PR Times carries a press release announcing that SAKEICE – ice cream made/flavoured with sake – is now available as an OEM/white-label product with any sake.
Freezer technology consultancy, food product development and marketing support company edamame Inc. takes care of recipe development, production, storage and legal compliance, and is targeting sake breweries, retailers and bars/restaurants with the new service so they can create their own frozen product.
After adding the sake, the alcohol content of the ice cream is about 4%. The press release stresses that the product is different from current ice creams made with sake kasu (sake lees) or ones with low alcohol content (around 1%). There are technical challenges in making an ice cream with an alcohol content higher than 1% (hard to freeze, melts easily), and SAKEICE was the first to get to such a high percentage, since when it has produced ice cream with over 40 sake breweries and has a portfolio of over 100 high-alcohol ice creams.
The company lists three special features: support from the industry pioneer with the expertise to bring out the flavours of each sake; access to specialist support for marketing, storage, shipping and legal compliance; and a range of formats from cups to 2 litre bulk packs. The large packs are intended for use in restaurants for desserts, while the cups can be used for example as PR. There is also a small lot size (1,000 cups/ 6 x 2 litre packs) and a lower-cost large lot size (10,000 cups/40 x 2 litre packs).
The release also contains testimonials for existing products, including one for the Shuroku tourism promotion centre in Bando City, Ibaraki Prefecture, who wanted to use a sake made by local brewer Raifuku Shuzō with the same name. The centre commented that they were supported throughout for planning, branding, manufacture, storage and sales, and delighted with the high quality of the final product. The ice cream was featured in local news, and caused a stir online and on social media.
Another customer was the Takagi liquor store in Nagano City, Nagano Prefecture, who requested an ice cream made with Keiryu daiginjō from Endō Shuzōjō in Suzuka City, also in Nagano Prefecture. The store originally sold SAKEICE’s own products, and saw that people liked it and talked about it. So they ordered a Nagano sake ice cream for the Zenkoji Gokaicho, held once every seven years and the largest event in the prefecture, and local brewery open days which were timed to coincide with it. It was the first SAKEICE made with daiginjō.
So looks like sake ice cream is a viable product!
_________
On a completely unrelated note, there’s a beautiful ryokan called KURA (Japanese/English/Chinese) across the road from Endō Shuzōjō that I would love to stay in.
- Original article (Japanese, Excite News, 3 May 2022)
- Shuroku tourism promotion centre (Japanese)
- Raifuku Shuzō (Japanese)
- Endo Shuzōjō (Japanese)
After adding the sake, the alcohol content of the ice cream is about 4%. The press release stresses that the product is different from current ice creams made with sake kasu (sake lees) or ones with low alcohol content (around 1%). There are technical challenges in making an ice cream with an alcohol content higher than 1% (hard to freeze, melts easily), and SAKEICE was the first to get to such a high percentage, since when it has produced ice cream with over 40 sake breweries and has a portfolio of over 100 high-alcohol ice creams.
The company lists three special features: support from the industry pioneer with the expertise to bring out the flavours of each sake; access to specialist support for marketing, storage, shipping and legal compliance; and a range of formats from cups to 2 litre bulk packs. The large packs are intended for use in restaurants for desserts, while the cups can be used for example as PR. There is also a small lot size (1,000 cups/ 6 x 2 litre packs) and a lower-cost large lot size (10,000 cups/40 x 2 litre packs).
The release also contains testimonials for existing products, including one for the Shuroku tourism promotion centre in Bando City, Ibaraki Prefecture, who wanted to use a sake made by local brewer Raifuku Shuzō with the same name. The centre commented that they were supported throughout for planning, branding, manufacture, storage and sales, and delighted with the high quality of the final product. The ice cream was featured in local news, and caused a stir online and on social media.
Another customer was the Takagi liquor store in Nagano City, Nagano Prefecture, who requested an ice cream made with Keiryu daiginjō from Endō Shuzōjō in Suzuka City, also in Nagano Prefecture. The store originally sold SAKEICE’s own products, and saw that people liked it and talked about it. So they ordered a Nagano sake ice cream for the Zenkoji Gokaicho, held once every seven years and the largest event in the prefecture, and local brewery open days which were timed to coincide with it. It was the first SAKEICE made with daiginjō.
So looks like sake ice cream is a viable product!
_________
On a completely unrelated note, there’s a beautiful ryokan called KURA (Japanese/English/Chinese) across the road from Endō Shuzōjō that I would love to stay in.
- Original article (Japanese, Excite News, 3 May 2022)
- Shuroku tourism promotion centre (Japanese)
- Raifuku Shuzō (Japanese)
- Endo Shuzōjō (Japanese)
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