Sake Updates – SAKE DAY 2025 Sets Another Record & Isshobin Month Exploded

Not that you're counting but we certainly are! The numbers are back from both SAKE DAY and International Isshobin Month and yes we have two more records to tell you about! But before we drop the good news, we must thank you for making it all possible. Yes, you! The readers of this Newsletter are really at the forefront of all things international sake, and you have been doing so for 256 consecutive months in a row. Well done. And again very loudly we say THANK YOU. 

Your first accomplishment was setting a new donation record for all the ticket proceeds going directly to the Japan Cultural and Community Center of Northern California for the 20th Anniversary of SAKE DAY. You did it. We did it! We managed to raise $61,000 for The Center.  We had more sake brewers from Japan, we had more independent brewers, and a record number of Toji or “Master Brewers” on hand this year, and we sold more tickets (in record time) this year, resulting in the largest donation yet to the Center. We realize that the tickets sold out so very quickly this year, and the same will happen next year, so please please please keep reading the True Sake Newsletter because we tell you here first when the tickets for SAKE DAY’27 will go on sale.

Your second historical sake accomplishment was selling a total of 215 Isshobin sake bottles in the month of November, which of course is International Isshobin Month. This is the third annual IIM. We sold 185 bottles in 2024, so thank you very much for getting into the large bottle “magnum” format. And remember the Isshobin format is really all about value, almost guaranteeing getting a free 12 ounces of sake in each bottle. They are 2 ½ times the size of a regular bottle and they keep far longer than you might think. Don’t wait until next November to get in on the large “go big or go home” format.