One could say Kazuki Usui, head of Senkin Bewery, is the captain that steers the sake ship: not only the ship of his brewery, but the ship of sake trend in general. When Usui, at the age of 28, took over Senkin in 2008 as its 11th generation CEO, Senkin had run to the ground and had to be liquidated. Usui had no experience in sake prior to coming to his family business, but he was coming from the world of wine, working as a restaurant sommelier, then as an instructor at the Japan Sommelier School (now FBO Academy Tokyo) at the age of 22.
Senkin Brewery had been brewing cheap, mass-produced sake for years until then, but Usui looked at the business through the eyes of a wine sommelier and decided to produce small-batch premium sake, and to develop sake with acidity as its defining character. Acid is an important component in white wine, but acid in sake was considered a big no-no at the time; in fact, everyone who tasted Usui's newly developed sake, including Usui's father who had left the business entirely in his son's hands, disapproved unanimously. Usui dug his heels in. His thinking was, while acid overpowered light, subtle Japanese cuisine, the younger generation of Japan were raised on other cuisines. They grew up eating more meat than fish, more fried and sautéed foods, used ketchup and mayonnaise; and when they went out to eat, they were more likely to go out for French, Indian, or Italian food. The sake of the past had too little acid to compete with these foods. Before long, the new style of sake caught on, and Senkin's production went up 100x in the last 10 years.
Other wine sommelier touches seen in Senkin that has caught on with the rest of the sake world is the idea domaine, terroir, and assemblage. Senkin offer sakes categorized into three series: Modern, where they highlight its juicy, sweet tart flavor profiles, Nature, which uses all-organic materials and age-old Edo period techniques, and Classic series, which has sakes with more umami flavors.
