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BREAKING BARRIERS
Sake redefined
Jim Clarke
 Sake has always experienced a bit of an identity crisis. It’s made like a beer, described like a wine and often treated like a rare spirit, synonymous with elegant Japanese cuisine. These days, however, you don’t need to spend much quality time at the sushi bar to know it. Until the economy’s troubles began in late 2008, imported sake enjoyed a run of double-digit growth; even with a (recession-induced) projected 15.1% drop in 2009, the USA estimates the value of sake imported into the U.S. last year to be twice that of 2003.It’s not just hot sake (which actually masks authentic sake flavors) in a carafe either; a full range of sake styles, mostly served chilled, are now available in many parts of the country, with fruity styles getting a lot of attention. Chris Pearce, president of World Sake Imports and organizer of Joy of Sake, a public tasting event launched in 2001 drawing 1,000 attendees in Honolulu and New York who want to learn about sake, says that of the three basic categories, junmai, ginjo, and diaginjo (each defined by how much the rice is milled, which has a significant effect on aroma and flavor), ginjo sakes are growing the most in the U.S., which he credits to their fruity character. Daiginjo sakes are the most milled (each grain is milled to 50% or less its original grain size, compared to ginjo’s 60% or less) and therefore the most expensive, as it takes more rice to make the same amount of sake. Pearce says interest in this category has dropped off substantially during the past year, obviously a reflection of consumer desire for value. Beau Timken, owner of True Sake in San Francisco, the U.S.’s only retail store devoted exclusively to sake, agrees. “It used to be that sake connoisseurs disregarded price and acted like daiginjo was the only way to drink sake. Now, when you add in economic hardship, we’re seeing more people getting two bottles of junmai, or a junmai and a ginjo.” Aside from these basic divisions, there are many styles of sake made with special techniques, like nigori (unfiltered, with a milky color and creamier texture), kimoto or yamahai (sort of a wild yeast style akin to Belgium’s lambic beers), sparkling and aged sakes. “Nigoris are still up. They’re smooth, creamy, sweet, good for drinking without thinking; I think it will continue to increase,” says Timken. Sparkling sakes, a non-traditional category, are also selling strong. He finds that kimoto and yamahai styles remain primarily the domain of sake geeks, but has big hopes for aged sakes, which have a Madeira-like character he thinks will appeal to red wine drinkers. Aged sakes have figured in prominently on some restaurant menus, like Brooklyn, NY’s Japanese brasserie Zenkichi, where Tenran-Zan and Hana-Hato kijo-shu are served alongside dishes such as miso cod and Kobe beef tataki. Sake Upfront
That variety is certainly good news for sake fans, but another kind of diversity is really opening up the sake market. “Sake has caught the eye of companies,” says Ed Lehrman, partner at sake importer Vine Connections. “We’re seeing sake in all sorts of restaurants, bars and cocktail venues; it’s not even what we imagined when we first got into sake. All the importers are on everybody else’s turf, blurring the lines as to where this stuff gets sold.” That Asian chain P.F. Chang’s is serving some of Lehrman’s sakes may not be surprising, but how about Ruby Tuesday and the Cheesecake Factory? Lehrman feels that the popularity of sake-based cocktails has driven a lot of the growth. Folsom, CA-based Gekkeikan Sake has been whipping up some well-received sake cocktails, including the “St. Zipang” with their Zipang Sparkling Sake, St-Germain and a splash of yuzu juice, available at NYC’s fortyeight, as well as the “Jade Dream Cloud” with Gekkeikan Nigori, green tea, and muddled cantaloupe melon, developed at Japonais. The TY KU sake brand has also made its way into a wide variety of venues ranging from New York’s frat-like Brother Jimmy’s bars to the California Pizza Kitchen to the Four Seasons. “Asian-inspired venues are the low-hanging fruit,” according to co-founder Kirk Spahn. TY KU, more so than other sake brands, is also marketed like a spirit, and Spahn has no trouble with it as a cocktail ingredient. “Sake should be on the cocktail list, not buried five pages back in the wine list. If it’s treated like wine, it’s too much for some people.” Among the sake cocktail creations featuring TY KU are the “TY KU Lemon Drop Martini,” with TY KU Junmai Ginjo Sake, muddled fresh lemon and a splash of agave nectar from Café Martorano in Fort Lauderdale. This new form of cocktail exploration provides another way to enjoy sake, as opposed to just enjoying it in its purest form, made popular at sake bars like Decibel in NYC and Ichiraku in San Francisco. At the wholesale level, more and more wine distributors are adding sake to their line-up. New Jersey-based importer and distributor Winebow decided to build its own import portfolio almost two years ago; today they offer six producers and 25 products representing a range of styles, including such standout brands as Ichisima, Chokaisan and Dewatsurua. “We’re seeing people’s knowledge increase,” says sake brand manager Claudio LoCascio, “and more and more people coming back and spending more time at the sake table at our Vintner’s Harvest tasting.” He says Winebow is not only placing sake in Western-style restaurants; their New York City Japanese account specialist has been able to introduce more wines to Asian-themed restaurants. Buying Sake
Wholesalers are also not scared to tackle a market that many find sake-resistant: retail. “We’re finding some success with off-premise sales because we’re going out and educating retailers, which a lot of other people haven’t been able to do,” says LoCascio. Winebow and Timken’s True Sake store aside, sake remains by-and-large an on-premise phenomenon. Pearce estimates retail sales account for about 10% of the U.S. sake market. “Sake hasn’t made the jump to home the way wine has,” points out Lehrman. “Retail stores have it sitting on the shelves, but 75% of the time it’s too warm and there too long.” Sake is best stored chilled, so it competes not just for shelf space, but for fridge space if it’s to be properly kept. The downturn in restaurant dining has hit sake fairly hard, so building up sake’s presence in the on-premise has become more crucial. “At some point, people are going to come to retail, since they’re not going out as much,” says Timken, “but we’re not seeing it yet.” On the plus side, he feels that today’s economic demands means importers are bringing over shipments more carefully, resulting in a more honed selection and fewer sakes sitting in warehouses past their prime. “Just one importer pushing three-year-old sake at a discount hurts the whole market,” he notes. Along with the effects of the recession, the dollar has weakened against the yen, making each container that comes over more expensive for the importer. “So far importers are taking the hit,” says Pearce, and keeping their prices stable. “105 [yen to the dollar] is comfortable, going down to 95; 90 gets kind of tight. At 85, you have a crisis situation.” So prices may be in for a climb. Nonetheless, he doesn’t dwell on the gloom-and-doom. “Once you get past the recession, sake’s going to come bounding back. There’s a concentration of quality; sakes are getting better, better, better. In the long-term, it’s going to continue to permeate American culture.”
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