Blue Current Brewery: American sake business gets started with help from UMaine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQPWBwEiTPU&feature=youtu.be
Dan Ford, president and master brewer of Blue Current Brewery, first started experimenting with sake (Japanese rice wine) when he bought a homebrew kit. Now he is one of the top 100 master sake tasters in the world, and the proud owner of New England’s first sake brewery. With help from the University of Maine, Ford was able to get his unique business started. Realizing early on that sake brewing equipment could only be found overseas, Ford sought the expertise of specialists at the University of Maine. Ford collaborated with UMaine’s Advanced Manufacturing Center to help him design and build the equipment he needed. UMaine Cooperative Extension Food Safety Specialist Jason Bolton helped him design a facility that could safely produce his high-quality product. In this video, Ford talks about the sake brewing process and how the University of Maine was an invaluable resource to his company. To learn more about the services offered through UMaine’s Advanced Manufacturing Center and Cooperative Extension, visit, umaine.edu/amc and extension.umaine.edu.
For more information about these and other innovation and economic development initiatives at UMaine, visit umaine.edu/econdev.