Sakaya NYC Blog

Simply put, Sakaya means “liquor shop” in Japanese or even more literally, “place that sells alcoholic beverages.” The word sake in Japanese, is actually the broad term referring to all alcoholic beverages. Nihonshu is the term used to differentiate the beverage that is brewed from rice, water, koji, and yeast. Does it really matter which term you use? Nope. If you go to Japan or when you come to see us, either will get the job done.

As NYC’s first shop specializing in sake, we chose our name for its no-nonsense, straightforward expression of what we envisioned the store to be…a place where you’ll find only carefully selected sake (and a couple of other Japanese tipples), have the opportunity to taste many of them, and get answers to your questions.

There is much to enjoy and learn about sake (if you so desire). We want to make it as easy and as simple as possible… starting with our name.

Kanpai!

After receiving the prior approval of local Community Board 3, and after five months of waiting since we filed, our appearance before the New York State Liquor Authority Board on July 11 yielded a thumbs up on our license application! In fact, they uncharacteristically complimented us on our “unique idea” and wished us “good luck.”

We’re now going full throttle on finalizing the plans for the shop interior design and construction. Along with that, we’ll be meeting with our distributors, tasting, and selecting the sake that we’ll be stocking to offer you when we open our doors. If you live in the neighborhood, you’ll notice some subtle changes in the window over the next few weeks as we begin to give passersby a taste of what Sakaya will be all about.

We’ll continue to keep you up to date on our progress. Coming up next….some Sake 101 basics.