THE BIG IDEA

How one Arkansas farmer pioneered American sake

The story of sake, AKA Japanese rice wine, began some 2k+ years ago — but the story of American sake is only just beginning. 

America’s appetite for the craft spirit is growing, and with it is an emerging collection of home-grown breweries, per Bloomberg.

• In 2024, the US became the biggest export market for Japanese sake by volume.
  
  
• Since 2015, the number of US breweries has increased from five to ~24, per the Sake Brewers Association of North America.

But the budding domestic market, already worth $1B+, would not have been possible if not for one rice farmer in Arkansas.

Planting the seeds of an industry 

In 1988, Chris Isbell, a fourth-generation farmer, made a successful foray into Japanese varietals with sushi rice. One of the first to do it, Isbell Farms became a major supplier in the US and minorly famous in Japan, drawing international tourists to rural Arkansas. 

Before that, his family had grown table rice for decades.

In 2004, Takara Sake USA contacted Isbell looking for a domestic supplier of Yamada Nishiki, the “king” of sake rice varietals. There were none, but Isbell had experimented with it, and set aside 5 acres. 

By the late 2010s, American craft spirits were popularizing and sake was folding into the mix. Increasingly approached by upstart breweries, Isbell decided to double down on the coveted strain, dedicating more acreage to it.   

• Yamada is difficult to grow and labor-intensive to harvest — Isbell told Bloomberg his crew can harvest ~10-20 acres a day, versus 120-180 acres of table rice — but it’s more profitable. 

The future of American sake

Isbell’s bet has paid off — for US breweries, consumers, and his family farm. Today, it is the leading US producer of sake rice, with 30% of its acreage now devoted to the strain, and recently began milling its own rice, too.

Even Japan is betting on the US market: In late 2023, premium Japanese sake label Dassai Blue opened its first US outlet, an $85m, 55k-square-foot brewery in Upstate New York, and 80% of its rice comes from Isbell Farms. 

And while Japanese sake rice is still considered superior, Isbell is working to change that.

BTW: Interested in becoming a sake sommelier? Arkansas-based Origami Sake, launched in 2021 and already America’s largest US-owned sake brewery, is looking to open a sake school at the University of Arkansas.

🔗

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Airtable founder Howie Liu brainstormed a bunch of multimillion-dollar AI business ideas you can simply take and run with. Just don’t forget about us when you’re filthy rich... which we can also help with, BTW: We’re co-hosting a pitch competition for AI startups with a $50k cash prize. The submission deadline is next week, so get pitching.

NEWSWORTHY NUMBER

Share of remote workers who report having close friends at work, compared to 69% of on-site and hybrid employees, per food tech platform ezCater’s Future of Workplace Experience Report.

Workers do want friends — 80% of respondents believe that having work friends makes them more engaged and collaborative, yet companies have struggled to lure employees back.

If you were wondering why a company like ezCater cares about work friends, well, it has a solution for offices trying to RTO. It found that over half of employees would appreciate in-office perks related to wellness, with 44% preferring food, and that 86% of Gen Z respondents said daily or weekly meals would improve their experience at work.

What better time to be social with your colleagues than over a nice, healthy grain bowl?

AROUND THE WEB

📅  On this day: In 1876, Romanian gymnast Nadia Comǎneci scored the first perfect 10 in Olympic history at just 14 years old.

🤔  Haha: Addicted to your phone? How about a piece of plastic instead.

☕  Useful: Find a chill place to work or study near you.

🗞️  Newsletter: TheFutureParty delivers the latest stories and insights on the future of entertainment, media, and culture in a quick, witty package.

😍  Aww: What’s in the bag?

QUOTE OF NOTE

The less-than-appetizing description of a dish from India’s Royal Roll Express restaurant found on delivery website Zomato. It was flagged by Bluesky users and seemingly written by an AI that mistook “chicken pops” — the gross-sounding dish in question — with chicken pox, a viral infection.

Restaurants and delivery services like DoorDash have previously been called out for using AI-generated menu descriptions, which can be misleading, per Futurism, though rarely this repulsive.

SHOWER THOUGHT

The fact that many people still say "aux" when referring to playing music in a car through Bluetooth, is the modern version of how we still say "filming" when it comes to recording a video. SOURCE

Today's email was brought to you by Juliet Bennett Rylah, Sara Friedman, and Singdhi Sokpo.
Editing by: Ben "Why make work friends when you can make work enemies" Berkley.

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