Zenkuro is New Zealand's first and only dedicated sake brewery. Photo / NZME
Zenkuro is New Zealand's first and only dedicated sake brewery. Photo / NZME
Queenstown brewery Zenkuro Sake won gold at the Tokyo Sake Challenge for its Drip Pressed Junmai Ginjo.
Head brewer David Joll emphasised the traditional, labour-intensive methods used, highlighting Queenstown’s ideal conditions for sake fermentation.
Zenkuro imports high-grade sake rice from Japan, adapting the brewing process to suit the local environment.
A Queenstown brewery has put New Zealand on the global sake map for the first time.
The country’s first and only dedicated sake brewery has taken home gold at the Tokyo Sake Challenge.
Queenstown-based Zenkuro Sake earned the gold award for one of its handcrafted brews, Drip Pressed Junmai Ginjo, a recognition head brewer and director David Joll said was “really satisfying”.
Zenkuro’s sake is handcrafted in small batches using imported Japanese rice.
“It’s taken a long time to be accepted here,” Joll told the Herald.
“Obviously, when you start making sake outside Japan, not many people think it can be as good as the real thing.”
Together with a US brewery, Zenkuro was one of two non-Japanese breweries to achieve gold, alongside (and ahead of) some of Japan’s oldest sake brands.
Handcrafted in Queenstown, Zenkuro Sake was recognised with gold at the Tokyo Sake Challenge.
The brewery name, Zenkuro (全黒), directly translates to “all black”.
The award-winning sake was drip-pressed by hand - a traditional and labour-intensive process rarely used in modern Japanese brewing, Joll said.
Zenkuro brewery is based in Queenstown, which head brewer David Joll says has a perfect climate for brewing sake.
“We don’t have much machinery. It’s all handmade, using traditional Japanese methods. A lot of breweries in Japan don’t use these methods any more because they’re inefficient but, for us, making small batches all year round, it works perfectly.”
Joll said the decision to enter the challenge coincided with the brewery’s 10th anniversary.
“We thought, let’s challenge ourselves and see how ours stacks up.”
Joll has lived in Queenstown for nearly three decades, but said he has a deep connection to Japan, having studied there in high school and university.
Zunkuro's Drip Pressed Junmai Ginjo took out the gold medal at this year's Tokyo Sake Challenge.
His passion for Japanese craft culture, particularly sake, led him to start brewing in his garage a decade ago, and the hobby eventually evolved into a full-time pursuit.
Zenkuro now imports high-grade sakamai (sake rice) directly from three regions in Japan, polished to specification before being shipped to New Zealand.
The rice is grown specifically for brewing and polished to remove its outer layers, which affects the flavour and clarity of the final product.
Zenkuro is New Zealand's first and only dedicated sake brewery. Photo / NZME
“It’s purpose-grown for us, and we’re proud to use the best rice we can get,” Joll said.
While the ingredients are imported, the process has been slightly adapted to suit the New Zealand environment.
Queenstown’s clean, cold and dry climate created ideal conditions for sake fermentation, he said.
“The alpine water here is as good as any in Japan, if not better.”
Despite sake’s roots being firmly planted in Japanese soil, Joll said the craft was increasingly being embraced around the world, with 25 to 30 international sake breweries now in operation. Many of these also entered the Tokyo Sake Challenge.
“It’s not about winning ... it’s about showing that great sake can be made with care and respect for tradition, even at the bottom of the world.”
