A weekly letter about craft sake: the new American breweries, the Japanese kura that have been at it for centuries, and what's actually worth drinking. Every issue lists its sources.
issue
Oct 31, 2026
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4 min read
Kentucky's first sake brewery, a junmai with tentacles on the label, and why American sake can never be nihonshu.
Oct 22, 2026
3 min read
Hideyoshi has been brewing in Akita since 1689. Plus a $10 can that sneaks up on you and a horchata sake cocktail for fall.
Oct 15, 2026
Shōjō's Dojo in Miami, a $5 yuzu can from Brooklyn Kura, and the side doors Japan's newest brewers use.
Oct 9, 2026
5 min read
Our first Field Notes, from Sake Block in St. Petersburg, FL, plus a 1980 bottle that brought ginjo to everyday drinkers and why a Nashville brewer recreates Japanese water.
Oct 1, 2026
6 min read
Happy World Sake Day: a Virginia brewer's bet on American rice, a bottle from an Asheville auto shop, and the mold that makes sake possible.
Sep 24, 2026
An Akita brewery founded in 1487 and a Nashville brewer, both betting on the slowest way to start a sake.
Sep 17, 2026
The letter that saved Moriki Shuzo, a bottle from Arkansas, and what a polishing ratio actually buys you.
Sep 11, 2026
7 min read
Issue 006 — what the industry said on Industry Day, a Niigata sake aged three years in snow, and why sake has no sulfites
Sep 3, 2026
Issue 005 — the American Craft Sake Fest, a doburoku from Covina, and why rice is the headache
Jul 23, 2026
Issue 004 — Atsuo Sakurai, Holbrook, and why the grades are not a ranking
Jul 16, 2026
Issue 003 — how an American brewery actually got sake into Japan
Jul 9, 2026
Issue 002 — every published count disagrees, so here is ours and the rule behind it
Jul 2, 2026
Issue 001 — Japan closed the door, and the brewers went somewhere else
