A New Measure Beside Technical Mastery

A New Measure Beside Technical Mastery: The “Modern Natural” Category at SAKE COMPETITION 2026

For many years, sake competitions have placed great weight on precision in brewing and the quality of the finished sake: how carefully the rice is polished and how clearly and elegantly the sake is made. The Junmai Daiginjo category represents this emphasis on technical skill. At SAKE COMPETITION 2026, another category stood alongside it with a different measure. Modern Natural evaluates not only the finished sake, but also the philosophy behind its production.

A Category That Judges Philosophy

Modern Natural highlights qualities that are difficult to express in numbers, including brewing with minimal additives, a connection to the local area, and consistency in the brewery’s guiding principles. While the Junmai Daiginjo category asks how precisely a sake can be made, Modern Natural places a different question in the foreground: what values guide its production?

From growing the raw materials to bottling, does the brewery’s thinking remain connected throughout the process? A competition built on scores and rankings now includes this kind of consistency among its judging criteria, even though numbers alone cannot fully describe it. That fact reflects one aspect of the sake world today.

The highest honor in the Modern Natural category went to Tachibanaya Junmai Ginjo from Kawakei Shoten in Miyagi. At the same ceremony, the top award in the Junmai Daiginjo category went to Ugo no Tsuki from Aihara Shuzo in Hiroshima. Junmai Daiginjo placed precision and completeness at the forefront, while Modern Natural emphasized the background to the brewing. Two measures based on different viewpoints shared the same stage.

Tachibanaya Junmai Ginjo was also selected for Japan Airlines’ JAL Flying SAKE Award and is scheduled to be served on international flights. In the same year, a sake that received the highest recognition in a category focused on brewing philosophy gained a new point of contact with people overseas. It offers one example of how a different language of evaluation can begin to connect with the market.

A Bottle Brewed Before the Fire

Sasamasamune Shuzo in Fukushima also showed clearly that the sake itself, rather than the standing of the brewery, is what receives the evaluation. On June 1, 2026, a fire destroyed three buildings, including the main house and sake brewery that were nationally registered Tangible Cultural Properties, along with much of the sake then in production.

Nine days later, Sasamasamune Tokubetsu Junmai, brewed and submitted for judging before the fire, was selected for second place in the Junmai category. The judges were not evaluating the brewery buildings or the hardship surrounding the brewery. They were evaluating the sake that had been entered. The result points to a simple fact: the essence of sake brewing resides not in a building, but in people and their skills.

Why This Matters in Bangkok

The widening of these evaluative measures also matters in Bangkok. For people interested in natural wine, the stories of production regions, and the thinking of producers, Modern Natural can provide an entry point for understanding how Japanese sake is made. The combination of first place in the Modern Natural category and selection for JAL international flights offers a useful reference when explaining the ideas behind sake production.

Behind this international reach is a broader structure: Japan’s domestic sake market is contracting, while exports have grown over the medium to long term. The 2024 inscription of “Traditional knowledge and skills of sake-making with koji mold in Japan” on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity also provides a foundation for people overseas to view Japanese sake as a culture worth studying, rather than only as a drink.

A measure that reflects brewing philosophy now stands alongside measures of technique and completeness. The point is not that one is superior to the other. As the language used for evaluation expands, the viewpoints of those who choose sake and the aims of those who make it also change. When the words used to judge sake change, the sake being made will gradually change as well.

What SAKE COMPETITION 2026 may leave behind is therefore not only a ranking table, but this observation.

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This article is provided for information and reference only. Bacchus Global Co., Ltd. does not encourage or promote the consumption of alcoholic beverages. Visitors must be 20 years old or older. Please drink responsibly. / บทความนี้จัดทำขึ้นเพื่อให้ข้อมูลและใช้อ้างอิงเท่านั้น Bacchus Global Co., Ltd. ไม่สนับสนุนหรือส่งเสริมการบริโภคเครื่องดื่มแอลกอฮอล์ ผู้เข้าชมต้องมีอายุ 20 ปีขึ้นไป โปรดดื่มอย่างรับผิดชอบ

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