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The Uka Sake Story
Sake made in Japan from California rice
In 1910, Keisaburo Koda emigrated from Fukushima to California. After starting as a laborer picking peaches, by 1928 Koda had built a rice farm and mill that grew and sold Japonica rice under the name Koda Farms.
In 1948, the Rice Experiment Station developed a medium grain variety of Japonica Rice called Calrose that has become the dominant variety grown in America.
But unsatisfied with the bland tasting Calrose, Koda hired one of the breeders to develop their own premium variety which they named Kokuho Rose. Making its debut in 1962, Koda Farms continues to grow Kokuho Rose to this day.
In 2019, Ross Koda, the grandson of Keisaburo, founded Omurasaki Beverage Company to brew sake from Kokuho Rose rice. The rice is grown in California and sent to the Ninki Shuzo (人気酒造) sake brewery in Fukushima, close to Keisaburo Koda’s birthplace. There the sake is made into high quality sake and returned for sale in the US.
The sake is sold under the brand name Uka (羽化), meaning emergence of a butterfly from its chrysalis, symbolizing the emergence of elegant and refined sake from the grains of rice.
Uka offers 3 varieties of sake, all junmai daiginjo with a milling ratio of 40%, made from organic Kokuho Rose rice:
