Highlights
- Atsuo Sakurai, a Tokyo native and the only First-Grade Sake Brewer in the U.S., runs Arizona Sake in Holbrook off Route 66.
- The brewery won Gold Medals at the 2018 Tokyo Sake Competition and the 2019 Los Angeles International Wine Competition.
- One signature sake is infused with Navajo tea, a high-desert greenthread plant, reflecting the cultural heritage of Sakurai's wife, Heather, a Navajo Nation member.
- Production runs approximately three months per bottle in a 200-gallon vat; some expressions sell exclusively in Holbrook.
Arizona Sake, operating just off Route 66 in Holbrook, has won Gold Medals at the 2018 Tokyo Sake Competition and the 2019 Los Angeles International Wine Competition, making it one of the more decorated craft beverage operations in the state.
The brewery is the work of Atsuo Sakurai, a Yokohama native and the only First-Grade Sake Brewer in the United States, according to the brewery's own records. Sakurai spent 10 years in Japan's sake industry before establishing what the brewery describes as Arizona's first commercial sake kura. His wife, Heather, is from the Navajo Nation, and the couple's collaboration is most visible in a junmai ginjo sake infused with Navajo tea, a greenthread plant native to the high desert.
"Navajo tea, Navajo tea sake. This is Navajo tea itself, a plant," Sakurai told InvestigateTV.
Production is deliberately slow. Workers wash and heat rice in baskets before transferring it to a 200-gallon vat to ferment. Once fermentation is complete, the sake is pressed under pressure. Start to finish, one bottle takes roughly three months. Some expressions are sold exclusively in Holbrook.
Sakurai said people are routinely surprised to learn the sake originates in Holbrook. "Oh, yeah. Initially, nobody believed," he said.
The brewery's location on Route 66 carries its own symbolism. Sakurai drew a parallel between the disruption the interstate brought to Route 66 businesses and the pressure automation now places on craft industries. "That kind of business, industry, I want to save," he said.
Asked whether Arizona Sake would still be operating in 100 years, Sakurai said: "Hopefully."
Arizona Sake's tasting room is open in Holbrook; the brewery's full product lineup is available at arizonasake.com.
Sources
Every factual claim in this article traces to one of the sources below. See how we work for the editorial process.
- arizonasake.com retrieved 04/11/2026 13:11
- AZ Family (3TV/CBS5) retrieved 04/11/2026 13:11
Authored by The Scottsdale Signal. Drafted by AI from primary-source material under our beat-specific editorial guides; reviewed by humans before publish under our five-gate process. Sources retrieved at 04/11/2026 13:11. Every claim traces to a source.
