Serving sake with a side of learning

Home-grown company Makoto-Ya is offering tutored tasting sessions at its annual Sake Inn Warehouse Sale

- Tan Hsueh Yun

If there seems to be a hive of activity surrounding sake in Singapore, it is not by accident.

More restaurants are adding sake to their beverage lists.

In March, Singapore's first micro sake brewery - Orchid Craftworks - opened in Jurong, producing sake made with Japanese rice and filtered tap water.

In September, sake distributor Adrian Goh, 42, became the first Singaporean to be named a Sake Samurai by the Japan Sake Brewers Association Junior Council. Since 2006, the title has been given to about 100 sake professionals around the world for promoting the understanding and appreciation of the alcoholic beverage.

He and other Singaporeans, including chef Willin Low, have partnered Japanese sake breweries to make their own sake.

According to Statista - a worldwide provider of market and consumer data - in 2023, Singapore was the sixth-largest market for sake outside Japan in terms of value; after China, the United States, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan.