Sake is on the rise in the United States. Not only is it the largest market by volume and second by value for Japanese sake, but there is also a growing American-made sake movement. From just one craft sake producer in operation two decades ago, today the Sake Brewers Association of North America counts more than 20 members. Behind the rise of the domestic industry is an unlikely source: Isbell Farms, a rice farm located in England, Arkansas.
The farm was the first to cultivate varieties for sake production, such as Yamada Nishiki and Omachi, which opened doors for quality sake production. Recently, Isbell Farms made a big investment in the sake industry by creating Cypress Creek Milling, which brings the essential step of rice milling in-house.
SevenFifty Daily explores how this rice farming family and Arkansas’s rice-growing industry is helping to galvanize the domestic sake scene
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A History of Japanese Rice Production
Isbell Farms already had a history of cultivating Japanese culinary rice before turning to sake. After an illuminating conversation with Japanese native Shoichi Ito, Ph.D, at a Rice Technical Working Group conference in the late 1980s, second-generation rice farmer Chris Isbell grew curious about what varieties might thrive in Arkansas. In 1990, he planted Koshihikari, a premium Japanese table rice.
“Word got back to Japan that Koshihikari was being grown in Arkansas,” says Isbell. “It was a big deal, and we didn’t expect that.” Japanese media, arriving in limousines, profiled the family. Busloads of Japanese tourists came to visit the small rural town. “We had one grocery store and the lady that ran the grocery store was the town gossip. And so everybody that pulled a limousine into the little grocery store to ask for directions got clocked,” Isbell recalls with a laugh.
The success spurred his curiosity further, and Isbell went on to dedicate four acres of the farm to experimental plantings, such as Arborio rice from Italy. One of the varieties planted was Yamada Nishiki, a short-grained rice used for high-quality sake production. “I knew Yamada Nishiki was a sake rice, but I had no idea there was a sake market in the U.S.,” he says.
He harvested one row and put the 30 pounds of grain and seedlings into cold storage for future use—just in case. It was 10 years later that Isbell received a call from Takara Sake in Berkeley, California, asking if they grew Yamada Nishiki. Isbell planted five acres of rice for the brewery and the quality spurred other domestic breweries to buy Isbell Farms’ Yamada Nishiki. As demand increased, Isbell cultivated other varieties commonly used in sake production, such as Omachi and Gohyakumangoku.
Cultivating a Domestic Industry
The success of Isbell Farms is what largely drew Matt Bell and Ben Bell (no relation) to establish Origami Sake in Hot Springs, Arkansas, in 2023. “Isbell Farms is the first farm outside of Japan to grow sakamai (sake rice),” says Matt Bell. “So the reason we started our brewery here in Arkansas is because of the combination of the water in Hot Springs [which lacks iron and manganese, two compounds that produce off-flavors and aromas] and the rice farming being here in Arkansas.”
In what many consider a testament to Isbell Farms’ quality, Dassai Blue, the Hyde Park, New York-based offshoot of renowned Japanese sake brewery Dassai, is using up to 70 percent of Isbell Farms rice in their brewing, the balance coming from Japan. Furthermore, they commissioned the Isbells to grow a specific strain of Yamada Nishiki—used in their Japanese sakes—for their Dassai Blue line. “Customers love to see ‘Made in the USA’ rice,” says Naoya Matsufuji, the head of production at Dassai Blue.
While it remains to be seen if Dassai’s success will entice other Japanese breweries stateside, Matsufuji believes, “it may interest local people who want to create sake.”
Removing a Rice Milling Roadblock
The polishing rate of a rice grain highly influences a sake’s style, but until recently, one of the only mills in the U.S. designed specifically for sake production resided at Moto-i Brewery in Minnesota. This meant rice from Arkansas needed to be shipped to Minnesota, milled, and then sent to the respective customers. “That process is not logistically easy or sustainable,” says Mark Isbell, Chris Isbell’s son. “So we made the link to vertically integrate the mill and rice processing near the farm.”
In 2023, the Isbells bought the mill from Moto-i and relocated it to Arkansas. They also purchased a new, second mill from Japan and created Cypress Creek Milling, located 12 miles from the farm.
The new venture not only speeds up procurement but also reduces the environmental footprint of shipping rice twice. This results in cost savings for brewery customers, says Matt Bell of Origami, who is also a partner in Cypress Creek Milling. “Prior, the farm was shipping 100 percent volume [of rice weight] to Minnesota and then 50 percent, or whatever the polishing ratio [after milling], to the end user.” With only the final product sent to customers, Bell estimates a customer could save as much as half in shipping. Plus, the new machine is much more technologically advanced—it’s now easier to mill rice to customers’ specifications.
“Isbell Farms has been a mainstay of the industry for many years now,” says Weston Konishi, the president of the Sake Brewers Association of North America, and he calls the creation of Cypress Creek Milling a “game changer” for the industry.
“The fact that there is American-grown sake rice is something that surprises people,” says Konishi. “But that is part and parcel of the overall narrative of what domestic sake production is all about. It starts with ingredients that are grown close to home. It is a part of the whole story of the rise of the sake industry here. And Isbell Farms is obviously an integral part of that. They’re incredibly important for us.”
Dispatch
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Shana Clarke is a wine, sake, and travel writer, and the author of 150 Vineyards You Need To Visit Before You Die. Her work has appeared in Saveur, Fortune, NPR, Wine Enthusiast, and Hemispheres. She was shortlisted for the Louis Roederer 2020 International Wine Writers’ Awards and ranked one of the “Top 20 U.S. Wine Writers That Wineries Can Work With” by Beverage Trade Network in 2021. She holds a Level 3 Advanced Certificate from Wine & Spirit Education Trust and is a Certified Sake Sommelier. She will always say yes to a glass of Champagne. Learn more at www.shanaspeakswine.com and follow her @shanaspeakswine.
