From sparkling sake to sake absolute 0, new trends in the Japanese alcoholic drink’s revival, and how its brewers are focused on sustainability and rice farming

“They were the toughest days in my entire life,” jokes Kenichi Ohashi as he paces around the stage in a function room at Wynn Palace, a luxury resort in Macau, where he is about to lead a sake tasting masterclass. He is referring to the lengthy judging process for the sake division of the International Wine Challenge, a blind tasting board founded in London in 1984 by wine experts Robert Joseph and Charles Metcalfe. For the 2023 edition of the sake blind tasting, the judges had to taste 1,601 entries. That’s a lot of tasting. At the end of the process, the winners of trophies and medals in nine specific sake categories were announced on 18 and 23 May, 2023. Representatives of several of them travelled to Macau to present their award-winning sake. Among them was a fresh face, Kaichiro Kazuma of Kazuma Sake Brewery on the Noto peninsula in Japan’s Ishikawa prefecture, which was established in 1869. Ohashi describes Kazuma as a rising star of the sake industry. His Chikuha Binnai Koh Hakko Junmaishu (2021) sake won gold in the sparkling sake division and was described by Ohashi as “absolutely one of the top examples in terms of sparkling sake … which is a big problem, because of its very small production”. Ohashi sees sparkling sake as a category that is growing outside Japan, particularly in places such as Los Angeles, where sparkling and nigori (cloudy) sake are gaining in popularity. Ohashi likens their rise to those of pét-nat wine and natural wines respectively. Kazuma’s is an elegant example of sparkling sake – wavering between the sweetness of peach candy and the grippiness of cold jasmine tea, with refreshing apple and melon notes. Ohashi praises its refined and gentle bubbles, which are “not too aggressive, cloying nor flabby”. Kazuma is known to work with young farmers in Japan to regenerate previously abandoned rice fields, and then buy the rice they grow to produce sake. He also collaborates with university students, allowing them to get stuck into the rice farming and sake production process in an initiative known as N-Project. Ohashi says there are now more parallels between sake and wine producers, with the former taking cultivation and sustainability more seriously than before. Part of the traditional process of making sake is rice polishing, which removes protein and fat from the grain, leaving the starchy interior to be converted to sugar, necessary for brewing alcohol. Some breweries, such as Niizawa Sake Brewery in Miyagi prefecture, have taken the process to extremes. It polished away 99.15 per cent of its rice grain in a 2018 sake. Since sake regulations state that the rice polishing ratio should be rounded down to the nearest whole number, the brewery’s Reikyo Absolute 0 became the only sake in the world made with rice grain polished down to “zero” per cent. In the past, a high polishing ratio was seen as a marker of quality, but Ohashi says this is becoming less important. View this post on Instagram A post shared by |究極の食中酒|伯楽星・あたごのまつ醸造元 新澤醸造店 (@niizawabrewery) In contrast to Niizawa, some breweries now proudly print “100 per cent rice” on their labels to denote that none of the grain has been polished away. Some cult breweries, such as Aramasa, in Akita prefecture, have released sake with an 88-92 per cent polishing ratio to “express the elegance of modern ginjo sake [that with added brewer’s alcohol used to bring out the sake’s flavour]”. “It’s more diverse. Some producers dare to leave this tendency behind because of the notion of sustainability, where nothing goes to waste,” Ohashi says. Before Covid, it was rare to enjoy very expensive sake. Now, the younger generation are drinking more expensive bottles Kenichi Ohashi “From the farmer’s side, they did their best to cultivate rice. So some people are keen to retain the rice as much as possible.” The result is whole grain sake that exhibits more umami flavours than highly polished products, which have their own advocates. The focus on rice farming is also gaining traction, with breweries looking to cultivate more local varieties – Ohashi points to the relatively new Akita Sake Komachi rice, developed in 1998, and Hokkaido’s Kitaake rice, released in 1993. “Compared to 10 years ago, we can now focus on more local varieties,” he says. Nechi Brewery in Niigata prefecture is a perfect example, he says. It is a rare domaine-style sake brewery where everything from sake rice production to brewing is done on site (most breweries buy their rice from farmers). “Now more breweries are taking customers to the rice field as they take cultivation much more seriously. Just like the wine industry,” Ohashi says. This revival of interest in sake is a positive development, given the rapid decline of sake consumption in Japan, particularly among younger people, over the past decade. “In my childhood, my dad drank a lot of wine rather than sake – which was considered common,” Ohashi says. “The younger generation [also] prefers the image of wine rather than sake. “Before Covid, it was rare to enjoy very expensive sake over 5,000 yen. Now, the younger generation are drinking more expensive bottles.” He compares the “premiumisation” of sake to trends in the wine scenes of Western countries, particularly the natural wine movement. Recent figures show record-high growth in sake exports by value and volume. According to The Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association (JSS), the export value of sake per litre rose from 633 yen in 2012 to 1,323 yen (US$9.40) in 2022. “Sake is becoming more popular and fashionable,” Ohashi says. “Sake is seen as something special.”