On July 1&2 we hosted the Australian Sake Festival in Melbourne.

The Australian Sake Festival made its debut in Sydney last year, in October, however, this was our first time to host the festival in Melbourne.

The Melbourne event was held undercover at the iconic Queen Victoria Market in the CBD.

We were thrilled that Wintery weather did not deter the hoards of sake fans and sake curious. Thankfully, even the rain didn’t dampen the spirits of the 3,500+ people who attended our event across the weekend ~ all of them eager to sip, savour and discover the wide and wonderful range of Japanese sake that we had on offer at the festival.

Festival tickets included a customised Australian Sake Festival glass and the opportunity to sample a diverse and extensive range of Japanese sake. With over 20 stalls and around 200 sake on tasting, there was something to suit every palate. From sparkling sake, low alcohol sake, aged sake, sake based liqueurs, and much, much more. We even had a little hot sake on offer, thanks to the folks at Sakenet, which proved very popular with those wanting to warm up on a chilly Melbourne weekend.

We also had a great selection of tasty treats on offer to accompany the sake at the festival, with some delicious Japanese inspired food from stalls run by local Melbourne restaurants.

Our entertainment program also proved to be very popular with the crowd, who enjoyed a diverse range of Japanese inspired performances, including Taiko drumming, musical acts, a HANANINGEN performance and our special digital exhibition that we had put together on the theme of the Edo period (1603 – 1867) in Japan. There was even an opportunity for people to make their own chopsticks at a fun workshop run by Hashitou-Honten.

In addition, we offered a program of free educational seminars each day during the festival, presented by Melbourne based Sake Samurai, Simone Maynard and Japan based, Philip Harper, a brewer from Japan who had travelled to Melbourne especially for our festival. 

Harper was the first non-Japanese person to become a Toji (head sake brewer) in Japan. He currently works at Kinoshita Shuzo in Kyoto, where he brews sake under the brand Tamagawa. We were thrilled to have Philip, along with many other international guests, making the trip from Japan especially for our Australian Sake Festival. This not only gave them the opportunity to represent their respective brands but also to connect with many Australian sake consumers. 

We certainly felt the sake buzz in the air, and it was great to see sake smiles on a sea of faces all weekend. 

The Australian Sake Festival, Melbourne, was a huge sake success and we look forward to our next event in Sydney later this year, and of course, to bringing the festival back to Melbourne in 2024.

We wish to thank everyone who attended the festival and we hope to see you again next time!

KANPAI!!

Photos by: Sayu Matsunaga