After Sushi, Japanese rice wine Sake set to make a splash in India, and tickle your taste buds
Seeing the huge potential in India, a growing number of Sake breweries from Japan are interested in inducing the demand for this healthy Japanese drink here.
NEW DELHI. A rising score of Japanese rice wine Sake breweries is inclined to make their foray into the Indian market where Sushi is already a popular name.
Sake is an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting rice that polished to remove its bran. and Sushi also – a Japanese dish, is made with vinegared rice and other ingredients.
Recently, a dozen Sake breweries, brewers and exporters from Japan accompanied with Miss SAKE 2019 Sae Haruta reached India to promote Sake amongst Indian foodies as well as Hoteliers.
They served the Indian guests different assortments of Sake such as sparkling, Ume-shu (plum sake), Ko-chu (aged sake), and Ginjo, along with a variety of Japanese cuisines.
Popular in India with Japanese and other expat communities till now, Sake is served in very select Japanese restaurants and top-of-the-line hotels serving Japanese food. It is also true that very few Indians have evolved the taste to try this healthy Japanese alcoholic beverage.
The Embassy of Japan in India seems to be working hard to raise awareness of Japanese food and Sake in India.
Recently, Japanese Ambassador in India Kenji Hiramatsu hosted “An Evening with Japanese Sake 2019” at New Delhi based Japanese embassy. It was the 3rd edition of the event, following the previous ones held in 2017 and 2018.
The uniqueness of the event was that for the first time such a huge number Sake breweries, brewers and exporters from Japan accompanied with Miss SAKE 2019’ reached India to promote Sake here.
While lauding the 9 Sake Breweries, one brewer and 2 exporters for their interest in India, Hiramatsu said, “They traveled all the way from Japan to Delhi to support us in materializing this event. The number of Sake Breweries participating in An Evening with Japanese Sake has more than doubled compared to 2018.”
Japan Airlines (JAL) and All Nippon Airlines (ANA) served the high-class sake, which is served onboard their flights, for this event, for the first time.
The Sake breweries that came to India included Katoukichibee Shouten (Fukui prefecture), Kobe Shu-Shin-Kan Breweries (Hyogo prefecture), Gassan Sake Brewery (Yamagata prefecture), Ozeki Corporation (Hyogo prefecture), Nagai Sake Inc. (Gunma prefecture), Ninki Inc. (Fukushima prefecture), Akita Seisyu Co. (Akita prefecture), Endo Syuzoujyo (Nagano prefecture), Muromachi Syuzo (Okayama prefecture) and Miyazakihonten (Mie prefecture).
The Sake exporters Belluna (Saitama prefecture) and Solid (Osaka prefecture) and sake brewers interacted with the Indian hotel buyers and importers before the Sake tasting session.
“When we started this event three years ago, it was difficult to find Sake in India even if you wanted to enjoy it. But, now, we are able to enjoy this traditional Japanese drink in many restaurants and hotels,” said the ambassador.
In India, Sake is majorly imported to the tune of 99% and hardly 1% is produced by the fledgling home brewing community. In the year 2017, India imported 69 lakh liters of Sake.
A massive trend globally, Sake consumption in India is comparatively very low. And most of the outlets serving Sake, face hurdles like high import duty, price point and lack of awareness.
More Indian restaurants to serve Sake:
However, owing to a rising number of Indians traveling to Japan and acquiring the taste of Sake while mixing up with Japanese communities for business or other purposes, more Indian restaurants in India are planning to start serving Sake along with Japanese and continental cuisines.
“We have set up Madam Gusto a food outlet in Gurugram and serve continental cuisines including Japanese. Soon, we are going to start serving Sake here after we get the liquor license. Sake is though popular with Japanese but now many Indians especially the ones traveling to Japan too have started acquiring its taste,” said Sanjiv Puri, the promoter of Himanshu Resorts Pvt Ltd. that owns a chain of restaurants Italiano and hotel Pine Chrest.
Another restauranteur Saurabh Sondhi, who ran Japanese restaurants Gohan in Gurgaon for decades, has associated with two of their Japanese friends Tamio Sugiura and Hitoshi Makino, set up all-Japanese restaurant Irasshai serving Sanuki udon (讃岐うどん) noodle with live kitchen concept at Golf Course Road too has plans to start serving Sake and Shochus, which is a rice, sweet potato or wheat-based healthy alcoholic beverage.
