It’s National Sake Day!

Unless you’ve spent the last few years living under a rock, we’re sure you’ve observed the recent rapid rise in the numbers of craft breweries and distilleries in the United States.

However, it may come as more of a surprise to know, that as well as now making some excellent whiskey, gin, vodka and brandy, Americans are also making terrific examples of one of Japan’s greatest contributions to the beverage world, sake.

There are now a number of very fine sake makers in the United States. Many of these are offshoots of famous producers from the motherland, but some are the result of homegrown entrepreneurs seeing this as a way offer something new and different in a crowded market.

At around 20 million liters a year in total, sake production in the United States is still a tiny business compared to the production of beer, wine and spirits.

It is also, unsurprisingly dwarfed by the production of sake in Japan, which is currently totaling in the hundreds of millions of liters.

U.S. sake breweries are currently and probably always will be operating in a niche. However, it is a growing one and that American sake is more “one dimensional” than its many-layered Japanese counterparts.

We really do believe that they are making a terrific product will keep on improving in the next few years.

There are a number of different classifications of sake, ranging from Junmai Daiginjo, which uses very highly polished rice, down to Futsu-shu, where far poorer rice is used and additional alcohol is added to fortify the final product.

The style of the sake will not only influence its price but also how it is served chilled or at room temperature or when it is served. Like the production process, the etiquette of serving sake can seem complex, but it is well worth making the effort to sample your purchases in the correct way to enjoy their subtle flavors.