2023 American Craft Sake Fest
July 22nd // Charlottesville, VA
The 3rd Annual American Craft Sake Festival is an opportunity to sip sake and chat with sake brewers at this is a one of a kind event. This is the largest gathering of the North American sake industry featuring the brewers and their sake from coast to coast. A festival put together by members of the Sake Brewers Association of North America, a non-profit dedicated to the growth of the sake industry by promoting and protecting North America’s sake brewers, their sake, and the community of sake enthusiasts.
About the Association
The Sake Brewers Association of North America (SBANA) is the oldest, largest sake trade association outside of Japan. We are headquartered in Washington DC and bring together sake breweries, distributors, retailers, rice farmers, governments, enthusiasts, and a wide array of the allied trade to form one of the strongest sake organizations in the world.
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Latest Updates
Discussion with Josh Hembree of Setting Sun Sake Brewing Co.
Join us Monday February 15th at 8pm ET / 5pm PT for a live online conversation with Josh Hembree of Setting Sun Sake Brewing Company in San Diego, CA. Hear about how Josh was pulled in the world of sake, what he is focusing on now, and what he thinks about the future of sake. PLUS there will be a Q & A at the end of the webinar.
Beauty of the Brew: A Sake Brewer's Journey
Watch our animated video on how one sake brewer came to discover sake. Discover sake in your own home today!
Our Mission
To promote and protect sake brewers, their sake, and the community of brewing enthusiasts.
We accomplish this through three tiers of services:
Consumer Education: broad external communication initiatives
Brewery Development: networking, access to brewing knowledge, techniques, materials, suppliers, and seminars; brewers-only forum
Legislative Support: building legal landscape study; drafting and proposing model legislations; working closely with lawmakers to improve regulations related to the sake industry
Stay updated
To be added to our mailing list, please fill out the subscription form below. We promise we don’t send spam.
Our Mission
To promote and protect sake brewers, their sake, and the community of brewing enthusiasts.
We accomplish this through three tiers of services:
1. Consumer Education: broad external communication initiatives
2. Brewery Development: networking, access to brewing knowledge, techniques, materials, suppliers, and seminars; brewers-only forum
3. Legislative Support: building legal landscape study; drafting and proposing model legislations; working closely with lawmakers to improve regulations related to the sake industry
If you would like to be added to our private mailing list, please fill out the subscription form here. We promise we don’t spam.
Latest North American Sake News
Origami Sake: A look inside Arkansas’ first sake brewery
The Sentinel-Record | January 22, 2023
After more than a decade of planning to bring a sake brewery to Hot Springs, the idea is finally becoming a reality. Origami Sake is on the road to opening the first sake brewery in Arkansas, Matt Bell, the president and CEO of the company, said during his presentation to Hot Springs National Park Rotary Club on Wednesday. Sake is a Japanese alcoholic drink made from fermenting rice. Two important aspects of the drink are water and rice. While Hot Springs provides excellent water to the facility through a well near the brewery’s location at 2360 E. Grand Ave., the rice is provided by Isbell Farms at England in Lonoke County. Matt Bell said, “48% of the rice in the U.S. is grown in Arkansas.”…
Sake Deserves More Attention—Here's Why You Should Try It and What to Sip
Martha Stewart | January 20, 2023
If your only experience with sake—Japan’s national rice-derived beverage—has involved quickly downing the warm liquid to endure its brashness, you are missing out on the drink’s elegant, versatile nature. “I think sake at its best is complex, multi-layered, and even surprising,” says Weston Konishi, the president of the Sake Brewers Association of North America. “When you think of all the different producers making all the different styles of sake, you realize the adventures are endless.” Indeed, there’s an abundance of options to sip solo, craftily combine for a low-fi cocktail, or pair with a multitude of meals. But first, let’s learn a little more about what sake is, how it’s made, and how you should best imbibe it…
First-ever Japan-led sake brewery to open on U.S. East Coast
Japan Times | January 1, 2023
Asahi Shuzo Co., a major Japanese sake firm known for its signature product Dassai, will begin brewing at a plant in New York next spring in a bid to seek consumers in the already crowded United States market. As the first major Japanese company to set up a sake production facility on the U.S. east coast, Asahi Shuzo is looking to promote sake as a go-to beverage served not only with Japanese foods but a variety of global cuisines. The company’s CEO Kazuhiro Sakurai said its new ¥7 billion ($53 million) facility in Hyde Park, over 100 kilometers north of Manhattan, should be an outpost for his bid to develop new markets in the United States…