16-06-2025
American Sake Is Having a Major Moment
'Oak, coconut, candy dots.' That's how Alyssa Mikiko DiPasquale, owner of Boston sake bar Koji Club, describes Needs of Many, a canned sake made by Farthest Star in rural Medfield, Massachusetts, an hour's drive away. Another, Class M ('roasted chestnuts, shiitake mushrooms, custard') would go well with a smashburger, she muses, or a side of spicy potato chips—and both can go toe-to-toe with any of Japan's traditional brews.
American sake is having a moment. The seeds for a domestic industry were planted when US farmers started growing sushi rice in the 1990s, and it's flourished alongside the global rise of Japanese cuisine and the thirst for sake to sip alongside it. Dassai, arguably Japan's most famous high-end brand, opened Dassai Blue, a 55,000-square-foot facility, in 2023 in Hyde Park, New York, to make its products using American water and rice. And last year the US became Japan's largest sake export market by volume. Shipments surged 23% from 2023, driven by fine-dining demand, according to the Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association. (China remains Japan's largest sake export market by value.)
