International Sake Producers Face Challenges — and Opportunities

Of all the great things that are available to drink nowadays, few are limited by geography. Craft IPAs and breakfast stouts currently appear in just about every corner of the globe, while surprisingly successful new wine regions keep sprouting up in places like India, China, and England. However, you can’t say the same thing for at least one beverage: Outside of Japan, rice-based sake faces real challenges, both in terms of production and consumer acceptance — though sometimes those challenges offer unexpected upsides.

“What I tell people when I try to explain what sake is all about, I tell them that it is the worst of all worlds,” says Tim Klatt, a co-founder of Texas Saké in Austin. “In the U.S., I think sake has a bit of an identity crisis. At the federal level we’re licensed like a brewery, at the state level we’re licensed as a winery, and people think that we’re some kind of distilled spirit. No one knows what to do with sake.”…[read more]

words: EVAN RAIL

illustration: DANIELLE GRINBERG