Most of today’s discussion was about the price of sake.

Most sake—whether delicious or not, popular or not—tend to fall within similar retail price ranges. Yet some breweries are producing sake that costs five, six, or even ten times more than those typical bottles. And when they do so, they usually explain the price through their philosophy and brand narrative.

Whether those values actually justify the price is ultimately up to the consumer. I personally believe that only someone who has actually tasted the sake has the right to judge its price—so I bought the bottles and tried them myself.

After drinking them, one thought came back to me, something I had felt even before this experience:

perhaps sake could be more expensive than it is today.

Price is not simply the amount of money we pay to buy something.

The higher the price, the more we tend to treat something as special and valuable.

And breweries can also reflect their pride in their brand through the price they set.

Have you ever seen those social experiments by overseas YouTubers? They create a “luxury brand” with less than a month of history, dress it up with an impressive story, collaborate with a department store, and then sell cheap items like sneakers or hamburgers for dozens of times their original price. Customers buy them—and often leave glowing reviews.

That doesn’t mean the buyers were foolish.

They were responding to the story, identity, and perceived history behind the brand. Of course, we should still develop the ability to judge quality ourselves—but the experiment shows how powerful brand narratives can be.

In those experiments, customers happily paid large amounts of money for products from a “high-end brand” that had existed for less than a month. They tried on the items, felt satisfied, and even gave interviews explaining the personal meaning they attached to their purchase.

As individuals, we should cultivate the ability to recognize what is truly worth paying for, so that our hobbies and consumption can be more enjoyable and meaningful. But regardless of that, price undeniably has the power to move people’s emotions.

That said, this does not mean brands should simply overcharge customers and hide it behind clever marketing.

Brands built on deception rarely last long.

When a brand is based on falsehoods, those lies tend to multiply and grow larger, eventually consuming the brand itself. In the end, it disappears.

Because of that, I wonder whether breweries might instead express their pride and philosophy through the price of their sake—convincing customers, gaining strength in the market, and using that success to produce even better sake over time.

Of course, well-known breweries may not need to do this. Even at the current price levels, their sake sells very well, so from a business perspective they may not feel the need to raise prices.

And personally, I’m also grateful that I can still drink sake that perfectly suits my taste for less than ¥5,000.

But sometimes I wonder: if bottles like Senkin Modern, Sharaku Junmai Ginjo, or Miyakanbai Junmai Ginjo were priced around ¥5,000, maybe I would pay more attention to the food I pair them with—or make more effort to fully enjoy their aroma and flavor.

Anyway, those were my thoughts after drinking two bottles of sake that cost about five times the average price.

If you were expecting a harsh criticism, I’m sorry to disappoint you. The sake was good. It felt like something I might occasionally drink again on a special day—if I happened to have the money to spare.

Though if I had to choose, IWA left a slightly stronger impression.

And someday, I imagine I’ll also try bottles like SAKE HUNDRED or MINAKI, which cost over ¥30,000, and share my thoughts about those as well.