Our Online Store is currently under reconstruction. We will make an announcement once we are back open! For inquiries, call (510) 540-8250 or email us at info@takarasake.com.

  • A single bottle of Hana Flavored Sake Yuzu

    HANA Flavored Sake YUZU

    New Exciting YUZU Flavors!
    This exotic sake bursts with aromas of
    tangy Japanese, YUZU.
    Brewed in Berkeley, CA

     

    Explore HANA Flavored Sake
  • A single bottle of Sho Chiku Bai REI Junmai Daiginjo.

    Sho Chiku Bai Sake

    The Best of Nature in Each Takara Product.
    Try our Sho Chiku Bai REI Junmai Daiginjo today!
    Brewed in Berkeley, CA

     

    Explore Sake
  • A collection of bottles from Takara Sake's beverages.

    Sho Chiku Bai

    Virtual Sake Tasting

    Buy a Set and Register for the Zoom Tasting Sessions

    Virtual Sake Tasting
  • Sho Chiku Bai

    Shirakabegura
    Kimoto Junmai

    Gold Award Winning Premium Sake
    from Gold Award Winning Brewery
    for 13 Consecutive Years.

    EXPLORE IMPORTED SAKE
  • A single bottle of Sho Chiku Bai Premium Ginjo Sake

    Sho Chiku Bai Sake

    The Essence of Exquisite
    Great pairing moments should be celebrated!

     

    Sake and Food Pairing
  • Defining Junmai Sake Tradition and Flavor

    Award Winning Sho Chiku Bai Classic Junmai Sake is a Brewer's Art.

    EXPLORE SAKE MAKING PROCESS
  • A single bottle of Honkaku Shochu Ikkomon.

    Honkaku Shochu

    IKKOMON

    IMO (sweetpotatos)100%. Single-distillation shochu.

    Savory and mouthwatering.

    EXPLORE SHOCHU
  • 3 bottles of Kyoto Junmai of various sizes, from largest to smallest.

    Sho Chiku Bai

    KYOTO JUNMAI

    Brewed with Fushimizu water,
    the famously superb water found
    in Fushimi, Kyoto's historical sake
    producing region.

    EXPLORE IMPORTED SAKE
  • 3 bottles of Sho Chiku Bai SHO Premium Sake.

    Sho Chiku Bai SHO Premium Sake

    Our Terroir, Our Tradition, Your New Companion. Distinct expressions of premium sake. Available in Junmai Ginjo, Junmai Organic, and Ginjo Nigori.

    EXPLORE OUR HISTORY
  • Tasting Room & Museum

    Our Tasting Room offers unparalled sake
    and memorable experience.

     

    Visit Us

Featured Products

True Elegance Starts With a Single Kernel of Rice.

Sake Online Store

Are you searching for a flavorful, trendy drink to delight your taste buds? Whether you want a new kind of beverage to pair with dinner, an exotic drink to serve at your special occasion or a unique alcohol to add to your palate, sake is something to try.

As Japan's traditional alcohol, sake — or rice wine — is a beverage gaining interest and popularity in the American culinary sphere. Like wine, whiskey, sherry or beer, it's a delicacy you can pair with your meals, taste-test for your favorite style and develop a special appreciation for. Wondering how to try sake and where you can find both domestic and imported sake? Takara Sake USA makes it simple. Browse our sake online store today.

 

About Takara Sake USA

As America's number-one sake company, Takara Sake USA is more than an imported sake store — we're our own national product of unique American sake that’s combined with Japanese tradition. Established in 1983 in Berkeley, California, we’ve brought centuries-old experience, knowledge and tried-and-true tradition from Japan, using it to develop our own American production method. Today, we pride ourselves on blending an ancient tradition with progressive, modern technology. The result is the highest degree of quality and success in our original sake.

While high-quality premium Junmai sake is our key focus, we also produce original flavored sake, mirin (gourmet seasoning sake), plum wine and malt beverages such as J POP. Additionally, we import carefully selected Junmai sake and Shochu (distilled spirits) from Japan. What’s more, we are a prominent source of industrial scale sake and mirin in America, as well. Our imported sake website is an excellent place to learn about and purchase the various products we offer.

Learn More

 

About Sake Making Process

Our junmai sake production acheives a delicate balance between traditional sake-making craftsmanship and advanced sake brewing technology.

Find out more

The Sake Brewing Process

1 Brown Rice
2 Polishing Rice
3 Washing Rice
4 Soaking Rice
5 Steaming Rice
6 Koji Making
7 Yeast Starter (Shubo) Making
8 Main Mash (Moromi) Making
9 Pressing
10 Filtration
11 Pasteurization
12 Aging
13 Bottling & Shipping

 

Learn More About Sake Brewing

 

About Sake

Sake is a national drink of Japan and also a window into the extraordinary spirit of Japanese craftsmanship and intricate layers of Japan’s culture. Takara Sake USA inherited such spirit and tradition, and we have successfully managed to adapt and adjust to the local climate and ingredients of California to provide freshly brewed premium sake for the American market today.

Sake is fermented from four basic ingredients: water, rice, a microbe called koji and yeast. Brewing just the right batch of sake takes skill, precision and patience. While “sake” is the term Americans often use to describe as a Japanese rice wine, the method of brewing sake is different from wine or beer. Here at Takara Sake USA, we use a careful production method to bring you the best flavor and quality sake in the country. Our process involves:

  • Washing, soaking and steaming the finest polished local rice
  • Masterfully cultivating koji to provide starch-converting enzymes that break down rice starch into sugar (saccharification). There are many different cultivation methods, and they depend on the type of sake being brewed.
  • Making precision fermentation starter (moto) with yeast. Sake yeast will turn sugar into alcohol (fermentation). Similar to koji cultivation, there are many different methods, and the one used depends on which sake is being brewed.
  • Creating and overseeing main fermentation mash (moromi) over two to four weeks for the fullest flavor under supreme quality control methods. In this main mash, both saccharification and fermentation happen simultaneously. This process is called multiple parallel fermentation, and it is very unique to sake production.
  • Pressing, filtering and pasteurizing to achieve desirable characteristics of sake and to maintain stable quality.
  • Aging for three to six months to mellow the rough edges of each batch and to balance out the flavors before bottling.

 

Types of Sake

Like wine or beer, sake tastes come in many varieties — each with its own intensity, intricacies and unique flavor and aroma profile. That means sake can pair well with a wide variety of foods, not only with light foods like fish and seafood, but also with rich or spicy food around the world. Sake can be full-bodied, fragrant, rich, dry and more. The most common types of sake styles include:

  • Junmai: Translating to "pure rice," Junmai sake in its purest form, with no artificial sugars, no additives and no use of brewer’s alcohol. Made from rice, water, koji and yeast, it offers a full-bodied, savory flavor with acidity. Any type of sake that has “Junmai” in its name means it does not contain brewer’s alcohol.
  • Tokubetsu Junmai: This means “special junmai.” This sake variety is still brewed only from rice, water, koji and yeast, but the rice is polished down to 60% (or less), and some noteworthy production method was used. It is well-balanced sake with earthy complexity.
  • Junmai Ginjo: The term “ginjo” means carefully selected and brewed. This type of sake is defined by a rice polishing ratio of 60% or less, and the Ginjikomi method of brewing is used — extremely cool conditions and longer fermentation period. This type of sake has delicate fruity and floral aromas (Ginjo-ka) and often offers a smooth, light and refreshing taste.
  • Junmai Daiginjo: “Dai” means great or greater. With junmai daiginjo sake, rice is further polished down to 50% or less of the weight of original kennel, utilizing only the true core of each rice grain for fermentation. Together with low temperature fermentation for a longer period (Ginjikomi), this labor intensive production of sake requires the utmost precision. This variety is known for its floral and fruity aromas (Ginjo-ka).
  • Nama: Using micro-filtering instead of pasteurizing, the “raw or draft sake” is young and fresh in flavor. It is vibrant, even a bit nutty and often earthy complexity.
  • Nigori: Meaning "cloudy or hazy sake." This bold, sweet sake is coarsely filtered (often labeled unfiltered) to let some of the rice solids remain in the liquid. This gives this sake variety its distinctive milky white appearance.
  • Genshu: This variety is undiluted with water, so it keeps its original maximum alcohol content of about 19 percent. It provides a rich, full-bodied flavor.

 

Shop Takara Sake USA Online Today

When you're looking for an original Junmai sake or flavored sake website or store, look no farther than the Takara Sake USA website. We offer a wide selection of the finest sake both brewed in Berkeley, CA and imported from Japan. Browse our selection of products, find sake suited to your tastes and make your purchase online today. You'll savor every sip.

We also are one of America's top sake breweries in the nation. Our brewery in Berkley, CA is complete with a tasting room serving sake flights and a sake history museum for you learn more about the fermentation process and creation of Japenese sake. After your tasting is done you can buy your favorite bottle of sake right from our store!

 

Browse Our Selection Of Products

Visit Us

Our Tasting Room offers a selection of sake tasting flights through which you can experience the quality and range of Sho Chiku Bai products.

Learn More