This month I reached out to Justin Potts to talk about Japan’s drinking culture, specifically, sake and shochu. Justin’s background, having worked in support of organic agriculture at Roppongi Nouen (one of the first farm-to-table restaurants in Tokyo), then as a sake brewer at Kidoizumi, and now as the host of “Sake on Air” (a podcast that discusses all things sake and shochu), placed him right in the center of the spirits world and made him the perfect person to chat with. But our conversation didn’t focus as much on the beverages themselves, instead we chatted about the changing landscape of the sake (and shochu) industry and what we can look forward to in the years to come. I've shared high-level takeaways from our conversation, but be sure to listen to the full interview on Soundcloud for a more in-depth discussion.
Justin brewing sake at Kidoizumi.
Sake - also known as Nihonshu, is a rice-based wine, it’s main ingredients are koji (mold), rice, water, and yeast. This spirit is drunk like wine.
Shochu - is a distilled spirit that can be made out of almost anything, sweet potatoes and barley are very popular base ingredients. This spirit is drunk like vodka.
Sake Consumption Declining Alongside Depopulation
Something we haven’t covered in this newsletter is Japan’s decreasing population—the country hit a population high in 2008 (Japan Times, 2018), but has been steadily declining since. Between 2010 and 2017 the population shrank by 1.4 million people. And it is projected that by 2065 the population will be about 88 million, which was the same size as Japan’s population in the early 1950s. This isn’t a problem unique to Japan, countries including Italy, Spain, and Korea are all facing similar declines. With the declining population, we are also seeing a trend of individuals moving from the countryside to the city as individuals seek jobs with high earning potential and growth opportunities.
So how does this relate to sake?? Historically, sake producers served their local community, most of what they produced was consumed by the local population. But as more and more people move away from the countryside producers can no longer survive off of their local consumers. Instead, brewers have to find ways to stimulate demand for their products in restaurants and bars in the cities. But it's not only the declining population that is threatening the breweries, there is also a shortage of staff to make the product. Sake has a very time-intensive brewing process which requires night and day maintenance -- it’s hard to recruit someone into the business when their work is so seasonal, doesn't pay very much, and doesn't offer many opportunities for growth.
Image thanks to Kuro Kura
Coronavirus Hits the Sake Industry
One thing that surprised me when I first visited a sake brewery was that it wasn't in a scenic location, it felt very industrial, just focused on production. I had thought they would be more like wineries, idyllically placed in the center of acres of vineyards. But in Japan, the individuals that brew sake are not the same people that grow rice. Instead, rice growers and sake brewers have a very close-knit relationship relying on one another for information and raw materials. Each year the brewers finalize contracts with the rice producers for their rice between February to April, just at the same time that coronavirus was starting to impact Japan's economy. With many bars and restaurants closed, the sake breweries hadn't been able to sell all the product they had made the season prior.
The brewers were faced with a hard decision, should they purchase rice to make sake, even though they are already holding a lot of bottles that they are unable to sell? Or should they sit this year out and risk not having the rice producer to work with next year because the farmer had to switch rice varieties (from sake rice to table rice) to provide more consistent income, or even worse, they went out of business because they didn’t have enough clients? It’s such a gamble and will definitely impact what is produced in the years to come.
Image thanks to All About Japan
Looking Forward
No one knows what the future holds, but I have no doubt that our beloved sake and shochu producers will find a way to navigate these challenging times and that even as demand for their product in Japan decreases they’ll be able to find new markets abroad.
Since being in lockdown, I’ve actually attended a few different online tasting sessions hosted by Simone Maynard (@sakemistress). She’s hosted events with brewers and is helping to connect sake enthusiasts around the world with delicious Japanese sake. I highly recommend you look into her Facebook page and try to join one of the upcoming events.
Take a listen to my conversation with Justin, more than just a conversation about a beverage this month got us thinking about what does the future of the spirit’s industry look like, how will it overcome these challenges, and even more interestingly, how will this global moment shape the taste of what we drink in the future, could it lead to more aged sakes? More bubbly sake? Maybe even Japan will get on the hard seltzer (White Claw) train like America?
