Sake
No longer relegated to sushi joints and a few dusty bottles in a back corner of the liquor store, sake has gone mainstream. “I think sake will be a sustained trend,” says Margaux Burgess, proprietor of Lingua Vina Ltd. “There has been a definite increase in premium offerings in the market over the past couple years and it has become a lot more common to find options outside of Japanese restaurants. It’s also promising to see more and more retailers keeping sake in the cooler, as is done in Japan.”
In Edmonton, look for sake at our growing number of izakayas, including Shōjō, Dorinku, Tomo and Ikki, as well as at Baijiu and Clementine; Partake even pairs it along-side its rustic French cuisine.
Disruptions and Surprises
The COVID pandemic disrupted supply chains across the world, which translated to local issues with wine inventory levels and product availability. Distribution issues were largely resolved in the latter half of 2020, but another big wave of the pandemic could bring chaos.
“There are a lot of questions about avail-ability and distribution in the face of COVID,” says Stacey-Jo Strombecky, sales representative for Renaissance Wine Merchants.
If there’s one thing that 2020 has taught us, it’s to expect the unexpected. We’d be wise to carry this mantra into 2021 and beyond.
“Everything has been up in the air, knocked sideways with COVID,” Richmond says. “So your guess is as good as mine.”
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This article appears in the Winter 2021 issue of Edify