Breweries are infusing fragrances and flavors of fruits and other ingredients to create “craft sake” and more easily gain brewing licenses.

Younger brewers are the primary creators of craft sake products, and they plan to pitch their concoctions to the global market.

But they first want to establish themselves domestically.
Japanese sake products rely primarily on rice and “koji” mold, which are fermented and squeezed to produce a finished fluid that is separated into sake and lees.

However, craft sake is officially classified as “other brewed beverages” under the Liquor Tax Law. That is because the brewers mix in fruits and other ingredients that cannot be used for traditional sake.

Licenses for “other brewed beverages” are more readily available than licenses to brew sake.

The concept of craft sake was presented by the Japan Craft Sake Breweries Association, which was founded by seven companies in 2022.

The association’s chairman is Shuhei Okazumi, 35, president of the Ine to Agave Co. brewery in Akita Prefecture.

The brewery was founded in September 2021 within a former station building near JR Oga Station on the Oga Peninsula. The brewery’s interior is lined by tanks and other equipment.

About 20 staff members produce its flagship craft sake product featuring hops and other ingredients that give it a muscat-like flavor.

“Side ingredients that cannot be added to genuine rice wine can be used” for craft sake, Okazumi said. “The drink’s appeal is its diverse aromas.”

Ine to Agave also brews craft sake based on apples and grapes as well as “doburoku” unrefined sake, whose lees are not removed. Doburoku is also categorized as “other brewed beverages.”

The brewery produces 40,000 liters of drinks annually.

FEW NEW SAKE LICENSES

According to the National Tax Agency, the issuance of new sake brewing licenses has basically been suspended for more than half a century for domestic production and distribution.

Given the sluggish sales of sake in Japan, authorities have limited new entrants to the market to avoid excessive competition and prevent bankruptcies.

Tax authorities use a “prerequisite for supply-demand adjustments” in decisions to issue sake-brewing licenses.

MARKET SMALL FOR NOW 

After graduating from college, Okazumi started working at a brewery in Akita Prefecture but had dreams of establishing his own company.

After learning about the limits for sake brewing licenses, Okazumi turned to craft sake to obtain a license for “other brewed beverages.”

Another member of the Japan Craft Sake Breweries Association is Konohanano Brewery in Tokyo’s Taito Ward.

Yosuke Hosoi, 41, and Shintaro Horiki, 43, founded Konohanano Brewery in 2020 near the famed Kaminarimon gate at Sensoji temple. A restaurant occupies one floor of the brewery’s building.

The company brews 7,000 liters of a peach-flavored craft sake, a doburoku and other beverages annually.

The brewery said its goal is to build “intimate” connections between brewers, restaurants and individual customers through Japan-made alcoholic drinks, similar to what has happened with craft beer.

Seven other companies, from Iwate, Fukushima, Niigata, Shiga, Osaka and Fukuoka prefectures, are also members of the Japan Craft Sake Breweries Association.

Members are being increasingly invited to sake-themed events, showing that their products have grown popular among traditional rice wine fans.

But the market scale of craft sake is still relatively small.

“Combined sales of all craft sake breweries are comparable to those of a single ordinary sake brewer,” Okazumi said.

He explained the current situation.

“Since all breweries are tiny, the unit price for our bottles is higher,” he said. “This makes consumers more reluctant to choose them at restaurants, even when craft sake is available.”

Okazuma said the key for the future is expansion.

“We will be expanding our production scale 10-fold from now, with the aim of lowering craft sake’s price to a level equivalent to that of traditional sake,” he said.

He also wants to help other brewers get their start in producing craft sake.

If new breweries are established in all prefectures, demand will be significantly stimulated in the emerging market, he said.

SALES ABROAD

The association’s members are also looking overseas.

Konohanano Brewery opened a facility in Singapore in May, while Fukuoka-based Librom Craft Sake Brewery, known for drinks marked by herbs and fruits, is increasing exports to China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Behind their moves is the possibility that craft sake will be more readily accepted abroad than in the domestic market.

The number of sake brewers outside Japan is rising, and up to 60 breweries now operate mainly in the United States and Europe.

Breweries overseas do not face restrictions on side ingredients used in sake, so their products can take full advantage of local delicacies and specialties.

Okazumi harks back to the days when sushi won global fame thanks in part to consumers’ embracement of the California roll, even though that dish did not originate in Japan.

“I want craft sake to play the part of the rice wine version of the California roll, contributing to expanded consumption overseas,” he said.