Before I saw the sake, I heard the bass. At Sake Park, held last month at Tokyo Midtown’s Canopy Plaza, the mood was festive: curated eats, live DJ sets and crowds drifting from tent to tent, tasting cups in hand.
I started with a pour from the award-winning Heiwa Shuzo brewery from Wakayama Prefecture, moved on to a sanshō (Japanese pepper)-laced craft brew from Ine To Agave, and sampled a lychee-and-peach-scented Thai rice wine from Thai maker Devanom. I then visited a booth dedicated to the Noto region, where breweries damaged by the Jan. 1, 2024, earthquake are sustaining their production by borrowing other producers’ facilities.
Sake Park, which featured 30 breweries, coincided with Washu Fes, another sake festival, in Nakameguro. Meanwhile, Craft Sake Week returns to Roppongi Hills Arena on April 17, bringing together 130 breweries for an almost two-week run. That same weekend, Furusato Gourmet Terrace’s Tohoku Festival arrives in Okachimachi district, while Sake Festa sets up in Ueno. In July, the Annual Japan Sake Awards’ public tasting event will showcase around 400 award-winning sakes.
