JAPANESE INSPIRED. CALIFORNIA MADE.
Sawtelle Sake began in historic Sawtelle Japantown in West LA with the mission to energize sake culture in our community. Through a variety of fermentations of our California-grown rice we strive to celebrate sake culture and koji in all of their many forms. We follow traditional methods to create products that reflect the character of our local ecology and seasonal abundance.
We share a commitment to progressing the application and appreciation of sake and koji in America by creating products that everyone can enjoy. Our small team does everything by hand and we source our plants from the finest farms throughout California and Japan. Our fermentations include a variety of koji-based products including sake, amazake and other fun things.
WHAT IS KOJI?
Sawtelle Sake is a company dedicated to expanding new horizons for koji-based drinks. Koji is a living culture used to transform rice starch into rice sugar. Rice fermentation would be impossible without koji; it’s the most important ingredient in the sake making process and is widely applicable to a variety of culinary uses.
Fun fact: Koji (aka. Aspergillus oryzaea) is the national fungus of Japan and the base of all Sake, Soy and Miso.
COMMITMENT TO OUR ECOLOGY
The California Ricelands Waterbirds Foundation (CRWF) is an organization
dedicated to 60,000 + acreage of sustainable conservation practices in agricultural lands (i.e. rice fields) that are critical for migratory shorebirds in the Sacramento Valley. The ecological health of this region is vital to support the agricultural capacity of the state and it is where we source all of the rice for our products. We donate 1% of our proceeds to CRWF.
