JAPAN DRINKS: From Sushi to Sake?

WHETHER it’s manga or Mazda, geisha or gadgets, shiatsu or sudoku – it seems that the British just can’t get enough of Japan’s cultural exports. Many elements of Japanese lifestyle have translated into fashionable trends in the UK, gradually entering our mainstream culture and affecting our consumption patterns.

We only need to look at the growth of the Japanese food sector in the last ten years. Fashionable restaurant brands like Nobu and conveyor belt chains like Itsu and Yo! Sushi first arrived on the London dining scene in 1997. Now platters of sushi and sashimi happily sit beside baguettes and BLTs in mainstream sandwich shops and supermarkets. In fact, you are as likely to find a sushi bar as a fish and chip shop these days. According to a recent report from Euromonitor International, the number of Japanese eateries in the UK rose by almost 50% between 1999 and 2005, with “consumers turning their attention more towards premium, healthy and exotic food offerings”.

Those same motives are driving a discovery of Japanese drinks, although we’ve been much slower in developing a taste for them. “Green tea is the most significant drink to come in from Japan,” says Ian Bell, senior UK market analyst for Euromonitor. In 2005, sales of green tea reached £12.5 million, growing by a staggering 316% in five years as evidence of its health benefits emerged. Bell also points to number one Japanese beer brand Asahi as another drink to hit mainstream Britain: “Asahi has generated good consumer awareness and is now widely available across the country in chains like Wagamama.”

Access all areas
Modern lifestyles and more widespread travel mean we are more exposed to exotic products and are developing cosmopolitan tastes. There’s also a strong multi-cultural context at home, particularly with the influence of a global city like London. Yet beer and tea are British staples and provide a familiar starting point, which shows that a degree of accessibility for the consumer is still needed.

The more general trends of expanding wine knowledge and food and drink pairing are also significant stepping stones to encouraging experimentation. Strong Japanese food offerings have provided opportunities for specialist but non-Japanese drinks to enter the market, such as Oroya, a white wine from Freixenet specifically created to provide an accessible drink match for sushi and Japanese food. The kanji lettering on the bottle clearly state its intention as a match for sushi but it’s also capitalising on more general oriental dining trends and the popularity of wine.

Maligned and misunderstood
Authentic Japanese sake treads on much more unfamiliar ground so only started to register on the UK drinks radar in the last three years. 2004 was the breakthrough year with Zuma, a premium Japanese restaurant in London, installing the country’s first sake sommelier to inform diners. It was also the year that Isaké launched, importing quality Japanese sakes. The company was started by two French sommeliers working in London, Xavier Chapelou and Jean-Louis Naveilhan, along with Japanese sake ambassador Kumiko Ohta. What this trio brought to the market was enthusiasm and knowledge to educate consumers, plus accessible packaging with English explanations and an eye-catching manga design.

Previously, sake got lost in translation due to lack of product education. Those who had tried it recalled the warm, soupy firewater served up at countless oriental restaurants in small vials that made you feel vile the next morning. However, in many cases this was cheap Chinese or Korean distillate – a world away from the purity and delicate flavour of authentic Japanese sake, which is a rice wine with an ABV of only 12-16%. It is also additive, sulphite and preservative free, with half the sugar and acid of wine – all attractive attributes for health-conscious consumers.

Sancerre style

As well as re-labelling existing sakes, Isaké also created its own product for European palates called Isaké Premium. “It’s lemony, fresh and easy-drinking – something like a Sancerre wine,” explains Naveilhan. In fact, in an unusual twist to the trend, Isaké Premium is now being launched in Tokyo. The Japanese have a great respect for European wine and are curious to see what our palates enjoy in terms of sake.

This concept of using wine as a benchmark to explain the different styles and flavours provided a breakthrough for conveying sake’s versatility. Isaké has held workshops pairing French, Italian  and Indian food – ­and even desserts – to show that sake doesn’t have to be reserved for accompanying Japanese food. Isaké’s latest product is an unusual red sake made from naturally red rice that tastes much more like red wine. “We wanted something to make people think differently about sake,” Chapelou explains. 

Spirited away
A thirst for new taste experiences has also boosted interest in Japanese whisky. Hibiki and Yamazaki are the most successful whisky brands in the UK market for Japanese drinks giant Suntory, but now enthusiasts are also focusing on lesser-known gems. “There has been a gradual but steady increase in interest in whisky from Japan over the last five years,” explains Marcin Miller, founder of new Japanese whisky importer, Number One Drinks Company. “I first came across Japanese whiskies in 1999 and started covering them enthusiastically in Whisky Magazine,” he continues. “Yet despite positive press and a growing reputation for remarkable finesse and balance, the Japanese have been coy about sharing their whisky with the world, so I felt it was time to address this.”

Ichiro’s Malts, the first series of whiskies that Number One has imported from a now defunct distillery, are made very much in the Scottish single malt style and whisky enthusiasts are curious to try them. However, there has also been some initial interest from the on-trade for their more general appeal; a high quality, stylish and unusual spirit.

Mixologists, in their permanent quest for new ingredients, have also picked up on the Japanese drinks trend, using sake to create exotic Asian cocktails, a fashion that has slowly begun to spread outside Asian-themed venues and bars away from London. Wokka Saki, an accessible blend of vodka and sake that launched in 2005 is listed in bars across the country, although it remains within premium venues and more cosmopolitan locations. Shochu – the ancient Japanese spirit distilled from rice, potato, barley or soba – is also beginning to prove popular in London bars, with fruit-infused shochu promoted as a healthy option.

A healthy future?

It’s this health trend that gives the most positive outlook for the future of Japanese drinks in the UK, as this has driven continued success in more mature markets like America and Australia. However, the concentration of activity within the UK capital, as well as the premium end of the market, leads Bell to take a more reserved view. “I think it will remain a very specialist, niche area,” he says. “We live in a fickle world where consumer interest is increasingly fragmented and other Asian countries like Vietnam, Thailand and China are now coming in,” he continues. “Placing Japanese drinks within the wider context of drinks sales in the UK, it’s still a drop in the ocean.” 

So, it seems unlikely that we will ever see a bottle of sake in every bar, but then that might be for the best… enthusiastic consumption might just convince us to revive our enthusiasm for karaoke. Now that’s one Japanese export that really should have remained lost in translation.

 Â© db March 2007