What explains why sake is becoming popular in the United States?

When Shinobu Kato first tasted sake as a young man in Tokyo, it tasted strong. But a colleague told him that he was drinking cheap and poorly brewed sake. As he tried better styles, Kato grew to adore him.

When he moved to the United States in 2004 to study business administration, he could only afford bad sake. So he started making his own.

Kato became so passionate about sake that in 2016 he moved to New York City to open a brewery. In April 2020, Kato Sake Works opened in a 50-square-meter industrial space. It has done so well, she said, that she will soon be moving into a space five times the size.

The timing could hardly be better for Kato. Sake sales are booming worldwide. Japan’s exports more than doubled between 2012 and 2022, from about 14 million liters to almost 36 million liters, reports the Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association.

Paradoxically, the popularity of sake is waning in Japan. The population is aging, people are drinking less and the youngest have yet to develop a taste for sake, said Chicako Ichihara of the Association. Still, he said, premium sake sales are holding steady.

For years sake supporters said it would be the next big thing in the American spirits market, but it didn’t take off. However, the evidence for a jump now seems to be everywhere.

Brooklyn Kura, a sake brewery in New York, is expanding in partnership with Hakkaisan Brewery, a Japanese producer. Asahi Shuzo, which makes Japanese sake brand Dassai, is building a factory in Hyde Park, New York.

In Hot Springs, Arkansas, a 2,200-square-foot brewery for Origami Sake is scheduled to open in May. “It will be the largest US-owned sake brewery, with a capacity of one million liters a year,” said Matt Bell, Origami’s CEO.

Yoko Kumano and Kayoko Akabori opened Umami Mart in Oakland, California, in 2012, specializing in Japanese products and ingredients. They obtained a license to sell sake in 2014 and now, Kumano said, it is their best-selling product.

The basic ingredients of sake are rice, water, yeast, and koji, a rice mold that breaks down the starches in rice into fermentable sugars. Variables are many, including the milling of the rice, the hardness of the water, the yeast strain, and the fermentation time. Producers sometimes add a small amount of alcohol, which can make the sake more fragrant. Some are infused with citrus or other flavors.

Most of the sake in the US is imported from Japan. The jump in sales has been particularly notable in retail, given the closure of restaurants during the pandemic.

Jamie Graves of Skurnik Wines, a New York importer, suggested that the growing interest in the United States is due to increased US tourism. From 2010 to 2019, the number of Americans visiting Japan increased from about 900,000 per year to about 2.2 million, reports JTB Tourism Research and Consulting.

If anyone could be credited with the growing interest in sake in New York, it could be Tadao Yoshida, the entrepreneur behind Japan Village, a complex of food stalls, groceries and more. He also owns Kuraichi, a sake shop that offers tastings on Saturday afternoons.

Yoshida, who goes by the name Tony, particularly wants people to understand the many nuances and subtleties of sake.

“Sometimes it’s soft, sometimes it’s sweet,” he said. “Some are good to eat with steak.”

By: ERIC ASIMOV