Word: sakes
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Importers are intoxicated by the rapid growth of what is now a $30 million market--at cost. While the number of Japanese breweries (kura) has dropped to 1,800 (from 2,400) over the past two decades--and is expected to fall to 600 by 2025--imported sake constitutes about 25% of the U.S. sake market by volume. Imports have risen from 10% to 15% a year for the past decade, and import volume in 2007 will be nearly twice what it was in 2002. Over the past five years, the average import cost of a liter has risen...
...Sake. Chances are you've heard of it. Chances might also be that you can't remember the first time you tasted it--or at least what ensued in the wake of a few generously poured ochoko, or ceramic cups. But after decades of the drink being sold--and mass-produced--in the U.S., America's acceptance of Japanese rice wine has matured beyond that of the warm tipple gulped by sushi-going Japanophiles to become a premium drink of choice, sipped with an Asian or a European food pairing or just chilled and enjoyed...
Previously dealing only in wine and spirits, many American importers are now self-proclaimed enthusiasts cum evangelists who are broadening their palates and expertise to include premium sake. Refrigerated containers, improved shipping logistics and an increasing number of importers forging business relationships with eager Japanese microbrewers from Hokkaido to Kyushu are turning the U.S. into what many have long predicted: sake's next big market. Distributors are expanding their portfolios to include a fourth beverage just for the divine drink, as jisake (premium sake) finds its way into more beverage programs across cuisines and states. There are roughly 600 registered...
...slice it, those are big numbers," says Ed Lehrman of Vine Connections, an importer of Argentine wine and Japanese sake based in Sausalito, Calif. "Sake is becoming more of a requirement as part of a complete program for distributors and major importers." Lehrman began as a wine connoisseur and marketer, tasting about 3,000 wines a year, before starting Vine Connections with wine partner Nick Ramkowsky and importing what has become a 12-brand sake portfolio, which accounts for about 30% of the company's sales. Lehrman says that sake's lack of tannin structure and its low acidity compared...
Three years ago, Henry Sidel, 39, traded the fast track of vodka imports for sake. The former Brooklyn Brewery general manager and marketing director of Millennium Import started Joto Sake, an import firm, with $250,000 in equity and a personal lust for the drink. "More sake is sold in the U.S. than French champagne," he says dryly, sitting in his warehouse office in Manhattan. "People think of sake as a niche category...