From paddy to palate, sake contest comes to Honolulu

For the first time, winners of next month’s annual U.S. National Sake Appraisal, staged by the Honolulu-based International Sake Association, will bear gold or silver emblems trumpeting their success from store shelves in Japan and the U.S.

Launched in 2001, the event is the largest sake appraisal outside Japan and will see some 326 sakes brought to Hawaii for assessment by five judges from the mainland and five from Japan.

That the emblems the winning brews will bear are bestowed in Hawaii is a pretty big deal, said Chris Pearce, association programs coordinator. The late Takao Nihei, longtime brewmaster at Honolulu Sake Brewery, was instrumental in the 1987 establishment of the association, incorporated as Kokusai Sake Kai Inc.

Judges spend two full days evaluating the sakes according to an intricate system in which all 10 judges sip from the same cup — to eliminate any possible taste differences resulting from using different vessels. Some judges don’t spit out the sake they’re assessing.

What this means to the general public, is the post-appraisal opportunity to taste the gold- and silver-medal winners and all the others at the annual Joy of Sake event Sept. 9 at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel. Fifteen Oahu restaurants have created appetizers especially for the event, from Banzai Sushi Bar and Chai’s Island Bistro to Umami Cafe and Yoshi-ya, along with Cakeworks’ dessert item. Pre-sale tickets are $80, but they’ll be $90 at the door.

"Attendance isn’t cheap, but it’s not cheap to put on an event either," Pearce said.

This year’s event also will raise funds for the families that own 12 breweries in Japan that in the March earthquake and tsunami "were either destroyed or so badly damaged that they had to be rebuilt," he said.

About 170 of the sakes to be appraised this year are not even available in the U.S., so the Joy of Sake event will be the only opportunity in Hawaii to sample a sip. New Yorkers will get their chance in October, and then in November the Joy of Sake event goes to Japan — the motherland — for the first time. The San Francisco event, launched in 2004, is on hiatus this year.

Of the 326 sakes that will be judged in four categories, about 20 percent to 25 percent may be deemed worthy of a gold emblem, while a similar number likely will win a silver emblem, Pearce said.

The "finest sakes you can drink" sell for $50 to $60 a liter in Japan, perhaps $100 in the U.S. "Compared to the finest wines, it’s a steal."

Bottles, bargain or otherwise, that win a gold or silver, will bear the emblem designed by former Hawaii resident Ryo Urano, the artist behind the orchid in the Halekulani swimming pool, among other images.

From a low of 1.2 million liters of sake imported to the U.S. from Japan in 1995, imports have increased to an all-time high of 4.1 million in 2008, according to the association. Imports declined to 3.3 million in 2009 but are again rising, with 3.8 million liters imported in 2010. Sake imports for the first six months of the year are 6.78 percent ahead of the January through June period last year.

"A gold medal is to recognize, not the winner of the whole event, but achievement of a certain level of excellence, of quality," Pearce said. For most people to appreciate sake, "they have to have a sake epiphany," Pearce added. That would be, tasting a sake they find "so delicious, so delightful … that the sake world opens up to them."

The Joy of Sake event "really does provide an opportunity for that kind of epiphany."

Reach Erika Engle at erika@staradvertiser.com.