Sydney Sake Festival visitor survey sheds light on Australia's sake scene

Jams Japan Co., Ltd. of Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, and its Australian affiliate JAMS.TV held Sydney Sake Festival 2026 from 11 to 13 September 2026. This year’s venue was the Overseas Passenger Terminal, the cruise ship terminal on Sydney Harbour, with views of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. More than 400 types of sake and other drinks were presented at over 80 booths, and around 6,000 people attended. The organisers also ran a visitor questionnaire and compared the results with data collected in Melbourne and Brisbane to summarise trends among Australian consumers.

From tasting to connecting: satisfaction of 8.06 out of 10

About 70% of respondents were aged between 30 and 59, and 44.8% had an annual income of AUD 100,000 or more. Some 98.1% said they enjoyed the tasting and 82.5% said they enjoyed buying sake. More than half also named meeting people from the breweries (58.9%) and learning about sake (54.4%). Satisfaction averaged 8.06 out of 10. In total, 96.9% said they would “definitely” or “probably” return in 2027.

Drinking and buying are different behaviours

When asked how often they drink sake or fruit wine (drinks made with fruit such as ume) in Sydney, the most common answer was “once a month” at 44.1%; adding “once a week” brings the total to 57.4%. Buying, by contrast, is far less frequent, with “once every six months” the most common answer at 35.4%. The organisers point out that some people may be drinking at restaurants and other venues. Occasions for drinking also point that way: “gatherings with friends” (73.8%) and “restaurants and bars” (73.4%) were well ahead of anything else. The Sydney-born restaurant group bills made Toyobijin, a sake from Yamaguchi Prefecture, the house sake in all its restaurants in 2023. It seems sake is spreading from the dining table.

Over 95% want to visit a brewery

Only 36.5% of respondents had visited a sake brewery in Japan. Yet 95.4% said they would like to visit one on their next trip to Japan (97.0% in Melbourne). 91.6% wanted a “casual and fun” tour, and 58.2% wanted it to last “one day”. Sake fans clearly take an interest in the people who make it.

For European readers, the takeaway is that in Australia sake is spreading as a drink to enjoy with friends over a meal. A good way in is to visit a restaurant or bar with a wide sake list and compare a few different types alongside the food. If a tasting event offers the chance to talk to the brewers, listening to how the sake is made as you taste it lets you enjoy the story behind the label as well.