Craft sake*, which is made using traditional sake brewing techniques and adding secondary ingredients such as fruits and herbs, is gaining attention. The roots of this new genre can be traced back to Shoya Imai, the current representative of LINNÉ.

Having gained brewing experience in Sangenjaya and France, Imai continues to take on challenges across the country as a phantom brewery without a fixed brewery, and has chosen Kyoto as his base in Japan. In this article, we interview him about his vision for the future of sake and his activities in Kyoto.

*Craft sake, as defined by the Craft Sake Brewery Association, is a new genre of alcoholic beverage that is based on sake (refined sake) production techniques and uses rice as an ingredient, incorporating processes that are not legally permitted for traditional sake.

I spoke to this person

LINNÉ Representative and Brewer Shoya Imai

Profile

Graduated from the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tokyo. After joining Oisix, he began training at Aramasa Sake Brewery, Masuda Sake Brewery, Abe Sake Brewery, and Hijiri Sake Brewery in 2015, while also co-founding WAKAZE in 2016. He will become independent and found LINNÉ in 2024. His family originates from Hijiri Sake Brewery in Gunma, which was founded in 1841.

I would regret it if my family business went out of business while I was still alive.

-Please tell us how you got involved in the sake brewing industry.

Imai (omitted): "My family owns Hijiri Sake Brewery in Gunma, but as I am the youngest of four siblings, I did not choose a career path centered on fermentation. I studied at the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Tokyo, where I researched how to solve social issues through food, and after graduating I joined Oisix (now Oisix La Daichi Co., Ltd.) and gained a wide range of experience.

I understood that the sake brewing industry as a whole, including my family's, was in a difficult situation. I had originally thought that I could support the sake brewing industry from the outside, but as I thought about my life, I began to think that I would regret it if my family were to go out of business during my lifetime.

I also felt that I was better suited to being a sake brewer than a communicator who spreads the appeal of sake. So, starting with Aramasa Sake Brewery in Akita, I honed my sake brewing skills at Masuda Sake Brewery in Toyama, Abe Sake Brewery in Niigata, and my family's Hijiri Sake Brewery, before co-founding WAKAZE Co., Ltd. in 2016. As part of our business expansion, we established a small brewery in Sangenjaya, Tokyo, and in 2019 we expanded into sake brewing in France and then the United States."

The technology Imai developed at WAKAZE is what has led to the current craft sake scene. Craft sake is a new genre of alcohol that uses rice as an ingredient, based on sake (refined sake) brewing techniques, and incorporates processes that are not legally applicable to traditional sake. In June 2022, the Craft Sake Brewery Association was founded, with Okazumi Shuhei (currently at Ine to Agave), a colleague of Imai's from his days at Aramasa Brewery, as chairman.

As a general rule, no new sake brewing licenses are issued, and the only way to enter the sake brewing industry is to take over the business of an existing sake brewery. However, craft sake can be made by obtaining a "license for the production of other brewed alcoholic beverages." These differences in conditions have led to the birth of new sake brewers all over the country, who continue to express aromas and flavors that are not found in traditional sake.

LINNÉ Brewery in Kyoto

-Please tell us about your efforts at LINNÉ.

"LINNÉ was founded in Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture in 2024 with the desire to unlock the unknown possibilities of koji. The name comes from the naturalist Carl von Linnaeus, and our philosophy is to expand the diversity of food culture, drawing inspiration from a wide variety of ingredients and uniquely Japanese concepts."

LINNÉ has ​​been operating as a "phantom brewery" without a fixed warehouse, taking advantage of the newly established "Self-Trademark Alcohol Wholesale License" system (which allows them to sell alcohol produced at other companies' facilities under their own brand) established in 2012. In parallel with these activities, LINNÉ will be opening its first in-house brewery in Kyoto.

-Why did you choose Kyoto as your new home?

"There are several reasons, but one of them was the business partnership with Takara Shuzo, which was the last project I was involved in during my time at WAKAZE. During an extended business trip from France to Kyoto, I felt a strong attraction to the city as a place that draws inspiration from history, and as a place of manufacturing where artisans in all fields hone their skills.

Also, the chef who co-founded LINNÉ is originally from Fushimi, Kyoto. He invited me to do something in Kyoto, which also encouraged me to do it."

-When is LINNÉ's first brewery scheduled to open?

"We are planning to open in Gojozaka in the fall of 2026. This was originally the site of a climbing kiln for Kiyomizu ware, but it was apparently left abandoned after the fire was turned off about 50 years ago. We met someone who is promoting a project to turn the site into a place where people can gather again, and we decided to annex the micro-brewery to the climbing kiln as part of a facility that combines a restaurant, cafe, pottery experience, and more.

We plan to use local ingredients in our sake brewing, such as koji from Hishiroku, a long-established Kyoto bean sprout shop, and water from a well dug by Cocktail Stand FUREK, a bar on Gojozaka.

-Have you ever held any events with customers?

"I would like to make it an open space, like an atelier, where brewers can rent space and make alcohol freely. Currently, I am renting various spaces as Phantom Brewery, so I would like to be on the side of renting out breweries as a way of passing on the gratitude I have received to the next generation. Also, even for existing sake breweries, it may become easier to try out ideas that would be risky to carry out in-house. Since Gojozaka is a doburoku brewery, there may be limitations to what we can do.

There is also talk of a second brewery in Takaragaike, Sakyo Ward, Kyoto City. It will likely be a while before it opens, but we plan to build a facility that will handle everything from koji making to mashing. We are also considering providing accommodation so that brewers can stay overnight."

Ingredients other than rice act as a bridge to create new scenes

-Will Phantom Brewery's activities end?

"No, Gojozaka is a small-scale brewery, and we only produce doburoku, so we plan to continue brewing sake using the brewery's facilities."

-Are there any difficulties in renting another brewery?

"It would be difficult without a relationship of trust as a basic premise. I think it is precisely because of this trust that I am able to borrow part of the brewery. The theme I am currently tackling is 'a new challenge with koji,' so naturally there are risks involved. I am truly grateful for the opportunity to work on something with such a high degree of freedom."

-What kind of people would you like to drink the alcohol made by LINNÉ?

"This is something that is common to all craft sake, but by using ingredients other than rice as a bridge, I hope to get people who are not familiar with sake to try it. I also think there is value in pairing sake with foods that have not been paired with sake before, creating new food scenes.

From the perspective of the brewers, we sometimes refer to documents and folklore from the Edo period when brewing sake at LINNÉ. We can get inspiration from recipes that existed on a timeline that transcends our own lifespan, so we hope that LINNÉ sake will leave something behind for future generations."

-About the experience of assembling sake at My Sake World

"I participated once and it was a lot of fun. I blended four types of sake to create a drink that was sharp, just the way I like it, but also had a wide range of flavors."

-Was the assemblage done at the sake brewing site?

"In France, blending was often done as a final step. We did this not only with alcoholic beverages but also with the addition of water, and I had the experience of seeing the taste of an entire tank change with just a small adjustment. It was a fun experience that reminded me of that time."

My Sake World Kyoto Kawaramachi store
Book in Japanese

Expanding the potential of koji

-What is LINNÉ's goal with the alcohol it works on?

"We've organized sake into these four quadrants (see below), but traditionally, sake was made only from a combination of rice koji and rice. The barrier we broke through during the WAKAZE era was to use additional ingredients while still using rice koji. This alone led to the emergence of many sake brewers, much like the craft sake of today, and a wide range of sake was born."

"There's no point in returning to Japan and doing the same thing, and as the number of craft sake brewers increases, similar expressions will start to overlap. With this in mind, we are considering expanding the range of koji ingredients at LINNÉ. Currently, we are deliberately sticking to the same rice used, but when we open the door to Phase 3, we hope to be able to create sake that combines koji and ingredients other than rice. We define this final multiplication as cross-botanical.

By expanding the definition of sake, I think it will become a technique that can be used all over the world, and become more universal. While the point of 'brewing sake using koji' remains the same, the idea is to reconstruct the existing definition."

- The use of a variety of ingredients in sake brewing reminds me of shochu.

"Shochu exists as a leading technology that has reached phases 1 and 3, so right now we have a lot to learn from shochu. Immediately after returning from France, I toured shochu breweries all over Kyushu. In terms of shochu, examples that put our definition of cross-botanical into practice include Kokubu Shuzo's Flamingo Orange and Hamada Shuzo's Daiyame, which use sweet potato, and Tenbai Shuzo, which uses barley.

There are also papers on shochu, so I would like to try to see what happens when I apply these to brewed alcohol. The techniques developed there should also be able to be applied to distilled alcohol. With 'brewing sake using koji' registered as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, I believe that koji techniques can act as a cross-sectional link to boost the culture as a whole, so I hope to become a bridge between sake, which is a brewed alcohol, and shochu, which is a distilled alcohol."

Substituting ingredients other than rice for sake brewing

"Rice shortages are currently a hot topic in Japan. Without rice, sake breweries would have no choice but to go out of business, so we want to support this as a technology to help them cope, even if only temporarily. Furthermore, even if there is mid- to long-term climate change or water shortages, it is important that ingredients other than rice support each other, and that multiple brewing techniques are linked together as a safety net. We would like to expand koji technology as a way to prepare for such times."
Japanese people have spent over 2000 years creating sake made from rice. With the registration of this technology as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2024 as a turning point, Imai says we have entered an era of application. The range of materials is endless, not just rice, and it may take tens of thousands of years for this technology to take shape. We can't take our eyes off Imai's challenge, as he looks far into the future, transcending the fixed notion that sake = rice.

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Writer: Yuki Arai
Born in Shiga Prefecture, currently living in Kyoto City
A freelance writer who conveys the culture and stories of sake. After graduating from university, he got a job at a liquor store in Kyoto, then worked in sales at a food manufacturer before going independent. With Japanese sake as his main theme, he conveys the thoughts of the brewers and the stories behind each glass of sake.
JSA SAKE DIPLOMA, Wine Expert, SSI Certified Sake Master, Sake Studies Instructor