Dassai Sake Maker Constructs New Brewery in New York State

By Yasuhiro Kobayashi / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent

2:00 JST, March 17, 2023

NEW YORK — Asahi Shuzo Co., known for its popular Dassai sake brand, completed construction of a new brewery in New York State earlier this month.

The facility is the first overseas brewery for the Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture, based company.

Asahi Shuzo plans to start selling sake there possibly as early as this summer.

The company spent about ¥8 billion to construct the approximately 5,100-square-meter facility located about 100 kilometers north of New York City.

The brewery will produce Dassai Blue, a highest-grade junmai daiginjo sake using the Yamadanishiki brand sake rice grown in both Japan and the United States.

Asahi Shuzo will dispatch employees to the brewery and also hire staff locally.

The company’s sales totaled about ¥16.5 billion in the business year ending September 2022, with overseas sales accounting for about 40% of the figure.

Asahi Shuzo initially planned to complete the brewery in 2019, but the project was delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic and other reasons.