Scottish sake to go against the grain

After a Japanese distillation takes top spot in a whisky competition, one Scottish brewer wants to get his own back, says Fiona Sims

Gerald Michaluk was enjoying his regular pint in the pub one Friday night when he spotted three bottles of Japanese whisky on the back bar alongside the line-up of Scotch. “It got me thinking – if the Japanese can play the Scots at their own game, then why not the other way around? Japan’s national drink is sake, so why not make sake in Scotland and sell it back to the Japanese?” And no, this wasn’t the booze talking – Michaluk has been granted approval to build the country’s first sake brewery in Dreghorn, North Ayrshire. It’s not as big a leap into the unknown as you would think. Michaluk owns the Arran Brewery, where he produces a range of award-winning ales, and sake production is not that dissimilar to brewing beer. And sake is hot stuff. No longer the preserve of Japanese restaurants, it now appears on some of the smartest wine lists in the country, from Zuma and Le Gavroche to The Loft and Hakkasan, with sake pairings de rigueur on tasting menus. Sake sommeliers abound, flashing their newly acquired Wine & Spirit Education Trust credentials – the respected institution introduced a new Level 3 Award in sake last year. There’s even a London-based international sake sommelier competition, jointly organised by the Academy of Food & Wine Service and the Sake Sommelier Association. Raku Oda, at Yashin Ocean House in South Kensington, was a semifinalist in the competition, and his restaurant is a good place to head for total sake immersion, with 40 different sake on the list. Meanwhile, mixologists regularly include sake in their fruitier concoctions, and there is also a decent line-up listed by wine merchants and retailers alike. It’s a demand Michaluk is keen to make the most of. A chemistry graduate, he has been brewing beer since he was a teenager. Indeed, he took over the brewing at Arran when he bought the company in 2008 after hearing on the radio it was due to close. He has a brewer in place now, and the company continues to win awards for its beers, such as Arran Blonde, which sells well in Japan. Michaluk has travelled to the Far East many times, both in his former life as a strategic marketing