35 StateWays ■ www.stateways.com ■ January/February 2015
label. For the small percentage of consumers who like sake
warm, we also have the Junmai Ginjo with a red label."
The differences in how a sake must be classifi ed (i.e.
Junmai vs. Ginjo) is partially determined by how much
the rice is polished, much like whiskey types are deter-
mined by raw material make-up. The more the rice is
polished, the more the outer shell is removed, leaving a
grain that's of a higher quality.
Arana says that the demand for consumer education is
accompanying sake's increased visibility in the U.S. mar-
ket. "The category is experiencing a lot of growth, like
what happened with tequila a few years ago," he says.
"When Mexican food became more popular, tequila took
off; now there are Asian and Asian fusion restaurants
everywhere, not just on the coasts, and so you see high
growth rates in sake."
Sake importers include Gekkeikan, TY KU, SakeOne, Joto Sake and Hiro Sake.
S
ince Suntory's acquisition of Beam Inc. was announced
earlier this year, industry experts have speculated about
the possibility of more Japanese whisky brands coming
to the U.S. market. StateWays spoke to Neyah White, Sun-
tory's U.S. Whisky Ambassador, to fi nd out more about
the newly-formed Beam-Suntory and what the company's
plans are for bringing new products stateside.
SW: Why has Suntory shied away from entering the
U.S. in a large way before now?
NW: We've been making whisky in Japan for 91 years
and it's only recently that we've broken out into areas
other than Japan. It wasn't for lack of confi dence – all the
whisky was being consumed in Japan, since the market
has been on fi re there since the 1950s.
Suntory has explored the U.S. market in previous
decades in a small way, mostly just supplying Japanese
restaurants. It's been negligible volume until now and
almost no marketing, since the product was only sold
to certain accounts. About 10 years ago, Yamazaki
25-year-old came in and then our fl agship 12-year-old
became available.
Once the company brought over the Hibiki 12- and
18-year-old, Suntory had a portfolio here and that's when
I came onboard.
JAPANESE IMPORTS
INCREASED INTEREST IN JAPANESE WHISKY
