Sake News from Japan

PR Times features a press release for a brewery sending out a sake for each season along with some carefully chosen local seasonal delights. Takeshita Honten in Shimane [which the article describes as the "birthplace of sake"] released their "Shimane Sakagura Seasonal...

Kahoku Online News features a story about Niizawa Shuzōten in Miyagi, known for its label Hakurakusei. The brewery picked 22 year old Nanami Watanabe to take charge of production, an unusually young tōji. She got off to an auspicious start by winning the highest award...

JETRO reports on their Japan pavilion at the Hong Kong International Wine & Spirits Fair (8-10 November 2018). It featured mainly sake, but also shōchū, awamori, wine and other Japanese alcoholic drinks. 27 companies and groups exhibited in the area. The trade...

The Sankei News muses on the fortunes of sake in the homeland of wine - France. Sake has been gradually gaining popularity, thanks to more healthy eating and a craze for Japanese food that tripled exports to France in five years. And a number of sake allies are trying...

The Tokyo Shinbun Tokyo Web site covers one woman's story of leaving to pursue a completely different career, then coming home to take over the family brewery. Aoki Shuzō in Saitama was founded in 1831, and its Gokeiji label regularly takes medals at competition....

Forbes Japan has an article on the rising price of sake, and how it hasn't dented the rise in exports. They comment that the average sake retails for about JPY 2,000 for a 720 ml bottle, and even a boxed daiginjō will put you back around JPY 5,000. And the general...

The Tokyo Main Dish site reports on a sake brewery hit by the recent Oki earthquake in Yamagata. The earthquake hit Yamagata and Niigata prefectures at 10:22 pm on 18 June 2019. The disaster damaged homes, bars/restaurants and shops, and also over 10,000 bottles of...

Nico Nico News reports on a special summer edition of a new classic, namely low-alcohol sparkling sake - Takara's Mio. Takara's products are sold under the banner of Sho Chiku Bai [pine, bamboo and plum, three auspicious images for the Japanese] and their Mio...

The Dime site reports on a vote for the top sake cocktails. It starts by pointing out that although people automatically think of western drinks like gin, vodka or liqueurs as cocktail bases, there are also plenty that use sake. They decided to hold a vote on sake...