Can Sake Cut Through Colorado’s Craft Beer Scene? This Rice Wine Taproom Thinks So

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Photo: Colorado Sake Company RiNo
Colorado Sake Company owner and brewer William Stuart stands at the bar at the new sake tasting room in RiNo.

What’s brewed like beer, but sold like wine?

It's sake, and the Japanese rice wine could become the next big thing in Colorado, a state renowned for its craft beer scene. The Centennial State is now allowing tasting rooms to serve locally made sake.

The state's first, and so far only, sake tasting room is the Colorado Sake Company in Denver’s RiNo neighborhood. William Stuart, owner and brewer of Colorado Sake Company, talked to Colorado Matters about the process of making sake, and why he believes it will catch on in Colorado.

“We’re trying to make it more approachable,” Stuart said. “There’s only 15 active active sake breweries in the United States that are from American breweries. We are the eighth sake tasting room in the United States, so we are very much at the beginning of it.”