Navajo tea meets Japanese rice in Holbrook sake shop

A sake brewery located just off Route 66 in Holbrook, Arizona, combines traditional Japanese brewing methods with local Navajo ingredients. The shop, known as Arizona Sake, produces the fermented rice beverage in a 200-gallon vat.

The production process is slow and manual. Workers wash and heat rice in baskets before moving it to vats for fermentation. Sakurai explained that once fermentation is complete, the mixture is pressed like mash to extract the liquid. The entire cycle from start to finish takes approximately three months for a single bottle.

Atsuo Sakurai, who is from Tokyo, established the business after working in the sake industry in Japan. He moved to Arizona with the goal of starting a sake manufacturing business. His wife, Heather, is from the Navajo Nation. The couple incorporate her cultural background into their products, with one specific sake featuring Navajo tea. Sakurai described the ingredient as a plant native to the region.

Sakurai noted that visitors are frequently surprised to find a Japanese sake producer in a small Arizona town. He recalled that people initially struggled to believe the location. The shop has earned recognition through awards in Japan and other international competitions. While some traditional styles are produced, specific creations are sold exclusively in Holbrook. Tasters have described the aroma as resembling pear or blueberry, with one customer identifying a distinct prickly pear flavor in a sample.

The business operates in a community along Route 66, a corridor that faced economic challenges when the interstate was built. Sakurai views his hands-on approach as a way to preserve a type of industry that is increasingly automated. He stated that he wants to save this kind of business model. When asked if the shop will still be operating in 100 years, Sakurai answered that he hopes it will.