Sake News from Japan / Sake Muse

Hard to believe that the Great East Japan Earthquake was 14 years ago, but the country has not forgotten the event or the support received from its neighbours. So when a magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck Hualien, Taiwan in April 2024, the Yamagata brewery Yonetsuru...

Another permanent fixture in the sake world is serving in wine glasses, and there's even a competition to go with it. The Fine Sake Awards, or to give it its Japanese title, "Sake Delicious in a Wine Glass Awards" has been running for 15 years, and released the...

It's the new category at IWC sake, so clearly ageing sake at low temperatures is not going away any time soon.  And there's a new entrant in the category, Ondo (which could be the reading for the Japanese characters for "temperature") featuring sake aged at -1°C...

Posts by the generously named Society for the Preservation of Traditional Japanese Sake-making Techniques Using Koji (日本の伝統的なこうじ菌を使った酒造り技術の保存会, nihon no dentōtekina kōji wo tsukatta sakezukuri gijutsu no hozonkai) highlight a short film by female amateur film-maker...

If you walk around inside a sake brewery today, chances are you'll be surrounded by enamel-coated or stainless steel tanks of various sizes, the preferred containers for producing sake since they became widely available after WWII.  Before then, most brewing...

Nara brewery Yuchō Shuzō, makers of Kaze no Mori, have been collaborating with chef Tatsuya Kobayashi since 2022 on the standing counter restaurant A+ (à plus, French for "see you later") where their sake is paired with modern French-style dishes. The restaurant...

During a press conference announcing the new export figures, Shuso Imada from the JSS Info Center also covered the impact of inbound tourism, fuelled at least in part by the weak yen–which is making it difficult for Japanese businesses to be active abroad. The...

The Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association (JSS) released new sake export figures in a press release on 7 February 2025. Based on Japanese Ministry of Finance customs data, the period Jan-Dec 2024 saw increases in both value and volume, with the former increasing to...

While many craft brewers and distillers working with beer, cider or other Western drinks learned their skills from a friendly and accessible home brew to small scale commercial community, sake brewers don't have that option. Alcohol production of any kind is strictly...