SAPPORO (Kyodo) Sake will be made in Norway from imported Hokkaido-grown Ginpu rice, according to a farm cooperative group in the prefecture.
The sake will go on sale in Norway next summer, and some of it will be exported to Japan, the Sapporo-based Hokuren Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives said.
Norwegian beer producer Nogne O will brew the sake. Its president, Kjetil Jikiun, learned the art of sake brewing in Japan and took a liking to the Hokkaido brew.
"Japanese companies have made sake abroad from locally cultivated rice in the past, but this might be the first time that Japanese-grown sake rice has been exported," an official with the Hokuren Federation said.
The Norwegian firm purchased 3 tons of Ginpu shipped from Yokohama on Dec. 1.