Japanese firm Asahi Shuzo International”™s plans to open its first U.S. brewery in Dutchess County have been rescheduled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Creators of Dassai sake, the company is building a $28 million-plus facility in Hyde Park where it expects to produce more than 330,000 gallons of rice wine a year when construction is completed.
Chris Parrott, senior project manager for Consigli, which is overseeing the brewery”™s construction at Route 9 and St. Andrew Road, said delays due to the pandemic set the company”™s construction timeline back several months. Parrott said the U.S.”™s first sake brewery expects to open by summer 2022.
To encourage Asahi Shuzo”™s growth in New York, Empire State Development offered the Japan-based brewery up to $588,235 in performance-based tax credits through the Excelsior Jobs Program.
Asahi Shuzo said it would invest more than $28 million in the facility and create 32 jobs. The CIA and Asahi Shuzo will also seek research and development opportunities to further identify ways in which sake and the byproduct from the sake-making process can be used to expand food flavors and culinary techniques, along with the potential for new lines of sake-based products.
Asahi Shuzo first announced its investment in the Hudson Valley in mid-2018, and it also announced plans to partner with the Culinary Institute of America on several initiatives to introduce sake into American cuisine.
Empire State Development President/CEO Howard Zemsky welcomed the landmark partnership between Asahi Shuzo and the CIA. “Asahi Shuzo”™s expansion into the Hudson Valley builds on New York”™s national and international leadership in this industry,” said Zemsky.
“They will collaborate with the CIA to further the education and awareness of sake within the United States. The CIA, with the support of Asahi Shuzo, will develop curriculum, certification programs, workshops, and special events and tastings.” CIA President Tim Ryan added, “We are honored they”™ve chosen to build their first U.S. operation in the CIA”™s backyard and we look forward to a long and fruitful relationship.”
