Sake brewer develops new flavours for new fans with Japanese drink’s exports set to boom

When Imada Sake Brewing master brewer Miho Imada presented a sake inspired by local seafood to a sommelier from Hong Kong, she asked for pairing suggestions. The answer was surprising: braised pork trotters.

Sake has been enjoying an international boom that is bringing in new fans and food combinations. Even as domestic consumption of Japan’s national drink continues its long decline, the volume exported in 2024 was up 90 per cent over 10 years ago.

Aided by the addition of the traditional knowledge and skills used in sake brewing to Unesco’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list in December, this overseas bonanza is giving a shot in the arm to regional brewers like Imada Shuzo, as the brewery is commonly known.

In the quiet port town of Akitsu, facing the Seto Inland Sea, Imada Shuzo produces its Fukucho brand of sake, of which around 30 per cent of sales come from exports.

Imada Shuzo’s Seafood Junmai sake (second from left) among other varieties from the sake brewer. Photo: Imada Shuzo

The brewery’s efforts to export started with the United States in the late 1990s. Today, Imada Shuzo exports to around 20 countries with Canada, South Korea, Singapore and France among them.

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