Sake that spreads all over the world. While exports are growing, some people brew locally.

For the first time this year, an overseas brewery was invited to the "SAKE COMPETITION " competition to decide "the most delicious sake in Japan" whose results were announced the other day. Five breweries from the United States, one brewery in Canada, and one brewery in Norway participated, and a total of 21 foreign sakes were lined up at the judging venue.


The history of sake brewing in the United States is sparse, and recently there are some small individual makers. However, it is not well known that "SAKE" is made in Europe as well.

We talked to Norwegian Nogne O (Nugne Ø / "o" has a stroke) company who came to Japan at the jury of the salmon competition.

■ Europe's first sake brewery

Nuugne Eu is Europe's first sake brewery and Norway's largest craft beer maker. He has been producing beer since 2003 and sake since 2010.

The reason was that when the founder, who was a pilot, visited Japan, he became obsessed with sake. Now, a person from Canada who has participated as a brewer since the company was founded is brewing in a corner of the beer factory.

■ "Powerful" taste

The taste is "strong and powerful," says Kaori Ishii, a sales representative. Using a technique called "mountain abandonment," all the ingredients are prepared by hand. The rice is "Ginfu" from Hokkaido. Because it uses Norwegian meltwater, the sake is refreshing and crisp.

It seems that it is better to have a strong acidity and dryness so that it can be combined with local dishes such as game.

■ Severe Norwegian liquor situation

Sake is still not well known in Norway. One reason for this is the very strict crackdown on alcohol.

In Norway, liquor with a higher alcohol content than beer can only be sold by the state-owned private corporation. The liquor tax is high and the sales time is limited.

In addition, all liquor promotions are illegal. For example, uploading a photo of drinking alcohol at an event on SNS is also considered as a promotion and is illegal. Last year, it was finally allowed to "put mere product information". It's that strict.

In addition, there was no category to which sake was applied. Initially, "fruit wine" was assigned, and after negotiations, a department called "sake" was created in February. However, Norwegians seem to have a strong perception that "liquor = aquavit (traditional strong distilled liquor)", and it is difficult for them to accept sake.

Under such circumstances, the company is repeating steady activities such as holding tasting events at restaurants. It is also working on cruise ships that sail around the area. And recently, Scandinavian Airlines' flights to Tokyo, which connects each country to Northern Europe, have begun offering pure rice liquor. “I think there is a lot of room for growth, because if you grow a little, it will increase by 10%,” laughs Ishii.

Currently, the annual production is about 7,000 liters. It is also exported to European countries. “We can offer the freshest sake to Europe, so we serve seasonal raw sake and grated sake,” says Ishii. Much shorter distances than Japan or the United States seem to be their weapon.

■ Spreading sake brewing

Sake brewing is spreading throughout Europe. It is said that there are already two warehouses in Spain and a move to create warehouses in France and England. With the emergence of rivals, the pride of the pioneer Nuugne is to be able to bring out aged "old sake" to the world. He also exhibited at this salmon competition.


Nogne O means "naked island" in English. From here, the label of the company's sake is written in Chinese characters as "naked island." In Japan, it can be purchased online as well as at some retail stores. Unfortunately, I couldn't drink it at the time of the interview, but if you are interested, please try it. It is recommended to combine it with meat.