offering, modelled on traditional Japanese listening bars, claims to have the largest sake collection in Europe – 110 currently sit in its bespoke sake safe – curated by sake samurai Natsuki Kikuya.

Its arrival comes as Japan’s national drink is enjoying a swell in popularity here in the UK. With the opening of other sake-specific bars such as INÉ by Taku, the launch of new retailer and events company mai, and the first National Sake Week taking place (15-21 April), it seems that 2024 marks the rise of sake.

Sales also speak for themselves: Waitrose reported a 214% rise in searches for sake on its website, and this month US brand SoGood Saké launched its product into international markets for the first time, including the UK. Plus, with Berry Bros & Rudd reporting a 1,000% rise in sake sales in the past year, is it finally sake’s time in the spotlight?

New openings

In Whitehall, Kioku Bar has been turning heads as it becomes London’s (if not Europe’s) best stocked sake bar. Its sake bible is split into sections designed to evoke feelings, senses or memories, like Trip to the Rice Paddies (sakes made from rare or lesser-known rice varieties), In the Flower Garden (floral and aromatic sakes) and Bubbly Memories (a clever nod to new sparkling varieties that offer a sense of occasion). Each sake is detailed with its region, rice polishing rate, rice variety (if known), category, abv and the volume in which it is poured – they also tell you whether it’s best served warm or hot as opposed to cold.

For Yukio, an approach of ‘breadth with the best’ has allowed the team to span the category’s many varied and versatile styles. He admits that sake isn’t always easy to work with or accessible to drinkers, but is hoping they can help turn the tide: ‘Sake is such a sensitive liquid, and there is a lot of fine tuning to be done but we want to change the culture of it – it’s crazy more people aren’t using it.’

When it comes to cocktails, flavour maestro Bafas has exercised his honed ability to squeeze ingredients to their limits with an accomplished list of 12 serves which are rooted in a key component – daikon, yuzu and wasabi to name a few. Working with sake and Japanese spirits, he is also using sake byproducts to bring extra dimensions to his drinks, from sake lees and koji to kasu.

In north London, INÉ by Taku has also opened Upstairs at INÉ, a sake lounge and gallery space where head sommelier of Taku, Bowie Tsang, and INÉ’s head sommelier Daniela Shelton have curated a list of sake’s categorised by flavour profile: fruity & expressive, light & delicate, umami & rice, and dessert.

Having opened London’s first independent sake bar, Moto, in 2019, Erika Haigh’s latest venture, mai, is a boutique Japanese fine sake merchant, working with restaurants (including INÉ) to source high-quality sakes while also providing an online retail space for consumers to buy – and learn about – sake. ‘We’ve launched the digital bottle shop as well as another consumer-facing aspect of our business, collaborating with a lot of our trade clients who are also interested in doing events,’ she explains. Haigh’s events sees her pairing sake with the likes of cheese, pizza and tea to ‘put sake in places that it hasn’t been associated with before, and hopefully that means speaking to a new audience’.

A change of pace

Historically, sake is a category that has been largely misunderstood outside of Japan, something that National Sake Week founder and sake expert and trainer, Samuel Boulton, comes up against at his regular tastings. ‘There’s a confusion about what the alcohol component of it is, what it’s actually made from, and how you’re meant to drink it.’

In the interests of clarity, sake is a Japanese alcoholic drink made from rice. It isn’t a spirit and isn’t distilled – instead it is a fermented drink, made in breweries and, as such, is much lower in abv than most people presume, often hovering around the 15% mark. It’s also more akin to wine than spirits and, instead of being drunk in shots, is best sipped and paired with food.

It’s a category that seems to be speaking to drinkers’ sensibilities, says Haigh: ‘Sure, there are three huge sake breweries, but there are 1,200 more that are truly family-run businesses passed down from generation to generation that rely on centuries of experience. People are looking for artisan products made with love, and this really applies to the craft sake industry.’

Room to expand

Retailers and makers are reacting in kind to the rise of sake. In May this year, Berry Bros & Rudd launched its second sake en primeur offering with bottles from three breweries: Noguchi Naohiko Sake Institute, Tatenokawa and IWA 5.

East London’s Sake Collective shop and tasting room, which will mark its second anniversary in July, is already on the look out for a second site. ‘We’ve been growing slowly but steadily this year,’ explains co-manager Michael Gastaldi. ‘We’re doing better compared to previous years and doing a lot of wholesale, the majority of which are Michelin-starred Japanese restaurants, but also other cuisines… we have a couple of French clients who do sake pairings with their menus.’

Last October also saw London brewery Kanpai up sticks from its original 2016 Peckham site and move into a much bigger premises on Bermondsey Beer Mile where tours, brewing days and a busy taproom are feeding consumers’ thirst for sake. Co-founder Tom Wilson is seeing a shift in sake’s drinkers: ‘The demographic has massively shifted with many younger people coming into the category… who are finding their palate. A big part of that is having more variety but also sake itself and its connection to Japanese culture.’

He also echoes Haigh’s point that drinkers are becoming enamoured with the craft of sake: ‘We’re experiencing a movement away from more entry-level, mass-produced styles and people caring about where it’s come from, the rice, individual styles.’

The rise of sake: A bright future

Sake’s star might be rising, but there is still plenty of work to be done when it comes to consumer education, which Boulton does with his regular consumer trainings and tastings.

Haigh has always been vocal about the need to make sake more translatable for drinkers. With most bottles having Japanese labelling, deciphering brands, styles and profiles can be a deterrent for shoppers – it’s something she’s keen to resolve at mai. ‘I really try to do great back labels that destruct sakes: what it tases like, what vessel it will work well in, very much a description of what to expect when they open the bottle, always trying to break down those barriers of entry.’

Has sake finally arrived? ‘We’re at a nice tipping point, I think sake is happening, but we’re not there yet,’ says Wilson. ‘The consumer is moving in the right direction… this is just the beginning.’

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While Sake is brewed from rice and water in a process more similar to beer than wine, the diversity of styles and complexity of flavours in Sake can be fascinating terrain for wine lovers to navigate.

Choosing Sake can be nerve-wracking, even for Japanese consumers who can decipher complicated labels. By familiarising themselves with just a few key terms and the bare basics of how Sake is produced, however, anyone can readily identify key styles, flavour profiles and qualities.

In a nutshell, all Sake is made from four basic ingredients – rice, water, yeast and koji, a rice-derived mould that triggers the breakdown of starch to sugar in fermentation.

Futsushu (普通酒), a generic term for alcoholic beverages, refers to a basic category of Sake that’s not required to adhere to regulations specifying rice varieties or grades, or the use of additives like distilled alcohol and flavourings. Futsushu is typically sold in bulk in grocery stores or served by the glass in casual restaurants. Particularly when produced by outstanding brewers, however, Futsushu offers exceptional value for well-made, everyday Sake.

All premium Sake can be broken down into two main categories, Junmai (純米), meaning pure rice Sake made with no further ingredients, or non-Junmai Sake made with the addition of distilled alcohol.

Sake purists often insist on Junmai Sake for the richness of texture and flavour a pure-rice brew affords. Junmai tends to have a lusciousness on the palate and a delightfully silken cling on the finish. Aromatically, Junmai can vary from bright and fruity to savoury aromas of freshly steamed rice and earth but generally, they’re nuanced and elegant rather than aggressive.

Anything not labelled as Junmai is typically made with added distilled alcohol. It’s easy to dismiss adding alcohol to Sake as a cost-saving measure to stretch the production of Sake or boost finished alcohol levels. But most modern brewers add alcohol to fine-tune a Sake’s aroma and flavours. Adding alcohol gives a lift to fruity, floral aromas and adds sharpness to the palate. Compared to softer, subtler Junmai Sake, non-Junmai Sake is typically brisk and thirst-quenching in style.

Sake is made from whole grains of rice that are milled down to hone in on the Shinpaku (心白) – the starchy, flavourful heart of each rice grain. The more rice is milled away, the more expensive it is to produce Sake. This is why the quality of Sake is classified by its Seimaibuai (精米歩合), the percentage of rice remaining after milling in relation to its original size.

Generally, the more rice is milled, the more aromatic, fruity and delicate in texture the Sake will be. Rice that is milled less tends to yield more savoury or robust styles of Sake with complexities of rice or earth rather than primary fruit.

At the base of the premium Sake category is Honjozo (本醸造), typically a crisp, easy-drinking style of Sake. Honjozo is made with up to 10% of additional distilled alcohol and produced from rice with a Seimaibuai of 70% or less, meaning no more than 70% of the rice remains after milling. Minimally milled for premium Sake, Honjozo is often pleasantly ‘ricey’ or neutral in flavour profile without lavishly perfumed aromatics.

With more milling, Ginjo (吟醸) or Junmai Ginjo (純米吟醸) Sake, made from rice milled to 60% or less of the original grain, tend to offer more concentrated fruit and floral flavours, richer perfume and a delicacy of texture.

At the top of the hierarchy are Daiginjo (大吟醸) and Junmai Daiginjo (純米大吟醸) Sake – in essence, super-Ginjo Sake made from rice maintaining 50% or less of its original grain. Often explosively fruity and ebulliently perfumed, modern Daiginjo and Junmai Daiginjo have become enormously popular, particularly with wine drinkers and newer Sake enthusiasts in export markets.

Fierce competition to produce increasingly premium Daiginjo and Junmai Daiginjo has prompted a veritable milling war among top producers, each boasting Seimaibuai in the single digits. For most experienced Sake drinkers, however, Seimaibuai is less an indicator of actual quality, rather than an indicator of the style of Sake produced.

Unlike wine, Sake can be served at essentially any temperature. From Mizore-shu (みぞれ酒), a brain-freezing slushie of a Sake to a scalding Tobikiri-kan (飛び切り燗), there’s a different term in Japanese to describe Sake anywhere from roughly 0-55°C.

Subtle shifts in temperature can transform the aroma, flavour and texture of Sake. Fruit-focused, perfumed styles of Daiginjo are typically served at cool white-wine temperatures to maximise their fruity, floral aromas and flavours. Despite the myth that only cheap Sake should be heated, applying gentle heat can highlight flavours of umami and sweetness in a wide range of Sake. Most Junmai and almost all savoury or rustic styles of Sake (Honjozo or higher-acid Kimoto 生酛 and Yamahai 山廃) can be enjoyed at a full spectrum of temperatures.

Sampling different pours from a single bottle at room temperature, chilled and heated swiftly (never to a boil, but gently in a water bath or microwave, even) can be revelatory in experiencing the breadth and dexterity of Sake.

Nigori (濁り), or cloudy Sake, refers to hazy or even milk-hued Sake. Coarsely filtered to allow particles of rice to remain in the bottle, Nigori Sake is enjoyed for its pleasantly lactic mouthfeel and delicately fruity, yoghurt-laced flavours.

Sparkling Sake ranges from fun, delicately fizzy sips made with added carbon dioxide to more serious, traditional method-inspired sparklers refermented in the bottle. At its best, sparkling Sake can offer fine, persistent perlage (mousse) and a depth of flavour that extends from fruit and floral to mineral, pastry and earth.

As with wine, maturation under proper storage conditions can be transformative for good Sake. Koshu (古酒), not to be mistaken for the Koshu 甲州 wine, refers to Sake aged intentionally for a minimum of three years after bottling. Traditional, often amber-hued styles of Koshu can be enjoyed for their delicately sherried, pleasantly oxidative notes. More modern styles of Koshu matured in cold storage conditions are increasingly popular because they maintain the freshness of fruit while developing depth and weight on the palate.

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• Japanese Koshu: History and top wines worth seeking out
• How is Sake made – Ask Decanter
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Winemaker Rachel Lipman of Loew Vineyards works with local beekeepers to gather black locust honey. Its character changes year-to-year depending on the weather that season. Drought or heat produces darker honey. In rainy years, it might be lighter. Slight humidity without rain, more fragrant. The quality of the honey depends on the vintage.

Several weeks later, the grape harvest begins. Lipman gathers Muscat Canelli and Vidal Blanc from vineyards in the area and presses them together, the juice tasting of mixed flowers, mangoes and nectarines.

Simultaneously, she brews the honey with water in a style uncommon for American mead makers but followed by her family for generations in Central Europe, where they were famous for honey wine until World War II. Once warm, the honey water is combined with the freshly pressed juice, and the two are fermented together until dry. Barrel-aged for nine months, the elixir is bottled under the name Klara, after Lipman’s great-grandmother.

The surprise of Klara is its elegance and length. Its layered aromatics lead to a palate of harmony and nuance, bringing together floral notes with a very light, potpourri-like spice, stone fruits and a pleasantly piquant, mouthwatering finish. The flavours allude to honey yet avoid sweetness.

Thoughts of Klara have somehow followed me since first tasting it more than a year ago, coming to mind at least weekly for its complexity and distinctive origins. I’ve enjoyed it with multiple meals, alongside hamachi crudo (a garnished, thin-sliced yellowtail fish dish), spring pea risotto, game hen and rice, and I have talked to more people about it than I care to admit.

Hugh Johnson famously defined fine wine as wine worth talking about. Most fine wine circles assume it applies only to Vitis vinifera varieties. Wine, after all, is fermented from fruit; fine wine, from wine grapes. Klara would seem to break multiple rules. It includes the French-American hybrid Vidal Blanc and is partly made from fermented honey. Yet it also offers the complexity and brilliance of fine white wine.

So, where do we draw the line? Though sake is sometimes called rice wine, and mead honey wine, the reference is more affectionate than literal. Both are brewed, then fermented beverages. It is often argued each resembles beer more than wine. But unlike beer, sake uses mould, not malt, to convert starch from polished rice into sugar for fermentation. In mead, sugar is derived from honey mixed with water. Style and historical tradition determine differing proportions and temperatures as the elements are combined. Because of their distinctive processes, sake and mead are each considered their own category. And while I’ve had sake and mead worth talking about, I wouldn’t call either fine wine.

Johnson himself said part of the appeal of his definition is that it’s not attached to historic price or reputation. That seems to allow for unexpected exceptions. The Klara is neither pure mead nor pure wine but a synchronicity of the two, which may be part of its elevation. Just as not every wine achieves fine wine status, not every honey-grape ferment will become such an exception.

Lipman’s experience guided this combination. She brews mead in her ancestors’ tradition and makes wine from Maryland grapes; she surmised that the high-tone elements of the grapes might lift the woodsy character of the honey into a synthesis that surpasses what each delivers alone.

The result is a memorable expression of inland Maryland and a tribute to Lipman and her family. It also demonstrates the value of an open mind when it comes to fine wine. It’s the unexpected that so often gives us wine worth talking about.

In my glass this month

From Klein Constantia, the Vin de Constance 2019 (£59-£65/50cl Laithwaites, Tanners, The Oxford Wine Co, The Wine Society) offers a tribute to poise unusual in sweet wines. Its palate of ripe apricot, nectarine and crunchy cloudberry carries the sweetness expected and the wash of acidity that prepares the palate for more. This is a beautiful wine, though drinking it again in 10 or more years would be even more beautiful.

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‘New’ is the second most popular word in any sales catalogue. (The first is ‘Free’.)

We scribblers can’t resist it: it guarantees copy of one sort or another. Even in the slowly evolving world of wine, where the main ethos of the product is historical continuity, ‘new’ sells.

To someone like me with a strong sense of history, not to mention conservative tastes, it can be a bit unsettling. It’s not really change that bothers me. There is always room for improvement. What can irritate me is change for change’s sake. Champagne has certain attributes; we know what to expect. Claret, too, various as they are. ‘Burgundy’ leads you to expect a set of characteristics, from nose to a (hopefully) good long tail.

Different grape varieties are the first causes. In certain wines you can assign them to vineyards – or at least regions. And of course to vintages. But above all they are what you want, or at least hope for, when you choose and order this or that wine. You can call it ‘typicity’. To satisfy expectation is the prime reason for appellations contrôlées and their various equivalents.

The wine trade has in the past taken – let’s call it – a broad view, seeing (to put it positively) authenticity as less important than ‘customer satisfaction’. Burgundy was routinely blended by négociants, and often beefed up with Algerian; Château Lafite, at one point, was ‘Hermitage’d’. Perhaps you can date the demand for authenticity to Baron Philippe de Rothschild in the 1920s, when he decided to bottle the whole production of Mouton at the Château in Bordeaux.

In the 1960s, consumer rights advocate Ralph Nader started a climate of mistrust that found an easy target in wine. While British drinkers confided in their wine merchants, the post-Prohibition American market was less trusting, suspecting a scam behind every label.

There was collateral damage. Just growing grapes doesn’t make you a wine expert. In Britain there were professionals whose skill had few counterparts in France. ‘Bottled at the domaine’ could be an amber light. How valuable was authenticity in any case, if the wine was not up to much? You can be authentic and incompetent too. But if you’re changing the recipe, we need to be told.

I’ve sometimes argued for a broader definition of wine, to make room for new inspiration. I also argue that traditions must be protected. So, no Touriga in Bordeaux. Can we not have both; the old and the new?

Hugh Johnson OBE is a world-renowned wine writer. This column first appeared in Decanter magazine’s December 2021 issue.

Read more Hugh Johnson columns

Hugh Johnson: In praise of half bottles

Comment: Time to look beyond what you know

Hugh Johnson: ‘Sheer curiosity drives me to taste every English bubbly I come across’

Born in the Turks and Caicos Islands, Shane Jones is a freelance wine and sake educator based in London. He completed his WSET diploma in Wines and Spirits in 2014, winning the Moët & Chandon Sparkling Wine Prize.

A graduate of the Sake & Shochu Academy in Japan, he is also a Certified Sake Sommelier (SSA). Currently in Stage 1 of the MW programme, his study is being supported by Decanter. Jones teaches at various institutions in the UK, as well as in France and Germany.

What’s the best thing about your job?

It brings me immeasurable happiness. After a day or an evening of teaching I feel as though I haven’t been at work, and I consider myself rather lucky that my journey has brought me to this specialist area. Sharing my knowledge with others is an absolute delight and I’m constantly challenged to deliver what can sometimes be highly technical detail to students with varying learning abilities. Did I say how rewarding this is? It is! We’re all challenged and all the better for it.

And the worst?

When students try their hardest, yet cave under exam pressure by failing to make a passing grade. My advice to them is to just try again. I believe there is always a rainbow at the end of the tunnel.

What’s the most common misconception about your job?

I’m often greeted with looks of bewilderment when I explain that I teach full time. It is far from one of the more mainstream careers in the industry, but I honestly believe it is the most fun and satisfying. We do need more of us to ensure there’s a cadre of educators delivering exceptional teaching for all who want to learn.

What was your greatest moment?

In 2015, when I collected my WSET Diploma in Wines and Spirits at the graduation ceremony. It was an investment I made in myself and I was proud to have succeeded. The moment became even sweeter when I also scooped the Moët & Chandon Prize.

And your greatest mistake?

I really don’t think I’ve made any. Not yet, at least. I sometimes wonder, though, why I didn’t pursue education much earlier in my career. Now, I can’t imagine doing anything else.

How’s your work/life balance?

I often teach evenings during the week as well as some weekend days. This does limit one’s ability to be sociable. Over time, I’ve managed to find a balance that works for me, which sometimes means having to turn down work. It was quite a challenge in the early days, but now it is very good indeed.

Which wine do you recommend most often to friends?

I’ve long been a lover of Pinot Noir and, in particular, Spätburgunder from the Ahr valley in Germany. The best of these are certainly more affordable than their Burgundian cousins and yet have the same capacity to evolve into the most beautiful and complex examples of the grape variety. The purity of the fruit just sets my heart racing… I’m rather partial to bottles from Jean Stodden.

Why should we all be drinking sake?

It’s just as delicious and complex as wine! I’d encourage anyone who has never tried it to give it a go – there’s nothing to lose. Do seek advice from a retailer and try to taste many different interpretations before dismissing it. Like wine, there are some styles that suit one’s personal taste more than others. Personally, I like the variety that’s on offer, and there are some great stories behind a lot of bottles.

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How is Sake made

Japanese rice wine is gaining popularity in the west as consumers discover its delicate charms and wonderful ability to pair with all manner of foods. We find out how is Sake made, how important is the quality of the rice and water to the process, and does it ferment in the same way as wine?

The rice

Different from our everyday cooking rice, the most important virtue of Sake rice lies in a bigger white heart (‘心白’). If you put a grain of Sake rice in front of a black background and look carefully, you can see the white starch at its heart, and the transparent protein and fat on the outside.

The outside of the rice, when cooked, gives us the rich aromas and mouthfeel. But if used in Sake production, this part of the rice tends to slow down fermentation and bring in additional flavours, which are not always desirable. Therefore, Sake producers have to mill the rice down first.

The rate of the milling is measured with a percentage called ‘Semai Buai (精米歩合)’, which indicates the ratio of the rice left after milling. The lower the percentage, the finer the material is and the more water-absorbent it becomes.

Labelling terms ‘Ginjyo (吟醸)’ and ‘Dai Ginjyo (大吟醸)’ indicate that after milling, the Sake rice is left with less than 60% and 50% respectively. Extreme examples of Dai Ginjyo include the ‘Komyo (光明, Light)’ Junmai Daiginjyo from Tate no Kawa (楯の川), which is milled down to just 1%.

However, the milling rate is not always an indicator of quality. Some producers believe that those extra flavours derived from the outer layers of the rice are part of the unique characters to a specific Shuzo (Sake winery). They may choose to keep as much as 80% of the rice after milling.

Yamada Nishiki (山田錦) and Miyama Nishiki (美山錦) are among the best Sake rice varieties; producers can select several varieties, even some cooking rice to make up a complex recipe.

The water

Water, of course, is another essential ingredient in Sake production. It can bring significant impact to the flavour profiles of Sake, as the minerals and chemicals contained in the water may affect the performance of the microbes during fermentation. Therefore each Shuzo needs to choose its water source carefully.

Fermentation

The alcoholic fermentation process of winemaking is rather straight-forward; all you need to do is wait for the yeast to convert sugar – which naturally exists in grape juice – into alcohol.

For beer, that process is more complex, as you need to firstly convert the starch in barley into sugar through malting and mashing, before you can kick start the fermentation via yeast. Generally speaking, the process is still linear.

When it comes to Sake, the processes of converting rice starch into sugar, and sugar into alcohol operate simultaneously.

Allowing various exceptions, the most common production process for still Sake is as follows.

• Steam; Producers first soak the grounded rice in water, then steam it to make it soft.
• Koji; Then they take part of the rice to spread ‘Koji’ fungus, which can release enzyme that converts starch into sugar. This part of rice is called ‘Koji Kome (麹米)’.
• Mother of alcohol; Next, they take part of this Koji-infected rice, and add more steamed rice and water, plus some lactic acid bacteria, creating the perfect habitat for yeasts to breed. When this part of the rice is populated by an enormous amount of yeasts, now we have ‘Shubo (酒母, the mother of alcohol)’.
• Fermentation; It’s time to properly launch the fermentation. Shubo is dumped into a bigger vessel, where more steamed rice, Koji-infected rice and water are added in, little by little, in three to four stages across three weeks to a month.

It’s worth noting that the fermentation of Sake is conducted under a much lower temperature than wine – only 6 to 15 degree C – so that as the Koji bacteria gradually releases sugar, the yeast slowly feeds on it.

That combined with limited added water means higher alcohol level (sometimes above 20% abv) in the freshly pressed Sake. As a comparison, in most cases wine yeasts can only naturally reach around 15% abv, before they die from the alcohol they have created.

Before pressing, producers can choose to add a small percentage of alcohol to further refine the flavours, especially to release the lifted floral, vinous aromas. ‘Junmai (純米 pure rice)’ is a labelling term used to describe Sakes without added alcohol. These Sakes tend to have richer aromas and more pronounced savoury, umami notes.

Read more about Sake classifications from Anthony Rose’s beginner’s guide…

‘Treat with fire’ and storage

After pressing (timing is crucial!), the ‘Genshu (原酒, original Sake)’ is usually filtered to remove any undesirable colour and tastes.

Different from wine, Sake is still ‘alive’ at this stage, and it turns sour rather quickly in room temperature. This is due to a type of lactic acid bacteria called ‘Hiochi (火落ち, falling into fire)’, which breeds fast in the alcoholic and slightly acidic environment of raw Sake.

To resolve this problem, producers need to pasteurise the Sake. This is known as ‘Hiire (火入れor treat with fire); it is pasteurised twice with hot water in order to kill the bacteria. The first treatment happens right after filtration.

Then the raw Sake is aged for six months to a year to round out the flavour before adjustment and bottling. Now it goes through a second pasteurisation. At this stage, Sake becomes much sturdier and can be stored in room temperature.

However, stability comes with a cost – the fresh and glorious aromas of raw Sake may well be lost in the sanitising heat. Thankfully, there are also ways to preserve the freshness. For instance, ‘Nama (生, raw)’ Sake are bottled without any heat treatment; consequentially, they need to be stored at 0 degrees Celsius to keep the bacteria at bay.

Producers may choose to perform Hiire only once; if you see ‘Nama Zume (生詰, bottled raw)’ on the label, that means the Sake has been pasteurised only once before aging. ‘Nama Chozo (生貯蔵, stored raw)’, on the other hand, indicates that the treatment happened only after bottling.

Although these two styles are more stable than Nama Sake, it is still advisable to store them in fridge to retain their youthful and generous aromas.

Got a question for Decanter’s experts?

Email us: editor@decanter.com or on social media with #askDecanter

Find more Ask Decanters here

Benevolent Ball guests donated £13,500 inside 10 minutes during a so-called ‘power pledge’ initiative led by the charity’s master of ceremonies, Charles Metcalfe.

That pushed the total for this year’s event up to £50,000, said The Benevolent, which thanked the 430 drinks industry members who attended.

Guests sipped Laurent-Perrier, Louis Roederer, Moët et Chandon and Taittinger Champagnes in the Natural History Muesum’s ‘Fossil Way’ before sitting for dinner in the Hintze Hall, beneath a 25-metre skeleton of a blue whale that is suspended from the room’s ceiling.

A new fundraising campaign using the tagline ‘it could be me’ was launched at the ball by Benevolent chairman Michael Saunders.

He asked guests to consider sparing ‘a drink a month’ for the charity, which referenced a £5 pint of beer or a £10 glass of wine.

After dinner, guests packed the dancefloor and drank cocktails at the Aperol Spritz and Mayfiled Sussex Hop Gin bar.

‘I am delighted with the amount that we have raised,’ said Saunders.

‘Please know that every penny will go towards helping those in our drinks industry community who are suffering financial and emotional hardship at this time.’

The charity thanked its main sponsors for the evening: Diageo GB; IWSC group; JF Hillebrand; Matthew Clark; Mayfield Sussex Hop Gin; Pernod Ricard UK; and William Grant & Sons.

The Benevolent was founded in 1886 to help drinks industry members facing health and financial difficulties, as well as issues at work or at home generally.

Find out more and donate to the Benevolent here.

Andrew Jefford raises a question or two about the wine world’s latest infatuation - with sake...

Sake: Wine’s Japanese fling

What do we call it? Acceptance? Absorption? Adoption? Whatever word you prefer, the process is well under way: sake now seems to belong on wine lists and in wine magazines. Wine lovers revealing ignorance of or disaffection for this newly fashionable drink court opprobrium.

• Sake: A beginner’s guide and top recommendations

This year’s most commented-on (and thus perhaps influential) Wine Advocate review did not cover Bordeaux 2015 or Napa 2014, but was a report written about sake by Chinese contributor Liwen (Martin) Hao, a journalist whom I have had the pleasure of tasting wine with at the Decanter Asia Wine Awards in the past.

A poorly drafted and imperfectly edited Financial Times article contrived to suggest the notes were Parker’s own, which may or may not have triggered the resulting sales stampede; and as W.Blake Grey has revealed in a fascinating post on his website, all of the sakes reviewed in the Advocate were offered for sale, at sometimes inflated prices, on the day the report appeared by a newly established Tokyo company via a website which has subsequently and mysteriously disappeared. Those posting to Blake Grey’s site suggest that this fugitive company had connections with one which has organised Wine Advocate events in Japan.

• First UK sake brewery approved

Around a month after the Liwen Hao report, Jancis Robinson MW covered sake for the Financial Times and her own website, as she had done in 2008. (Jancis, not in general a fan of heady wine, was perhaps surprisingly “uplifted by the subtle variations in these cool, ineffably pure, limpid ferments, averaging about 16 per cent alcohol”.) The Wine and Spirit Education Trust teaches sake courses; the International Wine Challenge judges sake. Decanter, too, is preparing to expand its coverage and scrutiny of sake.

All of this is very good news for sake producers, since in Japan, the drink is far from fashionable, and has been tanking ever since 1975; it now has just 6.8% of Japan’s alcoholic beverage market, having lost around two-thirds of its market share since the 1975 peak. Japanese fashionistas prefer wine.

My own road-to-Damascus moment with sake has yet to come, but I am ardently in favour of the wine world’s celebration and acceptance of Japan’s ancient, complex and culturally rich national beverage. Indeed I remember attempting to research sake for London’s The Evening Standard in the 1980s, writing to a number of sake producers in Japan and trying to arrange a visit there, and meeting at that stage with a total lack of interest in sake exports to the UK. Any reader who already has the sake bug, by the way, should try to get hold of the beautiful and thorough Sake: The History, Stories and Craft of Japan’s Artisanal Breweries by Elliot Faber and Hayato Hishinuma, published by Gatehouse in Singapore: a fine tribute to this culture.

But wine’s Japanese fling leaves me with just one question: what about beer?

Drinks, whether alcoholic or not, are generally made from fruits, grains or leaves. Tea, for example, is made from leaves; coffee from fruits.

Among alcoholic drinks, wine, cider and brandy are made from fruits (grapes and apples), while sake and whisky are made from grains (rice and barley, wheat, maize or rye). Beer is made from barley grains, too, generally with a flavouring from leaves (since a hop bract is more leaf than flower).

The ‘wine world’ is, strictly speaking, fruit-only. So if the wine world is ready to clasp one drink made from grain to its bosom, why not another? If sake, why not beer?

Perhaps the answer is no more complicated than that sake is roughly the same alcoholic strength as strong wine or fortified wine, and that you can also drink it, chilled, from a wine glass if you wish. That, though, seems rather simple-minded.

Perhaps wine and sake’s kinship is that both drinks come from intricate, long-established cultures? So too, though, does beer, which has been brewed for 7,000 years, and whose indigenous culture in the British Isles, Belgium, Holland and Germany is every bit as intricate as European wine traditions and Japanese sake traditions.

Never mind history, then; perhaps the difference is that wine and sake are both more aromatically subtle and more complex in flavour terms than is beer?

Let me just say this: the only alcoholic drink I have ever enjoyed which can truly compete with fine wine in terms of subtlety, nuance and the kind of transcendence of flavour which can dazzle aesthetically as well as hedonically is great English cask-conditioned ale. This is rarely more than half as strong as most sake, but Belgian ales are as fine and sometimes rival wine strengths. American micro-brewed renditions and tributes to these European beer styles are, too, shockingly complex and refined (and strong). I doubt that sake is ‘more’ complex than this, though it may well be as complex, and of course each drink’s spectrum of complexities lie in a different register.

Is is, then, down to techniques? Sake uses umami-suggestive koji fungus (Aspergillus oryzae) in order to render rice fermentable – but beer brewers malt barley in order to render it fermentable, too; moreover they use a spectrum of yeast types of much greater complexity than either sake brewers or wine makers. The precise nature of a particular water source is vital for sake – but the terroir-like effect of using water which has traversed gypsum beds in Burton-upon-Trent for classic English pale ale styles, for example, is no less significant. Aged versions of both sake and beer exist (though both must defer to wine in respect of the complexities wrought by age). Both sake and beer, too, are lower in acidity and higher in pH than wine.

Neither sake-fans nor beer-lovers will like me saying this, but both of these grain-based drinks are industrial rather than (like wine) agricultural. Their subtleties, in other words, are the result of craft and recipe, and owe nothing to any intrinsic weather-related seasonal variability, or to any defining circumscription of origin in terms of raw material. If you want more of a particular beer or sake, you buy more raw materials and turn on the tap. The notion of vintage or site (as in the Burgundian climat) exists in neither world, other than as a marketing gimmick. Most beer and sake is pasteurised.

I guess some wine drinkers would object to the bitter flavours in beer, derived from the resins and essential oils in the lupulin glands of hop bracts; these are not a feature of sake. Many wines, though, derive a part of their complexity from bitter flavours, and (globally speaking) the vast majority of beers are barely bitter at all. Hops in general are divided into ‘aroma hops’ and ‘bittering hops’, and fine beer in almost every brewing tradition is principally flavoured with noble aroma hops (hence its extraordinary aromatic complexity).

The real reason for the adoption of sake (but not beer) by the wine world, it seems to me, must be its novelty – always fashionably attractive – and its exoticism. Poor old beer is just too familiar to be taken seriously by the wine world’s Brahmins, hierophants, couturiers, gatekeepers and mayflies: a notable injustice.

When it comes to divisions of this sort, in fact, I am a radical libertarian in any case, and would love to write about almost any drink of complexity and interest, and especially tea and beer, which I love as much as wine. Pending a big bang in Decanter’s philosophy and vocation, though, it will be back to wine next week.

More Jefford on Monday: 

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Work is under way to build the UK’s first sake brewery on a site in Cambridgeshire after the project won planning approval.

First UK sake brewery approved

The Dojima Sake Brewery’s first UK facility, located at Fordham Abbey Estate, is set to start production in October next year, part of a five-year investment of £9m. Construction will take nine months.

Dojima owner Yoshihide Hashimoto said he was ‘very excited’ to see the work commence, after awarding the construction contract for the brewery to local company Patrick Doyle Contractors.

• A beginner’s guide to Sake

The brewery will make 10,000 bottles of sake during its first year of operation, and up to 10 jobs will be created initially, during construction, in the brewery and adjacent visitor centre.

The project’s ‘Jichinsai’ or ground-breaking ceremony, attended by Japan’s Ambassador to the UK, Koji Tsuruoka, and local MP Lucy Frazer, took place on 28 October.

Tsuruoka said ‘Although this is a ceremony that happens in Japan when a new building is being constructed, it has never happened in the UK and I was very happy to be a part of it.’

Frazer said the decision by Dojima to locate the sake brewery at Fordham was ‘an endorsement of our region’.

The project also received support from the UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), including arranging meetings with experts and helping with the choice of location.

UK food and drinks specialists Campden BRI are also involved with the project, using its water mineralisation expertise to ensure that the hard water found in the UK is suitable for making sake.

Interested in learning more about Sake?

The WSET is now offering Sake courses at Levels 1 and 3. Click here to find out more 

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Sake: A beginner’s guide and recommendations 2025

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Sake shipments delayed for radiation checks

Sake shipments into the UK are caught in a regulatory black hole as Japanese authorities struggle to cope with the

Sake shipments into the UK are caught in a regulatory black hole as Japanese authorities struggle to cope with the ongoing nuclear disaster at Fukushima.

Sake importers and restaurants are reporting delays while shipments are quarantined awaiting certification as free from radioactive contamination.

Asami Tasaka, sales director for World Sake Imports UK, one of the major sake importers into the UK, said, ‘Our shipment which was due in the UK on 1 May has been delayed for tests in Japan, and will now be arriving on 17 May.’

Christine Parkinson, group wine buyer at Japanese restaurant Hakkasan in London said, ‘There is a backlog, with brewers unsure who the regulating body is, and shipments stuck in Japanese ports.’

Mario Armani, operations director at Sake No Hana, another London restaurant, said some of their supplies are held in quarantine in Japan.

He also spoke of customers being ‘increasingly apprehensive’ about Sake, an important issue with a drink that is little understood anyway.

Sake consumption within Japan has been in decline for decades now, and the newly-found interest in sake in export markets, particularly the US, and more recently the UK, had been a welcome boost.

There are now concerns about the possibility of radioactivity spreading to the ground water, and thus into the sake, for which spring water is an important ingredient.

Oke Nordgren, a Swedish sake expert and importer, said, ‘it will be next year that the repercussions will really start to be felt’ as everything coming out of the area affected will have to be certified.

Asami Tasaka confirmed this. ‘It will be after the harvest in September and October this year that sake will be seriously scrutinised for radioactive and other contamination.’

All those involved in the sake trade in the UK are donating percentages of their takings on sake to relief charities.

Written by Gilbert Winfield

As Japan continues to count the cost of the devastating earthquake and tsunami, the damage to the country's ancient sake industry is becoming apparent.

Japan’s devastating earthquake has wiped out some sake breweries and damaged many others

Entire sake breweries have disappeared in the wake of the multiple disasters that rocked Japan over the past week.

On 11 March a massive 9.0-magnitude earthquake occurred near the northeastern coast of the country, creating extremely destructive tsunami waves which hit Japan just minutes after the earthquake.

The earthquake and tsunami have caused extensive and severe damage in Northeastern Japan, leaving thousands of people confirmed dead, injured or missing, and millions more affected by lack of electricity, water and transportation.

The destruction to the sake industry is by no means the worst that Japanese industries have suffered, but there has been extensive damage and some loss of life.

The worst-hit breweries are located in Miyagi prefecture, the epicenter of the earthquake, as well as in Iwate and Fukushima – the location of the seriously-damaged nuclear power plant.

Among the list of badly-damaged breweries are Suisen from Iwate prefecture, which was entirely destroyed with the loss of some 11 employees, and Hakurakusei in Miyagi prefecture, which was not hit by the tsunami but was destroyed by the earthquake.

The number of sake breweries in the three prefectures, many of which produce some of Japan’s highest quality, aromatic, elegant sakes, total over 100.

Although reports and updates of the damage and causalities are trickling in, it is reasonable to assume that the vast majority of these 100-plus sake breweries have been damaged in some way by the earthquake and tsunami.

According to initial reports over 30 sake breweries are confirmed to have suffered some type of damage. The real extent of the damage is still unknown since electricity and telephone network coverage is currently minimal in these provinces.

While relatively few casualties have been reported, the extent of damage to sake breweries ranges from total devastation and loss, to partial building damage and inventory loss.

According to Kenichi Ohashi, a Master of Sake based in Tokyo, the damage to the breweries is just one part of the challenges ahead for Japan’s sake industry.

In common with every Japanese industry, the real challenge to sake will be getting the businesses working again in the coming months, with lack of raw materials, fuel, transportation and infrastructure, he said.

‘In 2011, the real challenge will be in planting and tending the rice fields this spring.’

The disaster will have other far-reaching ramifications for the industry. Domestic business had already been weakening since the recession, and the ‘overall mood is very pessimistic’, Claudio LoCascio, sake brand manager for American importer Winebow Inc, which works with breweries in Akita and Niigata, said.

There is also the possible nuclear fallout. It’s unknown if the radiation will move to the water, Simon Thompson, a geo-economics expert for esri, a geographic information system technology firm said, but the tsunami also spread chemicals and raw sewage to water sources used for production.

‘Some of the boutique sake producers on the edge of a town won’t have the ability to restrict pollutants.’

For more information

http://www.sake-world.com/html/saigai.html

Written by Jeannie Cho Lee in Hong Kong, and Fred Minnick