Portion of Snow Monkey Sake Profit to Benefit Texas Primate Rescue

Snow Monkey Sake Remix, a new ready-to-drink canned beverage produced by Hot Springs-based Origami Sake, now has something even more unique going for it -- support for actual monkeys.

 

Released in May, Snow Monkey Sake Remix is for sale in locations in Arkansas, Texas and Georgia. Plans call for a rapid expansion across the Southeast region with expectations to move into the MidAtlantic region throughout the summer. It's also available through an e-commerce platform in about 40 states.

 

David Knight, CEO of Snow Monkey Sake Remix, said the ready-to-drink space is prime for a sakebased product and the company is in a rapid growth phase with plans to be in stores in 12 states by the end of the its second quarter.

 

He said with the tagline "Drink No Evil," Snow Monkey's colorful cans come in four drink configurations that hit an industry sweet spot in three of its few growing categories: ready to drink; low alcohol content; and made with sake.

 

"There is no other national, scalable sake RTD (ready to drink), we're the only one," Knight said of Snow Monkey. "Sake is one of the hardest alcohol beverages to make. It's not an easy proposition ... it gives us the real strategic advantage in the marketplace.“

 

Matt Bell, President and CEO of Origami Sake -- Snow Monkey's parent company -- said the snow monkey or Japanese Macaque, is the perfect symbol for the new brand.

 

He said not only is it distinctly Japanese, the creature's known love of hot springs links the simian strongly to the sake brand's Arkansas home base. The monkeys are inspirational and honor Japanese tradition, he added, with their playful, resourceful and surprisingly wise natures.

 

That's where Born Free USA, a Texas-based primate sanctuary comes in.

 

Bell and Knight said in a recent interview that 1% of profits from Snow Monkey Sake Remix will go to support the animal rescue organization.

 

Founded in 2002, Born Free USA is a 175-acre sanctuary in south Texas that serves as home for hundreds of monkeys, that come from roadside zoos, are retired from animal experimentation or once were pets in private homes.

 

Born Free USA's CEO Angela Grimes said the sanctuary's corporate partnership with Snow Monkey is its largest to date and it will provide much needed funding and help raise awareness of the sanctuary's mission to help primates, many who come to the refuge from horrible conditions.

 

"Once they are with us they grow, and they heal," she said of the rescued animals. "And they become playful. They're out in the sunshine for the first time in their lives. Many of the monkeys that come to us have never touched grass."

 

She said the sanctuary's goal it so return the primates to as natural a life as possible, climbing trees, swimming in ponds, learning how to play and making friends with other monkeys.

 

"The best day in a monkey's journey is when they're no longer looking to their care givers for attention and they turn their backs on us and they walk away and they go play with their monkey friends and we are meaningless to them. That's a great day," Grimes said.

 

Plans are for Born Free to become a key element of Snow Monkey's marketing efforts, including social media, digital marketing, public relations and consumer sampling. Snow Monkey's customers will also have the chance to donate directly to the primate sanctuary through the website drinksnowmonkey.com and at tasting events.

 

"It's been a great conversation with these guys because they're mission is to return monkeys to the wild," Knight said. "It's not a zoo. You can't get close to the monkeys ... they reintroduce them into the wild with their fellow monkeys."

 

Snow Monkey plans to use artificial intelligence to bring the macaques to life as part of a digital marketing campaign -- with the goal of reinforcing the playful nature of the primates while promoting conservation efforts. The brand also has custom app which allows users to take selfies that feature appearances by digitally created snow monkeys.

 

Bell said sake is a flexible base for cocktails.

 

"Sake is better for you and cleaner," Bell said during a recent interview. "It's a good foundation for formulation."

 

Since it uses sake rather than traditional spirits, Snow Monkey can be purchased in convenience and grocery stores rather than being limited to sales in traditional liquor stores. Its 12-ounce cans have a 4.5% alcohol by volume with four varieties: Mandarin and Grapefruit; Mango and Guava; Dragon Fruit and Key Lime; and Yuzu and Hibiscus. They are typically packaged in 8-packs and retail for about $19.99.

 

Knight said people in general but particularly young people are curious about culture and curious about japan and that's helping to fuel interest in sake.

 

According to Sake Market 2025 Trends and Forecast by Canadian alcohol marketing agency OhBEV released in March, sake exports grew 6% to year over year in 2024 to a record 80 countries. The U.S made up 29% of that total export value, with a gain of 27% year over year.

 

In 2022 Origami Sake began constructing its brewery and began sales in 2023. Its sake is made with Arkansas-grown rice cultivated specifically to produce sake along with Ozark spring water from Hot Springs.

"The water here is ideal for brewing sake," Bell said. "It has everything you want and nothing you don't."

 

He said naming the company Origami, a term that can be recognized as part or Japanese culture but also can be easily pronounced and remembered by customers, was also key to the company's branding. Keeping things simple is a primary goal.

 

"The story we're telling is resonating with distributors," Bell said. "We've really threaded the needle with the product quality, branding, packaging and sense of place that has allowed us to grow our distribution faster than pretty much anybody in this space."

 

According to Neilson, Origami Sake has grown to become the fifth largest premium craft sake producer by revenue and sales volume in the United States at a price point of $24 and above, the company said. Premium sake only uses four ingredients, rice, water yeast and koji -- a mold that converts the starch in rice into sugar.

 

Origami Sake recently won a gold award at the Tokyo Sake Challenge 2025, the only sake
brewery from the United States to earn such an honor this year. The company also makes the only nonalcoholic sake produced outside of Japan.

 

Origami Sake is distributed in 32 states and is expected to be available nationwide by the end of this year. The company employs about 30 workers with plans to nearly double that figure within a year as Snow Monkey expands.