Travelling to Japan: Learning the Art of Sake
Two months ago, I sat stooped over my laptop with strained eyes at 30 minutes before midnight. I had been running around all day finishing classes and assignments, and was about to call it a night from my hectic student life when my inbox pinged with one of the best emails I’d received all year — I had been accepted for an internship with a startup based in Japan. It had been 6 years since I visited the Land of the Rising Sun, and this time I would be living for a month in Tokyo and working for a Japanese sake startup. I was thrilled.
However. Given I don’t speak a word of Japanese or know one thing about sake, I knew I was in for an interesting experience.
I arrived in Tokyo one week ago and it’s been a steep learning curve. I have found Google translate to be my best friend and can get through a surprising amount of my day through simply pointing at things while smiling (showing me that, in fact, my family was right to tell me I don’t need two Master Degrees). I’ve found myself immersed in Japanese culture, cuisine, and oh yes — plenty of sake.
As part of my internship, I’m helping them think through their US growth given they launched a brand stateside last month. Given it’s only been a few days in the office, I thought I would share with you my 3 early learnings about the “Art of Sake” (the company name and the brewing process):
1) Launching a Successful Sake Startup
My two managers, Masa and Nao, are both passionate about rice wine and came up with the idea to create a sake company just over two years ago. They were out for a drink late one evening, when Masa started to share more about his family and the sake brewery they owned. Masa, whose father is a 14th generation sake brewer, told Nao how in Japan sake consumption was decreasing and that many family owned breweries were being forced to shut down as a result. Many of these breweries didn’t have the business or marketing expertise to retrofit their ancient art to fit the modern market. Nao, an alum of the Stanford Graduate School of Business (MBA ‘08), was working in Private Equity and Venture Capital, and together they realized they had the potential to launch a venture.
However they quickly decided that they did not want to launch a regular sake company, they wanted to both revive the sake industry in Japan and share the ancient art of sake with the rest of the world. And with that, Nihonshu Oendan was born (meaning “sake supporters” in Japanese, or as they are known in the US, “Art of Sake”). In the two years that followed that late night drink, they have grown to seven staff and launched two sake brands, one of which is available in the US (KAKEYA, named after the region it comes from). What’s more is they do it in a socially responsible way by partnering with small breweries (about the size of a craft brewery, all of which have been family owned for over 150 years) and purchasing their excess capacity. Additionally, they’ve revived sake tourism in Japan by galvanizing a younger generation of Japanese and bringing them to these breweries to learn the sake making process.
2) Sake Brewing is Truly an Art
One week ago I can safely say I did not have an appreciation for the delicate sake making process. Globally it’s considered one of the more difficult alcohol’s to make given the many steps involved, much of which are done by hand. As I’ve since learned, this is why you can taste the difference between sake that’s been made by families who pass the process down through generations, and new, more commercial sake.
First the rice is polished which removes some of the hulls and protein, this helps control the flavor. The percent that remains of the rice is often shown on the sake label — generally the lower the percent, the higher the price, as it requires more rice to make the same amount of sake. The rice is then steeped in water and steamed, essentially partially ‘cooking’ the rice. Given rice does not have any natural sugar (which is essential to make any type of alcohol), koji is added to the rice which converts starch to glucose. This is one of the most difficult aspects, given you need consistency and it is often done by hand. As a last step, yeast is added to start the fermentation process. Once the fermentation is complete the rice is pressed to release the sake. The Japanese name given to the sake depends on if the sake has added alcohol (if not, it is called Junmai), is undiluted with water (Genshu), is unfiltered (Muroka), or unpasteurized (Nama).
For commercial reasons, most of the sake you’ve likely tried is non-Junmai, given it’s easier to store and ship if you give it additives and heat pasteurize it. Junmai sake is less than 5% of the global market, but the most rare type of sake is unfiltered, undiluted, and unpasteurized (called Junmai Muroka Nama Genshu) at less than .5% of the global market — it’s considered an authentic form of sake because this is how it’s been made for centuries. Junmai Muroka Nama Genshu is the type Art of Sake focuses on.
3) Sake trends in Japan and the US
Essentially the trends boil down to globalization and changing consumer preferences. In Japan, sake consumption has been decreasing over the last 20 years as consumers in Asia have turned towards grape-based and sparkling wines. What’s interesting is that although sake has been on the decline in domestic markets in Japan, it’s actually on the rise in the United States. According to Euromonitor, volume of rice wine sold in the US is expected to increase by 22% between 2015 and 2020. This is second only to the volume growth of sparkling wine (24.6%) and well above traditional grape wines (7.3–8.2%). As more customers in the US seek Japanese cuisine and culture, sake will continue to be a growth category.
The hope of the Art of Sake team is that customers will learn about traditional sake making in Japan and seek out the most authentic varieties, which is where they have positioned themselves. It remains to be seen how the growth will play out and in the meantime it’s been interesting to learn from two passionate Japanese entrepreneurs.
