WSET to tap into surging Sake interest

The Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET) is to launch a qualification devoted to Sake in August this year following a series of seminars in the UK and USA, starting this month.

The WSET Level 3 Award in Sake will launch in August 2014. Photo credit: japazoo.com

News of the new qualification, called the WSET Level 3 Award in Sake, follows reports of a growing demand for Sake in bars and restaurants in the US and UK.

Indeed, as previously reported by the drinks business, in July last year The Hakkasan Group introduced a one-day Sake course to tap into a growing demand for the Japanese drink among UK diners.

Unlike the Hakkasan course however, the WSET course will provide attendees with a globally recognised qualification and will be supported by the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture and the Sake and Shochu Producer’s Association.

The Japanese Ministry of Agriculture is also supporting the training of WSET educators in Japan prior to the qualification launch.

Included in the WSET sake course will be the impact of production choices on style quality and price, how to read the label, and how to describe and evaluate sake, as well as providing insight into the industry structure from rice production to point of sale.

“Interest in Sake continues to grow internationally, and in several of WSET’s largest markets this interest has reached the point where the industry really needs access to high quality training in this fascinating and unique product,” said Antony Moss, WSET’s director of strategic planning.

The WSET Level 3 Award in Sake will be available in selected international markets from August 2014 following pilots in the UK and USA.

Ahead of the launch, the WSET is running a series of short introductory seminars with London-based restaurant groups and distributors who are interested in placing more emphasis on their Japanese sake portfolios.

Filming Sake production for the new qualification