Our Sake Club is Berlin-Kreuzberg’s destination for contemporary artisanal Japanese sake - at once a bar, a store, an online shop, and a space for cultural exchange. Exclusive curation, community, and storytelling are at the heart of every pour.
Founded by Richie Hawtin and Laura Käding-Hawtin, the concept reflects nearly two decades of devotion to sake - a handcrafted beverage that has woven itself into Japanese culture for more than a millennium. With over 70 varieties sourced directly and personally from breweries across Japan, the collection brings together young, innovative brewers and established craft houses, with uncompromising quality ensured through a strict cold-chain import process.
The mission is simple but ambitious: to make sake part of everyday life. A bottle in your fridge, at your birthday party, or on a first date - sake belongs everywhere and its versatility is unparalleled.
The Club’s tasting room embodies a spirit of openness and conviviality. Here, curious passersby and devoted seekers alike are drawn together, their solitary journeys dissolving into a community where sake, conversation, and culture converge. More than a bar, Our Sake Club is a crossroads of Japanese tradition and Berlin creativity, of music and gastronomy, of intimacy and discovery.
Rich
Richie Hawtin is a world-renowned electronic musician and DJ whose connection to Japan led him to discover sake in the early 1990s. What began as curiosity soon became a lifelong passion, leading him to train as a sake sommelier in 2007, establish the ENTER.Sake brand in 2011, and culminate in his recognition as a Sake Samurai in 2015. Today, as co-founder of Our Sake Club, he brings together his devotion to Japanese craft with his creative vision.
Laura
Laura Käding-Hawtin first encountered sake in Tokyo in 2008 and has since built her knowledge through years of traveling across Japan, visiting breweries, and learning directly from master brewers. As co-founder of Our Sake Club, she brings her Berlin roots and deep cultural experience to share Japan’s sake tradition in Europe.
Laura
Laura Käding-Hawtin first encountered sake in Tokyo in 2008 and has since built her knowledge through years of traveling across Japan, visiting breweries, and learning directly from master brewers. As co-founder of Our Sake Club, she brings her Berlin roots and deep cultural experience to share Japan’s sake tradition in Europe.
OSCAR
Oscar Casagrande first encountered sake at Richie Hawtin’s ENTER. nights in Ibiza and later deepened his knowledge while studying gastronomic science in Italy and traveling to Japan. Drawn to Berlin by Sake 36, he soon joined the team and now manages Our Sake Club, sharing his expertise and enthusiasm with guests.
Credentials & Expertise
Rich, Laura, and Oscar each bring internationally recognized expertise in sake. Rich completed John Gauntner’s Sake Professional Course and holds the WSET Level 3 Award in Sake; Laura holds SPC Level I & II; and Oscar is also certified with the WSET Level 3 Award in Sake. Their knowledge is grounded not only in exams but in years of traveling through Japan, visiting breweries, and building personal ties with brewers. In 2015, Rich was named a Sake Samurai by the Japan Sake Brewers Association, recognizing his international contribution to promoting international sake culture.
From Sake 36 to Our Sake Club
In 2020, Rich and Laura, together with a partner, opened Sake36 in Kreuzberg —- giving Berlin its first dedicated home for contemporary sake. Despite launching in the middle of the pandemic, it thrived as both a shop and bar, quickly becoming a community hub for locals and international guests. After its closure in March 2024, Rich and Laura took the opportunity to integrate some of their original ideas and bring the concept further, founding a new company with Oscar as manager: Our Sake Club.
While Sake 36 introduced Berlin to artisanal sake, Our Sake Club goes further — focusing on younger, innovative brewers, many of whom don’t export outside Japan. With some bottles limited to just a dozen per year, the bar has become a curated space where rare sakes can only be tasted on-site. The word “club” here reflects community. The bar seats just 16–18 people, all gathered around a single communal table. Sharing an evening–and sake– together is the very core of this space.