How a Japanese Company Crafts American Sake: An Interview With Dassai Blue’s Fumiya Miura

While it’s not Japan’s largest sake producer by volume, Yamaguchi-based Dassai is undoubtedly one of the more prestigious major producers. By the company’s own estimates, it’s responsible for perhaps 30% of Japan’s domestic market for Junmai Daiginjo, a classification that signifies high levels of rice polishing (at least 50% of the original grain is polished away) with no distilled alcohol added.

And while international exports have long been a cornerstone of the company’s strategy, sake is fundamentally limited by time and freshness. Indeed, longtime Dassai Chairman Hiroshi Sakurai has publicly claimed the company’s products are best consumed within two weeks of bottling. So to build Dassai’s profile stateside — and convert more sake drinkers entirely — the company has turned its sights to American production.

After more than a decade of searching for suitable rice suppliers (the company eventually partnered with an Arkansas grower), Dassai eventually narrowed its focus to New York State. The Dassai Blue Brewery opened in Hyde Park in late 2023, about 90 miles north of New York City.

“Blue” signifies the company’s American-produced products, which have expanded from Dassai Blue 50, 35, and 23 expressions (all indicating polishing size) to Dassai Blue Beyond, a Junmai Daiginjo made from rice polished to 19% of its original size. Only 10 bottles of Dassai Blue Beyond were released in the initial batch in early 2025, making it the rarest (and at $1,200, the most expensive) expression so far in the company’s American portfolio.

We recently sat down with Fumiya Miura, Vice President of Dassai Blue, to talk about the challenges of transporting Japanese sake production to New York. Miura was one of a number of Dassai’s Japan-based team to relocate to the United States in launching the Hyde Park brewery, which is operated collaboratively by both Japanese and American employees.

(Note: The following interview was conducted with the assistance of a translator and has been edited for readability.)

Drinkhacker: What have been the biggest surprises for you since running brewery operations in the United States, both positive and negative?

Fumiya Miura: The first thing I noticed was a big change in the taste of the sake due to the difference in water.

We first made sake thinking that the flavor would change only slightly, but the aroma, color, and taste were all affected, and some of the changes could not be seen in the analysis of the moromi (rice mash), which was fermenting every day.

The difference in the water, specifically the high content of chloride ions, caused a lot of dissolved rice components to be extracted from the koji, resulting in an overly sweet and heavy-tasting sake. Today, by controlling the action of these components, it is possible to produce beautiful sweetness and strong aroma in our American products.

As a result of our efforts to quickly overcome these problems and produce delicious sake, we have been able to obtain a fine American-style production process that is unique to the United States with the addition of Japanese technology.

Drinkhacker: What are the two or three biggest challenges in brewing world-class sake in the United States?

Fumiya Miura: In terms of the taste of sake, the production process requires more detailed handwork, adjustments, and updates to make the sake as good or better than in Japan, even though the water (like discussed above) and rice are different from those in Japan.

In terms of distribution and provision, storage must be chilled or refrigerated, and light must be kept as far away from the product as much as possible. This also applies during delivery. Sake is delicate and its taste can easily change. One of the challenges is to make sure everyone understands this.

Drinkhacker: How does Dassai Blue Beyond sake compare to the brewery’s other offerings? How do you hope people experience this expression?

Fumiya Miura: As it says on the label, it’s really the first best sake, and I think in a year’s time [our various expressions] will be even more updated and a bit different in taste. We think it’s the best sake in the U.S. today. And the next time people try it, it will be expressed in a different way, hopefully better.

Honestly, I can’t predict exactly how Blue Beyond will change. This is because it depends on what is lacking and the balance of flavors that emerge as we make it over and over again. We are constantly updating everything from polishing the rice to pressing, so it’s hard to choose, but we want to enhance the aroma of the sake, so I think we’ll be focusing on the yeast starter.

Drinkhacker: What’s next for Dassai’s New York brewery? What do you hope to explore with your team at the facility?

Fumiya Miura: This year, we purchased more small tanks. The size of the tank is suitable for fermenting 500kg of rice, which is smaller than existing American and Japanese tanks. This allows for more frequent brewing and makes it possible to distribute fresh sake throughout the year. All of this is full-scale production.

In terms of trial runs, I would like to brew more tanks of sake than last year and keep updating it to make it an even more refined final product that customers drink. I also want to proceed with that goal while helping the local (American) employees fully master it.

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