Utah Business  |  October 8, 2021

Utah residents have never had access to locally-brewed sake before. But in early 2020, three sake enthusiasts—Jillian Watanabe, Kirk Terashima, and Ty Eldridge—set out to change that and bring Tsuki Sake, Utah’s first sake brewery, to life. Watanabe, Terashima, and Eldridge all fell in love with sake independently. Watanabe, the head brewer at Tsuki Sake, is half Japanese and has always felt drawn to Japanese restaurants and cuisine. “At first, I got really into home-brewing,” Watanabe says. “I knew I wanted to be part of the sake industry and started the Sake Advisor Certification Course through the Sake School of America. I started selling my premium bottles off the shelves when I worked at Montage Deer Valley.”…

Smithsonian Magazine  |  October, 2021

In the old Route 66 town of Holbrook, Arizona, close to the Navajo reservation and far from anywhere else, a 41-year-old man named Atsuo Sakurai is making the best sake produced outside Japan. When, by happenstance, I heard about this extraordinary achievement some months ago from a bartender in Los Angeles, I felt compelled to find out how it happened…

NBC29  |  September 28, 2021

Ambassador of Japan to the United States TOMITA Koji visited Virginia’s first and only sake brewery in Charlottesville’s IX Park. The ambassador was given a tour of the brewery, and got to check out the fermentation tanks up close. “We were able to coordinate this visit with the Embassy of Japan, and we’ve done some partnerships with them in the past, so it was great to have them come down,” said Andrew Centofante, the owner of the North American Sake Brewery. Then the ambassador and his group got to taste some of its award winning sakes. Centofante said he felt honored to have the ambassador try his craft. “It was nerve racking to have my product in the hands of the Japanese ambassador, but it was worth it to see his face when he like lit up tasting it, so it was great,” Centofante said. Centofante says this is only one out of about 20 sake spots in the US. “We’re pretty small, but we’re growing and there’s more and more sake breweries coming online every year,” Centofante said. He hopes to expand his brewery in the future. “We produce our sake here, as well as distributed throughout Virginia. We’re hopefully opening up some more states soon, so we’re going to kind of grow our reach as much as we can,” Centofante said.

Eater  |  September 8, 2021

Using rice sourced entirely from farms in Northern California, Nova Brewing Co. has been producing premium sake using traditional methods at their Los Angeles brewery since 2019. In this episode of Handmade, co-founder James Jin showcases the complex process of Nova’s sake production, from making their own koji all the way through fermentation and bottling.

Thrillist  |  August 18, 2021

In Japan, sake simply means “alcohol.” It has a rich, storied history in the country, where it’s been produced for thousands of years after making its way over from ancient China. Now, the technique of fermenting rice into alcohol has started to inch its way into American brewing culture. The first legal American sake brewery opened in 1992—a stateside outpost of Momokawa Brewing, which had already been brewing nihonshu (the more specific Japanese word for sake) for centuries.

But after nearly three decades, American sake is hitting its stride. At first described by experts as fairly “one note,” American sake makers are now developing depth, perfecting their formulas, and even playing around with added flavor notes in the same way you find in craft beer.

“Part of it is the great American quest for the next undiscovered thing that’s propelling the interest in sake,” says Weston Konishi, president of the Sake Brewers Association of North America. “When people become more experimental and savvy with Japanese food and sophisticated drinks, they realize what a tremendous product sake is.”…

Wine Enthusiast  |  July 26, 2021

Saké is known as distinctly Japanese, but American-made saké has existed since the 19th century. Until the early 2000s, when Japanese exports became readily available, saké that was sold in sushi bars and retail stores nationwide was predominantly made in the U.S. While historically, American saké was crafted by a handful of large companies, today there’s a new generation of domestic brewers in the spotlight. From just five breweries a decade ago, there are now more than 20 nationwide. Small in production, often hyperlocal and distinctly American, these craft breweries bring unique, well-made saké to Everytown, USA…

Arizona Daily Star  |  July 18, 2021

Just off historic Route 66, a sign with red capital letters outside a white wood building reads “Arizona Sake.” Here, in the small town of Holbrook, Atsuo Sakurai brews a high quality and hand crafted sake driven by his passion for the national drink of Japan and the pursuit of owning his own business. Alongside his traditional sake, Sakurai uses a plant known as Navajo tea that he sources from a nearby artisan to brew a specialty infused sake. His sake is available in shops around the state including Tucson’s Plaza Liquors, Westbound at the MSA Annex, and restaurants across Arizona including Sushi Zona in Tucson. Sushi Zona displays a framed exhibit of Arizona Sake on the walls in between the traditional paintings…

Westword  |  July 7, 2021

Sake is a traditional Japanese alcoholic beverage made by fermenting rice, and while it is extremely popular in Japan, there are fewer than twenty sake breweries in the United States, and only one in Colorado. After working in Japanese restaurants as well as breweries, Colorado Sake Co. co-founder William Stuart was inspired to create a fun, welcoming experience to introduce more people to the spirit. The business opened in September 2018 with an 850-square-foot brewery and taproom at 3559 Larimer Street. When the wine and cheese shop it shared the space with closed in 2019, the sake brewery was able to expand, and it has since added a 14,000 square-foot brewing and bottling facility near Colorado Boulevard and I-70…

Eater  |  May 13, 2021

When you arrive at the locked gate outside an industrial complex along West San Bernardino in Covina, you may get the sense that you’re the wrong place — until you see a sign with a phone number for Nova Brewing Co. The building, flanked by auto repair shops and a storage facility, is home to a small tasting room, located toward the end of the complex, where you will find people drinking beer and fresh sake in a barebones space that opens to a back alley with wooden benches and barrels. The sake, which Nova brews on-site, is some of the first produced in Los Angeles in more than 70 years…

KITV4  |  May 5, 2021

The only of its kind in Hawaii, some would say Islander Sake Brewery is keeping sake alive in the state. Vice President Tama Hirose says the rice-based spirit is keeping him alive. “Sake saved me ten years ago,” Hirose told KITV4. He was living in Japan in 2011 when an earthquake and ensuing tsunami killed nearly 20,000 people. He said the nuclear accident cause by that earthquake gave him heart problems, and his doctors told him he needed open-heart surgery. “Instead I just started drinking sake… and it worked. After ten years, I’m fine I really thank the sake for making me better,” said Hirose…

Gambit  |  March 31, 2021

Rice may not be the first thing that comes to mind at the thought of south Louisiana’s Cajun and Creole food, but it’s everywhere — in jambalaya and boudin and served with red beans and a host of traditional dishes. Now local entrepreneurs are using Louisiana-grown rice to make Wetlands Sake. The Japanese spirit made from fermented rice is easiest to find in sushi restaurants, but sake lovers Nan Wallis and Lindsey Brower noticed it’s becoming more popular across the U.S. “We have traveled a lot and we were seeing sake in the U.S. starting to appear on menus in restaurants and bars that have nothing to do with Asian food,” Wallis says. “You’d go into a French restaurant in New York and they’d have sake on the menu. You go into a restaurant in Chicago, Nashville and other cities, and California for sure, you’d see sake.”…

Kyodo News  |  March 30, 2021

A “Sake Dialogue” featuring long-established Japanese breweries and those emerging in the United States recently brought about discussions on cross-border information-sharing, cooperation and innovation to spread the word of Japan’s most famous alcoholic export. The nearly 90-minute talk, whose participants included three sake brewers on each side of the Pacific, was organized by the Sake Brewers Association of North America in Washington, and the Embassy of Japan in the United States, in late February…

Honolulu Magazine  |  March 17, 2021

Last year, Islander Sake Brewery opened the day shelter-in-place orders descended on O‘ahu. Weeks earlier, the Islands’ first sake brewery in three decades was supposed to have debuted its first batch of sake at the Honolulu Festival, but the event was cancelled as COVID-19 spread across the world. So it wasn’t exactly the launch Islander had expected. But a year later, the little sake brewery is still producing sake, including ones gently flavored with liliko‘i and pineapple, and is even talking about needing to expand to keep up with demand as restaurants reopen and word of Islander spreads…

San Diego Reader  |  March 5, 2021

This week, I cracked open a cold one. Pulled the tab of a 12-ounce can and heard that satisfying cshhht sound that usually presages enjoyment of an ale or lager. Except it wasn’t beer inside, rather a single serving of sake. San Diego’s own Setting Sun Sake Brewing Co. has introduced its first sakes in cans….

Mountain XPress | January 2, 2021

There’s a lot more to sake than the clear, hot beverage served in sushi restaurants. While the ancient Japanese spirit is made in a manner similar to beer (it’s brewed), it can have an alcoholic content of 15%-20%, a level comparable to fortified wines. And there’s an impressive — almost bewildering — array of styles to explore…