Sit at the semi-circular bar at the new 25-cover Kioku Bar in London’s The OWO hotel, and sake will be the order of the day. Helmed by sake sommelier Anthony Yukio and head of bars Angelos Bafas, this groundbreaking new offering, modelled on traditional Japanese listening bars, claims to have the largest sake collection in Europe – 110 currently sit in its bespoke sake safe – curated by sake samurai Natsuki Kikuya.
Its arrival comes as Japan’s national drink is enjoying a swell in popularity here in the UK. With the opening of other sake-specific bars such as INÉ by Taku, the launch of new retailer and events company mai, and the first National Sake Week taking place (15-21 April), it seems that 2024 marks the rise of sake.
Sales also speak for themselves: Waitrose reported a 214% rise in searches for sake on its website, and this month US brand SoGood Saké launched its product into international markets for the first time, including the UK. Plus, with Berry Bros & Rudd reporting a 1,000% rise in sake sales in the past year, is it finally sake’s time in the spotlight?
New openings
In Whitehall, Kioku Bar has been turning heads as it becomes London’s (if not Europe’s) best stocked sake bar. Its sake bible is split into sections designed to evoke feelings, senses or memories, like Trip to the Rice Paddies (sakes made from rare or lesser-known rice varieties), In the Flower Garden (floral and aromatic sakes) and Bubbly Memories (a clever nod to new sparkling varieties that offer a sense of occasion). Each sake is detailed with its region, rice polishing rate, rice variety (if known), category, abv and the volume in which it is poured – they also tell you whether it’s best served warm or hot as opposed to cold.
Kioku Bar. Credit: Kioku
For Yukio, an approach of ‘breadth with the best’ has allowed the team to span the category’s many varied and versatile styles. He admits that sake isn’t always easy to work with or accessible to drinkers, but is hoping they can help turn the tide: ‘Sake is such a sensitive liquid, and there is a lot of fine tuning to be done but we want to change the culture of it – it’s crazy more people aren’t using it.’
When it comes to cocktails, flavour maestro Bafas has exercised his honed ability to squeeze ingredients to their limits with an accomplished list of 12 serves which are rooted in a key component – daikon, yuzu and wasabi to name a few. Working with sake and Japanese spirits, he is also using sake byproducts to bring extra dimensions to his drinks, from sake lees and koji to kasu.
In north London, INÉ by Taku has also opened Upstairs at INÉ, a sake lounge and gallery space where head sommelier of Taku, Bowie Tsang, and INÉ’s head sommelier Daniela Shelton have curated a list of sake’s categorised by flavour profile: fruity & expressive, light & delicate, umami & rice, and dessert.
Having opened London’s first independent sake bar, Moto, in 2019, Erika Haigh’s latest venture, mai, is a boutique Japanese fine sake merchant, working with restaurants (including INÉ) to source high-quality sakes while also providing an online retail space for consumers to buy – and learn about – sake. ‘We’ve launched the digital bottle shop as well as another consumer-facing aspect of our business, collaborating with a lot of our trade clients who are also interested in doing events,’ she explains. Haigh’s events sees her pairing sake with the likes of cheese, pizza and tea to ‘put sake in places that it hasn’t been associated with before, and hopefully that means speaking to a new audience’.
Menus at INÉ by Taku. Credit: INÉ by Taku
A change of pace
Historically, sake is a category that has been largely misunderstood outside of Japan, something that National Sake Week founder and sake expert and trainer, Samuel Boulton, comes up against at his regular tastings. ‘There’s a confusion about what the alcohol component of it is, what it’s actually made from, and how you’re meant to drink it.’
In the interests of clarity, sake is a Japanese alcoholic drink made from rice. It isn’t a spirit and isn’t distilled – instead it is a fermented drink, made in breweries and, as such, is much lower in abv than most people presume, often hovering around the 15% mark. It’s also more akin to wine than spirits and, instead of being drunk in shots, is best sipped and paired with food.
It’s a category that seems to be speaking to drinkers’ sensibilities, says Haigh: ‘Sure, there are three huge sake breweries, but there are 1,200 more that are truly family-run businesses passed down from generation to generation that rely on centuries of experience. People are looking for artisan products made with love, and this really applies to the craft sake industry.’
Room to expand
Retailers and makers are reacting in kind to the rise of sake. In May this year, Berry Bros & Rudd launched its second sake en primeur offering with bottles from three breweries: Noguchi Naohiko Sake Institute, Tatenokawa and IWA 5.
Sake Collective. Credit: Sake Collective
East London’s Sake Collective shop and tasting room, which will mark its second anniversary in July, is already on the look out for a second site. ‘We’ve been growing slowly but steadily this year,’ explains co-manager Michael Gastaldi. ‘We’re doing better compared to previous years and doing a lot of wholesale, the majority of which are Michelin-starred Japanese restaurants, but also other cuisines… we have a couple of French clients who do sake pairings with their menus.’
Last October also saw London brewery Kanpai up sticks from its original 2016 Peckham site and move into a much bigger premises on Bermondsey Beer Mile where tours, brewing days and a busy taproom are feeding consumers’ thirst for sake. Co-founder Tom Wilson is seeing a shift in sake’s drinkers: ‘The demographic has massively shifted with many younger people coming into the category… who are finding their palate. A big part of that is having more variety but also sake itself and its connection to Japanese culture.’
London brewery Kanpai. Credit: Kanpai
He also echoes Haigh’s point that drinkers are becoming enamoured with the craft of sake: ‘We’re experiencing a movement away from more entry-level, mass-produced styles and people caring about where it’s come from, the rice, individual styles.’
The rise of sake: A bright future
Sake’s star might be rising, but there is still plenty of work to be done when it comes to consumer education, which Boulton does with his regular consumer trainings and tastings.
Sake at mai. Credit: Rebecca Dickson
Haigh has always been vocal about the need to make sake more translatable for drinkers. With most bottles having Japanese labelling, deciphering brands, styles and profiles can be a deterrent for shoppers – it’s something she’s keen to resolve at mai. ‘I really try to do great back labels that destruct sakes: what it tases like, what vessel it will work well in, very much a description of what to expect when they open the bottle, always trying to break down those barriers of entry.’
Has sake finally arrived? ‘We’re at a nice tipping point, I think sake is happening, but we’re not there yet,’ says Wilson. ‘The consumer is moving in the right direction… this is just the beginning.’
