Drink Japan is a two day Japanese drinks showcase held in London each year, built around hundreds of pours from sake breweries, shochu and awamori distilleries, whisky makers, brewers and tea producers, most of whom send someone from the company to stand behind the table.
From sake and shochu to whisky, beer, wine, cocktails, tea and non alcoholic drinks, the floor covers a wide spread of styles in one room, alongside Japanese food, live cooking demonstrations and free masterclasses.
Where it stands now. The most recent edition ran on Friday 25 and Saturday 26 September 2026 at The Lindley Hall in Westminster. Dates for the next edition have not been announced by the organiser. This page is the permanent home for Drink Japan on Japan Nakama and is updated as soon as new dates are confirmed, so it is worth bookmarking rather than searching for a year.
Rie Yoshitake, Chris Ashton and the IWC sake competition
Drink Japan is run by Rie Yoshitake and Chris Ashton, two of the people most responsible for Japanese drinks having any profile in Britain at all.
Yoshitake is a sake ambassador representing the Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association and the Sake Samurai Association, and directs the Japanese Culinary Academy in the UK. She received Japan’s MAFF Minister’s Award in 2014 and the Foreign Minister’s Award in 2019. Ashton ran the International Wine Challenge for more than 16 years and built its sake division, and has been designated both a Cool Japan Ambassador and a Sake Samurai.
The two of them, with Toshie Hiraide, set up the IWC’s sake competition in 2007. Drink Japan is the consumer facing end of nearly two decades of that work, which is why the exhibitor list reaches breweries that do not normally travel.
The official Drink Japan website presents the event as a platform for making Japanese drinks, food and culture a natural part of the UK’s contemporary food and drink landscape. The emphasis sits on education and direct contact, connecting Japanese brands with visitors, importers and industry professionals, and on the stories, traditions and people behind the bottles, from long established breweries to newer names bringing fresh ideas to the market.
Hundreds of pours, free masterclasses and live performance, all included with entry
Every ticket includes complimentary tastings across the exhibition floor, and the organiser confirms that covers drinks up to 60% alcohol by volume. Food samples are included as well, and there is a seated dining area where you can buy freshly prepared Japanese dishes, so you can eat properly while you taste.
Masterclasses are free and included with entry. They run 30 minutes each, you register at the ticket gate on the day rather than booking ahead, and they go on a first come basis, so it is worth deciding which one you want before you arrive.
Live performance on the Main Hall Stage is included too. Sets run around 15 minutes, so they are worth checking against the session you have booked.
Before you go. Entry is strictly over 18s. No food or drink can be brought into the venue, and no animals other than guide dogs. Most exhibitors sell bottles on the day, so bring a card if you expect to take something home.
The 2026 edition at Lindley Hall, 25 and 26 September
The 2026 edition ran across two days at The Lindley Hall, part of the Royal Horticultural Halls on Vincent Square in Westminster, with more than 50 exhibitors and a new Spirits of Japan zone presented by the Government of Japan. What follows is the record of that edition, kept here for reference until the next one is confirmed.
Four sessions, with Friday afternoon reserved for trade
There were four sessions across the two days, and a ticket admitted you to one session only.
- Friday 25 September, 12pm to 4pm. Trade only, with no public tickets on sale. Complimentary entry on advance professional registration, badges collected on the door with a business card.
- Friday 25 September, 5pm to 9pm. Open to the public, with trade welcome alongside.
- Saturday 26 September, 12pm to 4pm. Open to the public, with trade welcome alongside.
- Saturday 26 September, 5pm to 9pm. Open to the public, with trade welcome alongside, and the session that sold fastest.
Public tickets ran from £17.50 to £35 depending on the session and were sold through Eventbrite. Trade entry was complimentary across all four sessions with advance professional registration.
Eight free 30 minute masterclasses
Eight masterclasses ran across the two days, four each day, all free with entry and registered at the ticket gate on the day.
Friday 25 September
- 1pm, Sake Unlocked: Taste, Pair and Discover, hosted by the National Tax Agency of Japan. An informal introduction to tasting sake and pairing it with food. This sitting was trade only.
- 2:30pm, The Spirit of Okinawa: Discover the World of Awamori
- 6pm, Beyond Matcha: A Modern Japanese Tea Experience, hosted by AWAIDO
- 7:30pm, The Art of Awamori: From Tradition to Innovation
Saturday 26 September
- 1pm, Discover Awamori: Okinawa’s Timeless Spirit
- 2:30pm, Sake Unlocked: Taste, Pair and Discover, hosted by the National Tax Agency of Japan
- 6pm, a further masterclass that was still listed as to be confirmed in the week before the event
- 7:30pm, Taste, Evaluate, Enjoy: A WSET Sake Masterclass, hosted by WSET
Three separate awamori classes across one weekend is unusual for a UK event. Between them they covered the traditional side of the spirit and what distillers are doing with it now. The WSET session closing Saturday was the most technical of the set, and the one to pick for a framework for judging sake.
Opera and taiko on the Main Hall Stage
Tenor Takumi Torio and soprano Nozomi Fukushima performed a short opera set. Torio is a member of the vocal group REAL TRAUM and moves between opera and pop. Fukushima studied at Tokyo University of the Arts and at Trinity Laban Conservatoire in London, and works across musical theatre, plays and concerts. They performed at 12:45pm and 5:45pm on the Friday, and 12:45pm on the Saturday.
Taiko drummer Joji Hirota led an ensemble at 2:15pm and 7:15pm on the Friday. Hirota has been one of the most recognisable taiko performers working in Britain for years, and a hall that size suits the drums.
Sake from major and craft breweries
The confirmed sake exhibitors ran from large heritage breweries to independent producers, with Gekkeikan, Dassai, Hakkaisan and Akashi-Tai among those pouring, plus sparkling sake and other styles. Our complete Drink Japan 2026 exhibitor guide goes through every brewery, distillery and importer that poured across the two days, and ranks what to taste first.
Some of the breweries pouring have been at it a very long time. Gekkeikan was founded in Fushimi, Kyoto in 1637 and brought Horin Junmai Daiginjo and its sparkling. Urakasumi dates to 1724, Takara Shuzo, behind MIO Sparkling, to 1842, Akashi-Tai to 1856 in Hyogo, Houraisen to 1864 in Aichi, Chiebijin to 1874 in Oita, and Hakkaisan has been brewing with Mt Hakkaisan meltwater in Niigata since 1922.
Alongside them were producers doing something different. Heavensake is the collaboration between French Champagne blender Regis Camus and Japanese breweries. Tazaki Foods brought a spread of styles including yuzu sake, a lychee saketini, kimoto honjozo and a black tea umeshu. Tengu Sake, named IWC Sake Merchant of the Year more than once and behind the UK’s first dedicated sake shop, was also pouring, which made it a useful stand for asking what to buy afterwards.
It was not all sake either. Coedo brought three of its beers, Fuji Japanese Whisky showed both its single grain and single malt, and there was kokuto shochu made from Amami black sugar. Clearspring and Japan House on Kensington High Street covered the non drinks side.
Okinawan awamori and the Spirits of Japan zone
The spirits line-up included Okinawan awamori, a distilled spirit from Japan’s southern islands that is hard to find in the UK, with several island distilleries exhibiting together, plus Japanese whisky.
The awamori stands sat inside Spirits of Japan, a zone presented by the Government of Japan and the largest single addition to the 2026 event. It split in two.
The shochu side ran tastings across the three main base ingredients, sweet potato, barley and rice, alongside hands on cocktail workshops where professional bartenders talked through blending and food pairing and visitors mixed their own shochu based drink.
The awamori side was presented by the Okinawa Awamori Distillers Association from the zone’s cocktail bar, and it was the corner to prioritise. Nine Okinawan distilleries exhibited together, several from islands whose bottles almost never leave Japan: Yaesen and Ikehara from Ishigaki, Sakimoto from Onna Village and Yonaguni, Kamimura from Uruma City, Izena from Izena Island, Iheya from Iheya Island, Yanbaru from Ogimi Village, Yamakawa from Motobu, and Yoneshima from Kume Island. Kamimura was the first distillery to age awamori in oak casks, which is a good place to start if you have only ever had it young and clear.
Japanese food from Eat Tokyo
Food ran alongside the drinks, led by Eat Tokyo, a family of Japanese owned restaurants that started in Japan over 57 years ago and now has sites in Tokyo, London and Düsseldorf. At the event they served the kind of menu their restaurants are known for: sushi and sashimi, regional specialities, home style dishes, and izakaya classics that go well with a drink. Top chefs from the Japanese Culinary Academy EU also cooked in front of visitors, which added a live food element to the tasting floor.
More than 50 exhibitors were confirmed in the run up, and the list was still growing in the final weeks before the doors opened.
The Royal Horticultural Halls
Getting to the Lindley Hall
The Lindley Hall sits on Vincent Square in Westminster, roughly equidistant from Victoria, Pimlico and St James’s Park stations and around a ten minute walk from each. Victoria is the easiest arrival point if you are travelling in from outside London. There is no visitor parking on the square, so public transport is the sensible option, and given what you are there to do, the better one.
The 2025 edition at St Mary’s Church, Marylebone
Before the move to Westminster, Drink Japan ran on Friday 10 and Saturday 11 October 2025 at St Mary’s Church in Marylebone, across three sessions, with tickets at £35 including unlimited tastings. The 2026 edition moved to the larger Lindley Hall, added a fourth session and introduced the trade only Friday afternoon.
Drink Japan London: your questions answered
- What is Drink Japan? A two day Japanese drinks showcase held in London, with sake, shochu, awamori, Japanese whisky, beer, wine, cocktails, tea and non alcoholic drinks poured by the producers and importers themselves, plus Japanese food, free masterclasses and live performance.
- When is the next Drink Japan? Not yet announced. The 2026 edition ran on 25 and 26 September at The Lindley Hall, 80 Vincent Square, London SW1P 2PB, and the 2025 edition ran on 10 and 11 October at St Mary’s Church in Marylebone. This page is updated as soon as the organiser confirms new dates.
- How much were tickets in 2026? Public tickets ran from £17.50 to £35 depending on the session, booked through Eventbrite. Trade entry was complimentary across all four sessions with advance professional registration.
- Are the tastings included? Yes. Entry includes complimentary tastings of hundreds of Japanese drinks, covering drinks up to 60% alcohol by volume, plus food samples. Many exhibitors also sell bottles on the day.
- Do masterclasses need booking in advance? No. They are free with entry and you register at the ticket gate on the day, first come.
- Is there an age restriction? Yes, strictly over 18s.
- Can one ticket cover more than one session? No. A ticket admits you to one session only and is not transferable between sessions.
- How many exhibitors are there? More than 50 exhibited in 2026, across sake, shochu, awamori, Japanese whisky, beer, tea and food.
- Which drinks are covered? Sake, shochu, awamori, Japanese whisky, beer, wine, cocktails, tea and non alcoholic options.
