Where to Learn About Sake in New York City

Sake is Japan’s most recognizable and historic drink, with production dating back millennia, and the ancient beverage is taking on new life in the United States. According to the Japan Sake and Shōchū Makers Association, U.S. export sales by value rose 25% from 2023 to 2024, making the U.S. the second biggest export market after China (and a close one at that: China is valued at ¥11.7 billion while the U.S. is ¥11.4 billion, about $80 million).

One of the best places to learn about the rice-based beverage is New York: It’s home to not only numerous bars, restaurants, and shops, but also three sake breweries. Here’s where to taste the Big Apple’s sake scene. 

Sake breweries

Common lore is that New York water is the secret to its superlative bagels. The same is true for sake. Water, along with rice, koji (a type of mold), and yeast, are key ingredients for making sake. With its low mineral content, the state’s water is one reason why New York has become an epicenter for sake production.

The original producer was Brooklyn Kura in Brooklyn's Industry City complex. The taproom and brewery was the first of its kind when it opened in 2018. After entering a partnership with premier Japanese sake brewer Hakkaisan, founders Brian Polen and Brandon Doughan expanded into a larger, 20,000-square-foot facility, renovated the tap room, and opened the Sake Studies Center, offering courses for both casual drinkers and professionals. Visit to explore different styles through the rotating selection on draft, such as sakes made with different rice varieties and yeasts.

The tap room at Kato Sake Works, founded by Tokyo native Shinobu Kato, in Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighborhood, doubles as a living room for a creative community. Live jazz, book events, and food pop-ups regularly fill the calendar. Gaze at the brewing tanks as a tap room member guides you through different styles on a “School of Sake” brewery tour.

The newest and biggest sake brewery on the scene is Dassai Blue, the American outpost of the Japanese brewery, located in Hyde Park, New York, about a two-hour drive north of Manhattan. From Tuesday to Sunday, visitors can tour the 55,000-square-foot facility and participate in a tasting with optional sushi and food pairings from its neighbor and partner, the Culinary Institute of America. 

Restaurants and bars specializing in sake

The graffiti-tagged walls at Decibel speak to the 30-plus-year history of this seminal sake bar in Manhattan’s East Village. Seek out the subterranean space to try one of the featured sakes of the week or one of the rotating flights of three limited sakes, in addition to the extensive sakes offered by glass, carafe, or bottle.

The buzziest place for sake today is Sake Bar Asoko, which skirts the edges of the sceney Dimes Square neighborhood in Lower Manhattan. Two veterans of Decibel, Yuri Itakura and Shintaro Cho, along with a third co-owner, Arianna Cho, always feature new and interesting things to taste, such as flights of nama (unpasteurized) sakes in the spring, a style that’s rarely exported from Japan because of short shelf-stability. The food here is also a draw; pair sakes with sashimi or mushroom rice, a true study in umami.

A few blocks away, sake goes speakeasy at Steight. Enter through a second-floor hair salon to reach the long, narrow bar hidden behind a back door. Vinyl records spin jazz as patrons sip shochu-based cocktails and sake. Imbibe on cutting-edge brews, such as Yuho Eternal Embers, from one of Japan’s few female brewers.

Accidental Bar pairs an anything-goes vibe with an aim to spread sake knowledge. At the Alphabet City bar, you might be lured into a round of drag queen bingo and can take a chance on a nigori (cloudy) sake with a tasting note, “Cute AF.” 

Brooklyn is known for its natural wine scene, and Rule of Thirds illustrates how sake fits into this paradigm. The menu, curated by George Padilla, highlights sake made with ancient, low-intervention methods, such as kimoto and yamahai, while offering a full spectrum of styles, from light and floral to full-bodied and robust, to pair with the izakaya’s dishes.

Padilla also helms the sake program at the just-opened Teruko in the Hotel Chelsea. Like at Rule of Thirds, diverse styles will be offered by the glass, carafe, or bottle, but here, he’s playing around with esoteric offerings, such as a sake with a yeast that spent time both underwater and in outer space, as a special by-the-glass pour. True sake aficionados know certain sakes can age; experience it for yourself with a vertical tasting of Kikuhime. The restaurant has several vintages dating back to 2002.

For a fine-dining sake experience, pretend you’re in Tokyo and take the elevator up to Kappo Sono, a 12-seat omakase restaurant on the sixth floor of an office building in Union Square. Beverage director Leo Lê focuses on sakes he calls historically important and innovative, such as the Isojiman Nakadori 35, an eighth-generation-run brewery that’s become a cult favorite. Or splash out for a vertical of IWA, a traditional-method sparkling sake from Richard Geoffroy, the former Champagne chef de cave of Dom Pérignon. With prices to rival the Champagnes and Burgundies on the list, these sakes demand to be taken as seriously as high-end wines.

For those looking for a casual night out, Lê brings sakes with the same ethos but more accessibility at sibling restaurants Momoya Soho and Momoya Upper West Side.

Sake retail shops

Opened in 2007, Sakaya in the East Village is considered the city’s first sake shop. Co-owner Rick Smith says he sees the shop as a bridge to Japanese culture. In the serene, wood-paneled space, he and co-owner Hiroko Furukawa, his wife, provide a selection that explores the depth and breadth of Japanese sake, from prefectures to techniques to rice varieties. They regularly visit the Japanese breweries they source from and always have interesting anecdotes to share about the modern sake scene.

Industry City, home to Brooklyn Kura, also houses the Japan Village complex, a network of eateries, a grocery store, and the Kuraichi sake shop. Let the staff picks serve as a starting point for figuring out what styles you like, whether that is clean and crisp or tart and funky.