Holbrook brewer blends Navajo tea with traditional Japanese rice

Atsuo Sakurai brews award-winning sake in a shop located just off Route 66 in Holbrook, Arizona. The operation uses a 200-gallon vat to produce the fermented rice beverage, which has earned recognition in competitions in Japan and internationally.

Sakurai, a native of Tokyo, worked in the sake industry in his home city before relocating to the American Southwest. He stated that he dreamed of establishing a manufacturing business in a location of his choosing. His wife, Heather Sakurai, is a member of the Navajo Nation. The couple merge their cultural backgrounds in their production methods.

The production process is manual and slow. Workers wash and heat rice in baskets before transferring it to vats for fermentation. After fermentation, the mixture is pressed under pressure to extract the liquid. Sakurai noted that the entire process, from start to finish, takes approximately three months to complete a single bottle.

The shop produces traditional styles of sake, as well as experimental varieties that incorporate local ingredients. One specific product features Navajo tea, a plant native to the region. Sakurai described the aroma of the traditional offerings as resembling pear or blueberry. A taster at the shop identified a distinct prickly pear flavor in one of the experimental sakes.

Sakurai observed that many visitors are surprised to learn the beverage originates in Holbrook rather than Japan. He said, “Initially, nobody believed.” He views the hands-on nature of the work as a counterbalance to the increasing prevalence of automation and artificial intelligence in other sectors.

The business operates in a corridor that was historically impacted by the construction of interstate highways. Sakurai remains confident in the longevity of his venture. When asked if Arizona Sake will still be operating in one hundred years, he replied, “Hopefully.”