Sake & MaltVerified from Japan
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What changed

What changed in Japanese sake and whisky

The reason most English sake and whisky guides are wrong is not that they were written badly — it is that they were written in 2021 and never touched again. This section tracks the changes that made them wrong.

Guides in this section

A shop wall stacked with Japanese sake bottles in their brewery labelsWhat changed

Palate Project (formerly Tippsy Sake): what actually changed in 2026

Tippsy Sake became Palate Project in 2026 and cancelled its old Sake Club. Almost every English guide still describes the old company. Here is what is real now.

Verified 2026-08-057 min read

Other sections

Two ceramic sake cups and a tokkuri flask on a wooden counter

Sake

How Japanese sake is classified, what the numbers on the label mean, and how to pick a bottle you will actually enjoy — written from the Japanese sources.

Japanese single malt and blended whisky bottles lined up on a bar counter

Japanese whisky

The 2021 labelling standard, how to tell a genuine Japanese whisky from a world blend, and which bottles earn their price at each level.

A shop wall stacked with Japanese sake bottles in their brewery labels

Buying & shipping

Which shops can legally ship to your country, what import duty costs you, and how to avoid the counterfeit problem at the top of the market.