All about vegan sake and its trend in Japan

Japanese cuisine can be both an appealing and challenging option for vegans. Animal-derived broth and ingredients are often used, though dishes may initially seem rich in vegetables. Sake follows a similar path, being generally vegan, though some use animal-derived fluids in the production process. This article will provide vegans with a better idea of which sake to choose, and I hope you will have a wonderful sake experience!

Sake, a traditional Japanese rice wine, is made from polished rice, water, kōji mold, yeast and sometimes brewer’s alcohol. Like wine and beer, sake is made through fermentation, but in a more complex fermentation process, saccharification and fermentation occur simultaneously, whereas in the production of beer and wine, only one of these processes occurs: saccharification or fermentation. The complex and sophisticated manufacturing process gives sake a mellow and deep flavor despite its high alcohol content.

Some sake use animal-deprived fining agents

Sake is vegan and made of plant-based ingredients except for fining agents. Fining agents are used in alcoholic beverages to clarify and stabilize products like wine, beer and sake. There are various types of fining agents, and one of them is made of animal-based ingredients such as isinglass (derived from fish) and gelatin (derived from animal collagen), which vegans avoid eating.

However, the number of breweries that use beef-derived fining agents has decreased since the BSE problem occurred about 20 years ago (when few people knew about veganism), and more breweries were focusing on advancing lees filtration techniques that did not use gelatin. These breweries were not certified vegan although they didn’t use animal-derived ingredients, therefore a customer often had to ask breweries if a product used only plant-based ingredients or not.

Discovering the vegan essence in sake labels

In response to increasing global popularity, more sake breweries have been interested in obtaining vegan certification. In January 2019, Nanbubijin Co., Ltd. became the first vegan sake company in the world to receive certification, and there are 19 sake companies that have received certification as of 2023.

Products and breweries that have received vegan certification are labeled “vegan” on the bottle, making it easier to distinguish vegan sake from others. Those vegan sakes use plant-based fining agents such as persimmon bitter juice and diatomaceous soil.

According to the Japan Tourism Agency, approximately 1.45 to 1.9 million people who visited Japan were vegetarian (including all forms of vegetarianism) as of 2020. Now that the pandemic has subsided and more foreigners are visiting Japan, it’s evident that the number of vegetarian visitors is increasing. The vegan trend in sake will not only give tourists a broader range of choices but will also bring more prosperity to the sake industry.