Sake is in the spotlight again as interest in the traditional Japanese liquor grows around the world

Hong Kong's most discerning sake bar has no sign and no obvious entrance. To reach Godenya, you need to walk down a dim alleyway and slide open a succession of unmarked metal doors before emerging into a warm, wood-hued hideaway with one table, a long bar and seating for eight people. Every night, the restaurant offers a single nine-course menu that pairs each dish with a different sake served at a specific temperature.

Presiding over every detail is Goshima Shinya, who opened Godenya's original location four years ago in Tokyo's down-to-earth Sumida district. In June last year, he moved the entire operation to Sheung Wan. "I have a mission to globalise sake," he says.

Goshima is not alone. After decades of decline, sake is undergoing a renaissance, thanks to a global boom of interest in the traditional Japanese rice wine. And with no tax on sake and Japanese cuisine on trend, Hong Kong is establishing itself as one of the best cities outside Japan for sake lovers. "I was blown away by the wine scene here," says author and sommelier Elliot Faber. "It's the same for sake."

When Faber came to Hong Kong in 2011 to run the drinks programme at the modern Japanese izakaya Yardbird, he drew up a "sake list as big as the wine list [at other restaurants]". Although Hong Kong has plenty of great sake, customers don't necessarily know what they want. Many gravitate towards daiginjo sakes because they've heard they are the best, but those designations only refer to how much the sake rice has been polished. "It doesn't mean it's better," Faber says. In September last year, he launched Sunday's Sake, a pair of junmai and junmai nigori sakes brewed exclusively for Yardbird and its sister outlets, Ronin and Sunday's Grocery. "People shouldn't be afraid to try something different," he says.

Other sake purveyors are hoping to make the drink accessible in other ways. Hong Kong-based Four Fox Saké recently launched a new brand of junmai daiginjo sake packaged in an eye-catching silver bottle designed to compete for nightclub table space with vodka and other spirits. "We wanted to create a sake that would change how Hongkongers perceive and enjoy this traditional beverage," says Four Fox co-founder David Innerdale. "We are seeing people order Four Fox along with Champagne and vodka, as shots in clubs, and enjoying it straight up where they otherwise might order a white wine."

Faber's interest in sake lies in its artisanal qualities. He recently wrote Sake: The History, Stories and Craft of Japan's Artisanal Breweries. Along with Japanese co-author Hayato Hishinuma and photographer Jason Lang, Faber travelled to 60 breweries across Japan, interviewing toji (brew masters) and investigating the huge variety of sake-making techniques and regional traditions.

His interest in sake was piqued when he stumbled across Masa Shiroki, who makes sake in a tiny brewery on Granville Island in Vancouver. "He wanted to be a real artisan," he says, using a traditional wooden box press to separate sake liquid from the rice mash. Shiroki recently began growing his own sake rice on a plot of land just outside the city.

That level of craftsmanship is what drew Japanese-American filmmaker Erik Shirai to Tedorigawa, a 144-year-old family-run sake brewery in northern Japan, where he filmed The Birth of Sake, an intimate documentary that premiered in Hong Kong last November. "It's a magical feeling when you walk into the space," Shirai says.