An Unmissable Chance to Taste Sake from All over Japan! Craft Sake Week at Roppongi Hills 2019

STORY

An Unmissable Chance to Taste Sake from All over Japan! Craft Sake Week at Roppongi Hills 2019

April will be a month for sake lovers with the fourth edition of Craft Sake Week at Roppongi Hills scheduled to take place from April 19 to 29. The 11-day event will be held in Roppongi Hills, Tokyo, featuring a total of 110 craft sake breweries and 15 gourmet restaurants.

The 2019 event space has a Japanese rope theme

Craft Sake Week is organized by the JAPAN CRAFT SAKE COMPANY. The CEO, Hidetoshi Nakata, is a former Japanese soccer player who took great interest in sake after retiring from the field. He personally traveled to more than 350 breweries all over Japan to acquaint himself with sake and his own country’s culture. Together with other sake experts he carefully selected the breweries that will participate to this event to ensure an environment where people can properly learn about and enjoy high quality sake.

Hidetoshi Nakata with Yuko Nagayama, the architect who designed this year's event space. She also designed the Japan pavilion for Expo 2020 in Dubai.

Each day will have its own theme with 10 different sake breweries and rotating restaurants. This year’s overall topic is “pairing sake with food from all over the world”. Nakata himself is firmly convinced that sake not only pairs well with Japanese cuisine but can be enjoyed with a variety of others like Italian, French, Chinese and so on. The first five days will focus on Asian cuisine while the following five days will host western cuisine. For the last day, Nakata put together a selection of five premium restaurants from all over the world.

Visitors will have a chance to talk with sake tasting professionals and brewers who will be present throughout the event. With their advice and guidance, you’ll learn how to pick sake based on your preferences and deepen your knowledge of this beverage. You can also use Sakenomy, an app of Nakata’s own design, to discover, record and rate the sake you try.

How to Participate

First time participants to the event will need to buy the Craft Sake Starter Set. For 3,500 yen you will get a sake glass that you can take home and 11 coins to exchange for drinks and food. If you still want more after that you can purchase additional coin sets. Entry tickets can be purchased in advance and are also sold at the event.

The opening day will be featuring sparkling sake, made popular in recent years among the younger Japanese crowd and overseas. Days 2 to 8 will each feature a different area of Japan. Day 9 will be a collection of the top-ranking breweries in 2018’s SAKE COMPETITION, the world’s top sake contest. Day 10 will put the spotlight on breweries recommended on the Sakenomy app. Finally, the last day will be focusing on Yamagata Prefecture with the extremely popular sake Juuyondai.

Information

CRAFT SAKE WEEK at ROPPONGI HILLS 2019
Location: Roppongi Hills Arena (6-9-1 Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo)
Dates: April 19, 2019 - April 29, 2019
Time: 12:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. (Last Order 8:30 p.m.)
Participating breweries: 110 (10 per day)
Participating restaurants: 15
Price: Craft Sake Starter Set 3,500 yen (take-home sake glass+11 food and drink coins)
Additional coins: 1,500 yen set (10 coins), 3,000 yen set (22 coins), 5,000 set (38 coins)
*Once you buy the starter set, if you bring your glass you can participate on any other day by just purchasing the coins.
Ticket sale: tickets are available to purchase online here
Website: http://craftsakeweek.com/rh/
Sakenomy Official App: http://www.sakenomy.net/

Schedule

Friday, April 19: Sparkling sake
Saturday, April 20:Tohoku day
Sunday, April 21: Hokuriku/Shin’etsu day
Monday, April 22: Kanto day
Tuesday, April 23: Tokai day
Wednesday, April 24: Kansai day
Thursday, April 25: Chugoku/Shikoku day
Friday, April 26: Kyushu
Saturday, April 27: Sake Competition 2018 Day (featuring the best ranking sake breweries in the world)
Sunday, April 28: Sakenomy All Stars Day (breweries recommended on the Sakenomy app)
Monday, April 29: Team Juuyondai Day (focusing on the popular sake from Yamagata Prefecture)

About the Author
Laura is an Italian living and working in Tokyo. She loves exploring hidden and unknown places, taking pictures and listening to Punk Rock music. When she’s not busy doing the above, she might enjoy a craft beer or play the sanshin (an Okinawan instrument similar to a shamisen).

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THIS ARTICLE IS BASED ON INFORMATION FROM 03 28,2019 Author：DiGJAPAN! Editorial Team