Small business needed legislative action to serve traditional Japanese beverage

By Natasha Lovato

Starting your own business is hard enough but jumping hurdles to get a law created is almost as hard as it gets in the libations world. After about two years of drafting bills, former Gov. John Hickenlooper signed legislation allowing William Stuart to open Colorado Sake Co., the first sake taproom in Colorado.

“Getting the bill passed was a huge relief. We find that having a tasting room is a large part of our educational vision of teaching Colorado about sake,” Stuart said.

Sake isn’t wine, it’s not beer and it’s not distilled. It’s composed of fermented rice, making it a category of its own.

“They said we were making beer and selling wine and winers can’t sell beer. So, they said, ‘just choose one or the other, it doesn’t matter,’ and so we basically just wrote a bill defining what sake is,” Stuart said.

Stuart began his career in the restaurant industry about 12 years ago; the last five immersed in Japanese fusion restaurants. During that time, he tried over 200 sakes from Japan, allowing him to identify the small subtleties between products. He eventually stumbled upon the realization that American sake needed a better rap and wanted to create a product that Americans could relate to.

The main difference between Colorado Sake Co.’s American Standard product and Japanese sake is the fermentation process. Colorado Sake Co. aims for 16 percent ABV, rather than aiming for 20 percent and watering the sake down to 16 percent like a Japanese style.

“True Japanese sake is really dry. Ours is a bit sweeter because there’s still fermentable rice in there which gives it a little more body,” Stuart said. “We are trying to make it as approachable as possible,” he said.

When you walk in the doors of Colorado Sake Co., the walls are brightly colored. Origami paper cranes hang from strung out lights along the ceiling. There’s a cherry blossom tree painted on one wall and shelves hold spray-painted sake menus.

It creates an inviting environment without trying to imitate a culture they aren’t. “We removed the Japanese verbiage on purpose so it’s not something we are imitating and something that’s not as intimidating,” he said. “You go to the sake section of a liquor store and it’s all Japanese writing but then you see the words Colorado Sake, blueberry hibiscus, American Standard ─ and things that are comfortable that you gravitate toward.”

For inexperienced sake drinkers, Stuart suggests that, just like whiskey, you don’t usually start drinking it neat. You typically start with a whiskey cocktail and he advises the same approach for sake. Colorado Sake Co. brews various flavors to get you up and running before graduating to their traditional style sake, the American Standard.

“They say you know good sake by the next morning,” he said. The one word Stuart always recommends when picking out sake is Junmai, which means, “true rice wine.” If it doesn’t say Junmai, that generally means it has added alcohol like rum or vodka.

“In cheap stuff they’ll extend the batch with vodka, generally the expensive stuff is more pure. I always stick with Junmai because you’ll feel good the next day.”

Native Natasha Lovato celebrates the Colorado lifestyle through hiking, biking or playing bingo while enjoying a sour ale or two.