Sake Festival Singapore 2023: Singapore’s largest sake festival makes its return

Sake Festival Singapore returns this year, and its 2023 edition will take place on Saturday 17 June 2023 at Suntec City Convention Centre showcasing over 300 labels of sake.

Singapore’s largest festival dedicated to sake returns this year after a three-year hiatus due to the COVID pandemic since a tremendously successful edition back in 2019; sake enthusiasts can take heart that Sake Festival Singapore 2023 will bring back many of their favourite sake breweries from all over Japan for their tasting pleasure.

Organised by sake distributor and retailer Orihara Shoten, the eighth edition of Sake Festival Singapore will feature over 300 labels of sake from many different producers, of which more than 35 of those will be represented by their toji (brewer) or owner (kuramoto). Notable big name breweries include Yamaguchi Prefecture-based Dassai makers Asahi Shuzo, Bijofu’s Hamakawa Shoten from Kochi Prefecture, Yamagata Prefecture’s Tatenokawa Shuzo, and Miyagi Prefecture’s Manatsuru, among others.

Then there are smaller independent craft producers who are participating for the first time as well. Example of such jizake breweries include the likes of Wakayama Prefecture’s Kokoesaika, and Mitobe Shuzo and Shuho Shujozo from Yamagata Prefecture making their debut appearances at Sake Festival Singapore 2023.

For the first time in Sake Festival Singapore history, the festival will also introduce several ultra-premium sake for sale by the glass. Expect to shell out for rare top-shelf and limited-edition expressions such as the world’s first 1% (rice polishing rate) Tatenokawa Junmai Daigonjo Komyo, the crowd favourite Dassai Beyond or Sekiya Shuzo’s epic Houraisen Arcadia II 2019 Kimoto Junmai Daiginjo, all of which will be sold by the glass at S$10-15 per glass. Also available by the glass are Ohmine’s Storm Cowboy series – such as the NIGO x Pharrell made in collaboration with award-winning rapper and music producer Pharrell Williams – as well as the lovely Darumamasume 20-year old Koshu.

Sake Festival Singapore 2023 will take place on Saturday 17 June 2023, 2-7pm at Suntec Convention and Exhibition Centre, Level 3, Summit Hall 1. Tickets are S$60 per person available online from SISTIC or in-person from Orihara Shoten in Robertson Walk.

Sake Festival Singapore 2023 Events

In another first, Sake Festival Singapore will be featuring two events prior to the festival. Orihara Shoten will be bringing in the trailblazing 2019 Sake Samurai Chiba Marie to Singapore to conduct her much sought-after sake pairing masterclass as well as host a sake pairing dinner at Tori-tama Shirokane.

Sensorial Adventures: A Masterclass by Chiba Marie (15 June 2023, 3-5pm)

Held at Orihara’s offices at Tan Boon Liat Building, renowned sake expert and owner of cult Tokyo sake bar Eureka Chiba Marie will conduct her world renowned masterclass on sake pairing with 8 different types of sake and food. She will discuss the relationships between ingredients and sake in respect to taste and flavour and also explain her own unique technique of “in-mouth seasoning and pairing” from her research. The ticket to the masterclass is priced at S$200/person nett; there are 25 seats available and is limited to participants with food and drinks certification or working in the relevant field.

Culinary Adventures with Chiba Marie (15 June 2023, 7pm)

This sake pairing dinner hosted by Chiba Marie at Tori-tama Shirokane. The eight-course sake pairing dinner will showcase the Michelin Bib Gourmand’s famed yakitori dishes as well as highlights from Chiba Marie’s Eureka, Tokyo; paired with a specially curated selection of sake by Chiba Marie. One of the sakes is her own collaborative brew with Senkin that is not available anywhere else except at Eureka, Tokyo; this will be the first time her collaborative brew is available for savouring outside of Japan. At the dinner, Chiba Marie will guide diners through the sake pairing in an extraordinary culinary journey of discovery. The ticket for the sake pairing dinner is priced at S$220/person nett; there are 35 seats available.

[Images courtesy of Orihara Shoten]

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