Singapore’s premier sake festival is back for the 2nd time this year with more than 200 sakes to sip and savour. Come 5 November, UE Square’s atrium will transform into a sake wonderland, where festival goers will be able to try award-winning sakes, seasonal releases and sake that’s available in Singapore for the first time ever!

Each ticket is $55 (or $250 for a group of 5) and includes 3 hours of free flow sake sampling as well as your own Sake Matsuri tasting glass. Complement your libations with delicious food from The Oyster Cart, The Kongsee etc. 

Singapore Sake Awards

The festival will also see the inauguration of Singapore’s first sake awards. A panel of seven judges will select the winners based on a double blind tasting of real-world consumer bottles, meaning those the average drinker will find in a shop or restaurant, rather than bottles specifically prepped for the judges to taste. They will also judge the sakes with full consideration of the Southeast Asian palate. The categories are

– Best Junmai Daigingo/Daigino (Gold, Silver, Bronze) 

– Best Junmai Gingo/Gingo (Gold, Silver, Bronze) 

– Best Junmai/Honjozo (Gold, Silver, Bronze) 

– Best of Festival (the sake that most impressed the judges)

– Best Value-for-Money Sake 

– Sake Matsuri Most Popular Sake Award (as voted by festival attendees)

The judging panel will comprise:

– Mr Adrian Goh, Director, Inter Rice Asia Pte Ltd (Head Judge)

IWC Judge, WSET Sake Educator, WSET&IWSC Future 50 Award

– Mr Sean Ou, DipWSET, Head of Education, The Beverage Clique Academy (Senior Judge)

IWSC / IWC Sake Judge & Master Sake Sommelier, Japan Sake & Shochu Makers Association

SEA Representative

– Mr Elliot Faber, Co-Founder of Sake Central and Sunday’s Spirits (Senior Judge)

Sake Samurai, producer of “SAKE: The History, Stories & Craft of Japan’s Artisanal Breweries”

– Mr Daisuke Shibuya, Senior Manager, SFBI Pte Ltd – ASI Sommelier Diploma Gold, IWC Sake

Judge

– Mr Andrew Ang, Director, Kirei Japanese Food Supply (Pte) Ltd – UK SSA Certified Sake Sommelier

– Mr Cheong Wai Lung, Founder, Ryu Sake, UK SSA Certified Sake Sommelier

– Ms Olivia Chey, Sake & Shochu Sommelier, Kurara, WSET Certified Sake Educator

Although it’s a sake festival, expect to find much more like Sengetsu’s Crescent 9 gin, made with ginger, yuzu, amanatsu orange, tea leaves and cypress from the Kumamoto prefecture. There’ll also be a selection of shochu from Kurara, helmed by Olivia and Cedric, the only certified shochu sommeliers in Singapore. 

Masterclasses

Leading up to the festival, there’ll be various masterclasses to learn about the regionality of sake, or even more indulgently, a sake and caviar pairing with Sake Samurai (that’s a legit title!) Elliot Faber.

To get tickets, or to find out more about the upcoming festival, check out www.sakematsuri.sg

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