For centuries, traditional Japanese sake or "nihonshu" has been an uncarbonated alcohol. But things are changing and the sake industry has seen the need to evolve. At the beginning, sparkling sake was created by adding the carbonation artificially. But this was a cheap way of creating sparkling sake. Now, for higher quality sake, the carbonation is formed during the fermenting process.

Sake is made from using the staple food of Japan, rice, as well as water, yeast, and rice koji (a special type of rice mould!). It takes about ４months in total to prepare and produce the sparkling sake, with it taking more time than normal sake as the carbonation happens naturally in the bottle or in the tank. There is another type of carbonation, forced carbonation, but this is a cheap way of doing it and can affect the taste! 
The Japan Awasake Association only certifies the first two types of sparkling sake as they take a lot more time and effort to create, improving this new special type of sake! 

In November 2018, a new project launched on our sister site, Japankuru Funding looking to help fund the creation of a new site to help spread this amazing sparkling sake! By backing the project, you can help fund the creation of the infrastructure needed to send to other countries! At the time of writing, the project is successful, but funds are still necessary and the more collected means an improvement of the services that can be provided! This includes things like the increase of languages available (currently only English and Traditional Chinese will be available with more planned in the future)  You can find the project page here: Sparkling Sake – The Next Obvious Step in Sake's Evolution: Creating a Brand New Type of Subscription Service! You can go check it out and back the project to receive your own bottle of sparkling sake! 

There are two amazing special returns that have been prepared for the project!!
One is the amazing bottle of sparkling sake, Shichiken from Yamanashi Meijo! This incredibly stylish bottle of sake will bring a extra sense of class to any table. With a slightly dry but sweet taste that gives off a sense of being a champagne instead of a sake! 
The other bottle that has been prepared is the pretty Sorah from Chiyomusubi. Perfect for a family roast this sweet sparkling sake is great for anyone that enjoys a white wine on a sunday afternoon! 

Due to the amazing support that the project received for the Christmas returns, the creators wanted to add a new return! 
In the same theme as the Christmas returns, where if you backed the project you would get the sake by Christmas (in fact they are already arriving now!) this return means if you back the project by January 7th 2019, you will be able to get the sake before the start of Chinese New Year on February 5th! 

I feel that it's important to preserve the precious sake culture that we have in Japan but I also think that it must change in a way to make it viable in the current global climate. By creating this new type of sake, we hope to breathe new life in to the industry as well as give people abroad the chance to try a different side to Japanese sake!

SITE LINKS

Project Page:https://en.japankurufunding.com/projects/sparkling-sake/
Awasake Association Page: http://www.awasake.or.jp/en/