Issue #5. Changes To Licensing Legislation, New Hokkaido brewery, Specially Designed Nama Keg, Regional Competition Results, Omachi history

Issue #5. Know More. Appreciate More.

Government Proposes Changes To Licensing Legislation

Tokyo- The sake industry was hit with some surprising news this month with the announcement that the Japanese government may be considering applications for new brewing licenses from enterprises looking to produce nihonshu. To date, brewing licenses for sake have been notoriously difficult (nay impossible) to obtain for applicants outside the industry due to the overall decline of local consumption of sake and the rigid conditions attached. For the most part new licenses have only been available to companies already brewing sake that are looking to expand their facilities.

The change in heart is motivated by the increasing growth in exports of sake to the rest of the world, to the point that the proposed new licenses will come with an interesting stipulation - that the sake produced under said license is to be for export purposes only.

Sake currently occupies less than one percent of the global liquor market but with exports growing, t…