Before we get started, it's key to clarify that Craft Sake isn’t at all like traditional Sake! To be legally recognised as a Sake brewery in Japan, brwers need to apply for a license. Yet, Japan hasn’t issued a license to anyone in over 50 years! Consequently, unless you come from a Sake brewing family or have big investments, it’s next to impossible to start a Sake brewery in Japan.

What has resulted from this, however, is an unforeseen WHIRLWIND of passionate aspiring brewers realising that they could more easily get a license to brew “other brewed alcoholic beverages”. Don't hate the player, hate the game!

What this means for these Craft Sake brewers is that they can make anything BUT traditional Sake (rice, koji, yeast, water), with many Craft Sake brewers therefore co-fermenting their Sakes with fruit, flowers and spices! What this means for us consumers is that the world of Sake just got a bit more interesting.

You're in for a treat. Here are 8 Tried-and-Tasted Craft Sake Breweries you must look out for!

1. Konohanano

Best known for reviving an ancient style of Sake known as Doburoku, Konohanano is based in Tokyo’s Asakusa District. Before clear Sake, it was common for Japanese households to brew their own Sakes which they would leave unfiltered, giving it a creamy and sometimes grainy texture similar to a porridge. This was outlawed because it was difficult to tax and was only legalised again in 2003. Konohanano even produces numerous infused Doburoku like Thai Milk Tea and Dashi!

Our pick: Konohanano ‘Hazy Sake’ Doburoku

Crafted in the image of rich and tropical hazy IPAs, it’s brewed with ale yeast and Sabro beer hops. This doburoku is a dense, decadent, and all-round delightful. It's like taking a big bite out of a soursop and hazy tropical IPA - from the nose that's all flowers and sweet stuff to the palate that's a fantastic mix of milky, malty, and tropical.

Read our full review and tasting notes here: Taste-Testing Controversial Unfiltered Sakes: Konohanano Doburoku, Hazy IPA Sake, LAB05

2. Ine to Agave

Founded in 2021 by Shuhei Okazumi, who previously apprenticed at the legendary Aramasa Brewery, Ine To Agave is based in a renovated Japan Railway station! As the name suggests, Okazumi makes creative use of agave syrup, as well as beer hops which he ferments with his Craft Sakes. His goal is to help revitalise Oga City where the brewery is at, which has increasingly shrunk in population. His craft is also highly sustainable, preferring to keep rice largely unmilled, with used koji turned into protein rich mayo and ice cream!

Our pick: Ine to Agave Koshu Hanakaze PROTOTYPE

A really tasty craft Sake that's bright, floral and aromatic, yet rich and bodied, with a nice balance between sweet richness and a slight green bitterness! This is definitely beyond any standard Sake, with a really unique effervescence coupled with that floral and gentle bitter hoppiness that comes through

Read our full review and tasting notes here: Ine to Agave Koshu Hanakaze PROTOTYPE | 稲とアガベ 交酒 花風 PROTOTYPE

3. haccoba

Once an IT employee, Taisuke Sato would be so inspired by a call to help revitalise Fukushima. Although the Prefecture has since been cleaned up and safe to return, it still remained quiet. This inspired Sato to establish haccoba there, where he hopes to create a vibrant and youthful atmosphere once again. Sato had found that in the old days, Sake was in fact hopped just as beers were to help with preservation, a process known as Hanamoto. haccoba thus actively uses hops in its Sakes, and has more recently pursued Belgian beer brewing methods but applied to Sake, creating Belgian Lambic styled Craft Sake with the use of raspberries and blueberries.

Our pick: haccoba Hanamoto Bretta (Framboise)

It was such a wild ride from start to finish! Off the bat it's just so delightful with all these lovely flavours - although I must say the brett isn't particularly noticeable here - and then there's just all these little twists and turns to be discovered. It's compelling and engaging, and downright approachable!

Read our full review and tasting notes here: Taste Testing haccoba Hanamoto Bretta (Framboise)

4. LIBROM

Located in Fukuoka, LIBROM is founded by dynamic duo Shumpei Anami and Mitsuto Yagyu, who wanted to create Sakes that would resonate with younger fans, in response to the declining popularity of traditional Sakes in Japan. The pair had originally envisaged making Sakes in Italy, given their love for football, however the pandemic made them change plans - although today they have since also began brewing in Barbaresco, Italy, using local Italian rice. Together they produce a wide variety of Craft Sakes from using Cacao to Passionfruit and many more!

Our pick: LIBROM Strawberry

This was very interesting and very tasty, I honestly did not know what to expect, but here was a very approachable and sessionable combo of strawberry bubblegum and rice pudding - does that not sound like a damn good combo?

Read our full review and tasting notes here: LIBROM Strawberry Craft Sake Brewery | LIBROM リブロム ストロベリー 無濾過生原酒

5. Lagoon

Residing on the cusp of Japan’s great Fukushimagata lagoon which is beloved by locals as a serene nature reserve that is perfect for bird watching, this is perhaps the smallest Sake brewery in Japan! Founded by Yosuke Tanaka (who was once the marketing manager for Singapore-based football club Albirex Niigata FC), the brewery was met with great excitement when it debuted a Craft Sake that tasted like a Magherita Pizza! Lagoon continues to make Sakes with locally harvested fruit, from grapes to melons and strawberries.

Our pick: Lagoon Brewery Alcoholic Grapes Shoku Doburoku Craft Sake

It's fizzy and filled with big Kyoho grape gummies, yet unapologetically dry in a way that balances out the sweetness. This tastes much more cohesive and well-composed than the thought of combining grape juice and rice mash might sound!

Read our full review and tasting notes here: Taste Testing Lagoon Brewery Alcoholic Grapes Shoku Doburoku Craft Sake 

6. Puku Puku

Puku Puku literally translates into ‘pudgy’! Established by the co-founder of haccoba, Puku Puku’s goal is to help bring back farmland along the coast of Fukushima, by providing demand for local rice which is turned into Craft Sake. Puku Puku’s founder Tetsuyuki Tachikawa had studied Life and Environmental Sciences and now works with local Tohoku hops, leaning heavily into the Hanamoto process of creating hopped Sakes, just as you would find in craft beers.

Our Pick: Puku Puku Brewing ‘This Is It’ IPA Dry Hopped Craft Sake

This was such a delightful surprise - its just ridiculously tasty with all these fruits, striking a great balance between citrusy acidity and sweet tropical fleshy fruits, along with that absolute rustic purity that feels so fresh and raw.

Read our full review and tasting notes here: Taste Testing Puku Puku Brewing ‘This Is It’ IPA Dry Hopped Craft Sake 

7. Happy Taro

Kotaro Ikejima had spent 12 years specialising in making Koji at various Sake breweries, and thus wanted to share the beauty of Koji - from Sake to miso and soy sauces! Nicknamed Happy Taro, he would be invited to join a cultural hub in Nagahama whose mission is to spread the joy of fermentation. Ikejima would figure that he could best contribute and serve the mission by brewing Doburoku, made with local rice and water, to showcase harmony in the ecosystem. Given his deep expertise in fermentation, his Craft Sakes are highly culted!

Our Pick: Happytaro something happy Otowa's Kuromoji Doburoku

Herbaceous, sweet, savoury and fresh all at once! Theres a whole bouquet of fresh herbs that come to the palate - alongside lots of juicy greeness that brightness the sake. Super unique - and definitely a must try!

8. Hiraroku Craft Sake

Hirai Yuki comes from a 16-generation Sake brewing family, and restored his family’s heritage home to turn it into a Craft Sake brewery, working closely with the local Iwate Prefecture Industrial Technology Center to develop a completely new way of brewing Sake with local brown glutinous rice koji. He would also teach himself to cultivate rice so that he would understand the perspective of the farmers, and resolved to showcase through his Craft Sakes local ingredients such as fruits (like La France Pears), spices and herbs.

Our Pick: Hiraroku Layer Pear Craft Sake

This delivered perhaps the most beautiful interpretation of a pear we’ve come across, where the pear aromatics are delicately and elegantly flowing forth, really fresh and clean, without any heaviness, this purest pear essence, that's then cusped by this suppleness of doughy sweetness. At its core, it's giving pear pastry drizzled in honey before it's baked. It's aromatically and texturally so elegant!

Read our full review and tasting notes here: Hiraroku Craft Sake: In Iwate Prefecture's Little Shiwa Town, One Man Fights To Revive His Family's Century Old Brewery With The Help Of Craft Sake; Taste Testing The Hiraroku Layer Pear

Kanpai!

88 Bamboo Editorial Team