Sake Industry News. Issue #139.

Welcome to Issue#139 of SIN.

When one comes to the world of sake and learns of the different types of grades, ingredient limits, rice inspections, production guidelines, labeling rules and other such fine print involved in sake production, the common question that comes up is: who decides and monitors all this?

The short answer is: the National Tax Agency.

Another common question is: do they ever actually check?

Again, the short answer is: yes.

A couple of months ago a rather well-known brewery was forced to make a public apology on its website for discrepancies and inaccuracies in label descriptions.

*Two sake were found to have incorrect seimaibuai listing (rice milling ratio was in fact lower than listed, disqualifying the sake from ginjō status).

*Three sake were found to have incorrect rice content (ie. the sake in question contained less Yamada Nishiki than was listed on the bottle).

*One sake was not accurately labeled as “seishu”.

Although the brewery didn’t specify as to whether the mistakes were discovered by its own staff or whether it was the result of NTA investigation, it is highly possible that such specific errors (none of which actually erred on the side of benefitting the consumer) were picked up by a NTA inspection.

Inspections do happen. It could have been an innocent mistake that the brewery noticed or it could have been picked up by an inspection. In the case of the latter, it’s doubtful the brewery would reveal so.

Either way, if you - or consumers ever have concerns about the quality control of sake production, rest assured it extends beyond the brewery's responsibility and can be and occasionally is undertaken by the Taxman.

*SIN does not feel the need to name the brewery in question as the point of this is not to shame or embarrass, but to merely illustrate that the sake industry is strictly monitored and mistakes can and do happen.

And now, here’s the news…

Sake Prices - Look At ‘Em Go!

Hyogo- The hits keep on coming as Nihonsakari joins the ranks of big breweries announcing sweeping price rises amid rice shortages and raw material cost increases.

The brewery will be raising the price on as many as 100 SKUs in the company’s portfolio on all shipments from October 1. Nihonsakari expects retail prices to increase by 5-15% and is placing the blame on soaring rice prices and rising logistics costs.