🍶 Certified Sake Sommelier (SSA)
🍶 Sake Scholar
Nose, a town in Osaka and not the organ you smell with, is home to a quiet craft sake brewery with something of a growing cult following. Akishika Shuzo was set up back in 1886 and is nestled amongst rice paddies and bamboo forests, right between the cultural hubs of Kyoto and Osaka in the Kansai region.
The sixth-generation and current boss, Hiroaki Oku, is credited for taking the brewery in a pretty interesting direction. Under his leadership, the brewery became a pioneer in junmaishu or junmai sake - that's “pure rice” sake made without any additives – which is a bit of a break from what other postwar Japanese breweries were doing. By 2009, the brewery became one of the rare few sake breweries that purely produce junmai sakes.
Another key feature of Akishika Shuzo is its commitment to self-sustainability, especially in terms of rice production. They live by the motto "From our own fields to bottle." The brewery owns 22 hectres of land used for biodynamically grown rice, steering clear of pesticides and herbicides, and even making their own fertiliser from the byproducts of rice growing and sake brewing (such as sake lees). Hiroaki-san also deliberately avoids the use of animal manure as fertiliser because he couldn’t be sure that the animals were given high-quality food. This approach, known as "ikkan-zukuri," or from seedling to sake, is a testament to Oku-san's commitment to quality.
Unsurprisingly, this single-minded focus on quality comes at the price of yield. But that’s precisely what Hiroaki-san expects. In fact, when he took over the family brewery in 2009, the new production target he set was to cut down sake production by a whopping 75 percent – all in a bid to ensure sure every batch is top-notch.
Despite the small production volume, the brewery produces a rather wide range of different sakes with different names. There’s the Mizore Moyo, a variant of cloudy nigori-style sakes. There’s the Kuro Moheji that is made from rice specifically harvested from a single paddy field. There’s also the very complex Triple Eight or 888, which refers to a sake made from a rare strain of yeast numbered #8, with 80% rice polishing ratio and made from Hattan Nishiki rice (8 in Japanese is pronounced ‘Ha’).
For this review, we’ll be tasting the Akishika Shuzo Tasanshu. The term Tasanshu (高酸) means “high acidity”. This is a result of the use of a specific strain of #28 yeast. Let’s give this a taste.
70% polishing ratio, nama genshu (unpasteurised and undiluted), muroka (non-charcoal filtered), organic hattan nishiki rice
Nose: Quite straightforward and clean, dominated by briny and salty notes, and combined with a rather distinct mineral chalky character.
Palate: Surprisingly flavourful and vibrant. It's sweet and sour in the most juicy way, reminiscent of ripe citrus fruits, especially pomelo. The sweetness is nuanced, revealing hints of ripe melon and a very subtle honey-like quality, all balanced beautifully by the acidity. Adding depth to the profile is an umami that is akin to the savoury richness of grilled unagi (eel).
Finish: Clean and brief, with the citrus and umami flavours gently subsiding.
My Thoughts:
Many drinks producers might emphasise their traditional methods and high-quality production in their marketing stories, but not all actually translate this into exceptional products. Judging by this Tasanshu, Akishika Shuzo really seems to be doing something different.
This is a fairly straightforward but very flavourful sake, and despite a 70% polishing ratio, it maintains a very nice clarity. The balance between the sweet, sour, and umami notes is most masterfully achieved This deserves 8/10 stars – enjoy this with a meal or just have it on its own – it’s super satisfying.
My Rating: 8/10
Score/Rating Scale :
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Kanpai!
@CharsiuCharlie
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Tsuchida is a sixth-generation family-owned Sake brewery established in 1907 in the Gunma Prefecture. Gunma is a mountainous region in the northwest of Tokyo, known for its nature and by extension nature activities ranging from hiking to whitewater rafting, and for the less active, it's got great onsen too.
Tsuchida itself boasts a comparatively young staff, most of whom are in their 30's, and yet much of its efforts have been focused on producing Sakes that harken back to a more ancestral period. It is one of the few breweries that work fully off the ancient Kimoto method of producing its yeast starter with the combined ingredients of a heap of laborious effort and ambient yeast, but perhaps more interestingly, it runs counter to the Sake category's massive focus on achieving ridiculously high rice polishing ratios.
Modern Sake has the tendency to believe that polishing rice so much that only a minuscule fraction is left is key to making great Sakes. This is thought to ensure the purity in the ensuing Sake as only a very consistent core part of the rice grain - the shinpaku - is left. By removing the less starchy outer parts of the rice and leaving only the most core starchy parts, the Sake is thereby more singular.
Yet, Tsuchida doesn't believe in that. Instead Tsuchida believes that the traditional methods (including Kimoto) are the most pure version of Sakes, and if in the old days there was no ability to achieve such high polishing ratios, then this would not be necessary even today. Thus Tsuchida is rather upfront with how they prefer to keep more of the outer parts of the rice that they believe gives the Sake more umami and layers of flavour. Nevertheless, the brewery still ends up with a twice as long Sake production time because of the Kimoto method used (more than compensating for any time saved from not polishing their rice as much).
Today we're going to try the Tsuchida K. The "K" here refers to it being a Kijoshu type of Sake, which can be thought of as a dessert Sake, usually sweeter and more dense. This is a result of a specific deviation in the way the rice mash (the moromi) is worked. In yet another example of Tsuchida employing traditional methods, the brewery uses a three-step method to making its rice mash called Sandan-Shikomi.
This means that the rice mash is built up over several days, layer by layer in three key steps, almost like making a bakery making a cake - this is a tedious process but is thought to yield more flavourful and robust flavour as the yeast is allowed to "digest" and "grow" before more input is given, as opposed to creating the mash all at once which is thought to overwhelm the yeast. In a way, this process fortifies the potency of the yeast.
In the case of Kijoshu, the last step which would have ordinarily involved adding water to the rice mash, Sake is used instead. While this process creates a flavourful and rich Sake, it also simultaneously creates a grey zone in the Sake classification system. Because additional Sake is added, while not being Brewer's Alcohol (which is not Sake), the resulting Sake is thereby disqualified from Junmai status wherein only rice, yeast, koji and water is used. However, we can't be too quick to call this not Junmai either - after all it is yet another rice-based alcohol that is being added to the fold - therefore Kijoshu is typically considered a class of its own. As Tsuchida prides itself on only producing pure rice Sakes, the Tsuchida K does nevertheless fall within that category.
Tsuchida goes on to say that the "K" actually stands for "Knot", as in to connect and bind, in reference to connecting people to alcohol, alcohol to food, and people to people. Here the rice polishing ratio is 90%, which is by Sake standards, really removing just the surface layer of the rice, and if we're talking rice, the rice here is sourced locally from the Gunma Prefecture.
With that let's give it a go!
Color: Darker Chardonnay
Aroma: Really warm, deeper autumnal notes, almost syrupy even - brown sugar syrup. It’s also layered with herbal florals of chrysanthemum, aiyu jelly, rock sugar, Pei Pa Koa cough syrup. It has an almost lifted, grassy, herbal, sweet and deep aroma. Over time it turns more confectionary, with notes of light cherry and cotton candy.
Taste: Gentle, mellow, earthy, grassy sweetness. Again with the herbal flavours of brown sugar, sea coconut jelly, chrysanthemum tea. It’s pretty consistent with its aromas, with also that floral perfumery note.
Finish: More on lingering spice, with alittle bit of anise, and then back to that herbal, brown sugar sweet jelly.
Absolutely lovely! This was a big favourite for me with those mellow, deeper, darker, sweeter floral herbal flavours. This had alot of depth and of course a lovely thicker, almost syrupy texture. It was like a herbal Chinese dessert reminiscent of Cheng Tng or Aiyu Jelly.
So much depth, silkiness and rounded mellowness - ridiculously tasty!
My Rating: 10/10
Score/Rating Scale :
Kanpai!
@111hotpot
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[ Joppari Ginjo ]
Always keen to try sake from the Tohoku snow region. This sake from Aomori is slightly dry & well balanced. It has a nice, short finish and very easy to drink. 2 of us polished it off in less than an hour!
Joppari is a Tsugaru dialect word that means "stubborn". Apparently in the olden days, local sake in the Tohoku region was predominantly rich and sweet. Joppari, a dry sake, was born from a stubborn desire to turn their backs on the trend and create a sake that is unique to Rokka Sake Brewery.
Brewery: Rokka Shuzo
Origin: Aomori
Polishing Rate: 60%
[ Narutotai Kei Daiginjo ]
First time trying sake from Tokushima! 慶 on the label stands for celebration. The brewery is located in Naruto city and is the oldest in Tokushima. “Tai” stands for sea bream, and they typically feature the fish on their labels (though not this one).
Strangely enough, this had hints of umami for me despite the polishing. I found out their sake is known for being rich with umami. Had it cold but I preferred it as it warmed to room temperature. Slightly sweet on the palate & silky texture as described. Would pair it with fish.
Brewery: Honke Matsuura Sake Brewery
Origin: Tokushima
Polishing Rate: 40%
Rice: Yamadanishiki
Hakkaisan is one of today's most popular and well-regarded Sakes, often cited at the archetypal benchmark for the Niigata style - that is one that is crisp, clean and dry (or tanrei karakuchi). Founded in 1922 in Minami-Uonuma, and named after Mount Hakkai, where the brewery is located along its foothills, Hakkaisan is not historic by Sake standards, but has already achieved prominence.
As with many Niigata producers, the cold climate, quality snowmelt from the nearby mountain ranges, and top notch rice are often cited as reasons for the region's ability to produce super standard Sakes. Yet, Hakkaisan stands out even amongst the Niigata fold for a reason.
Hakkaisan Brewery at the base of Mount Hakkai.
The brewery is rather unique in several aspects. Amongst its points of differentiation is the brewery's massive focus on making its own koji, allocating almost a third of all daily labour to simply making proprietary, high quality koji to Hakkaisan's specifications.
The brewery also almost always uses two or more varieties of rice for each Sake - for example Gohyakumangoku, Miyama Nishiki, Yamada Nishiki and Etsudanrei - by combining these different rice types, Hakkaisan is able to imbue its otherwise Niigata-style light and soft Sakes, with a deeper umami note, amongst other unique attributes. Here, fermentation is also particularly slow and in low-temperature.
Hakkaisan's Yukimuro.
Finally, the Sakes are left to age and rest in a Yukimuro or a natural refrigerator made from large mounds of snow harvested from around the brewery, that's then covered with rice straw to provide insulation. It's even said in ancient Japanese history that the 8th Century Imperial Family would use the yukimuro to store ice.
With that in mind, today we're going to try one of Hakkaisan's premium Sakes, the Snow Aged 3 Years Junmai Daiginjo. This Yukimuro Sake is aged at around a stable temperature of 3 degrees Celsius in a snow filled warehouse. It is made with Yamada Nishiki koji that is used on a combination of Yamada Nishiki and Gohyakumangoku rice that's brewed to produce the Sake. The rice polishing ratio here is 50%.
Let's go! Onward!
Color: Clear
Aroma: Acidity coming through with a yogurt-like lactic tartness. It’s rather heavy and thick but also rather dry and austere.
Taste: A noticeably thicker body, with juicy honeydews that leads into a more umami savouriness and oiliness that is much like charcuterie meats.
Finish: Crisp, a pretty clean finish with just the slightest sweetness.
A real stellar representation of the Hakkaisan signature dry and umami savoury style! This really captured what Hakkaisan is all about and demonstrates how the brewery is able to create textural complexity and richness in its sakes.
On the nose, you get a sense of the dryness yet it has a richness to it. Then when you get to the palate, you’re greeted with a surprising juiciness of honeydew melons, almost as if you took a bite into one and juices began to pour out, which then moves into a sort of dried meat oiliness that was again rich but in a varying dimension.
The finish is again crisp and clean, almost like a matching epilogue to what we started off with on the nose.
This would go pretty well with soba noodles and a light tempura ebi fry, completing a really full-bodied and rich meal, balancing out the brightness of the cold noodles, and being on par with the richness of the fried prawns, even giving it some added textural brightness with the crisp and light, cold sake.
Kanpai!
@111hotpot
Nigori-style Sakes, the typically milky or yogurty looking Sakes, are alittle bit of a homecoming for the category of Sakes really.
In essence, Nigori Sake are coarsely filtered Sakes wherein a fairly large sieve is used to filter the Sake, allowing more of the rice granules and yeast to come through into the Sake to be bottled. It has an even more primordial sibling called Doburoku, which goes one step back and is completely unfiltered. So thinking back to the old days, you could imagine that Sake brewers didn't in the early beginnings have the ability to so finely filter their Sakes, and so Nigori and Doburoku Sakes were in essence the early form of the rice-based brew - all Sakes would've essentially been Nigori's and Doburoku's. As time went on, professional Sake brewers could increasingly have at their disposal the technology and equipment to more finely filter their Sakes and thus produce a sparkling clear product which of course caught the attention of most folks.
Sake pressing to filter out the fermented mash. (Image Source: John Gauntner)
This left the Nigori and the Doburoku style essentially to those who were simply homebrewers producing Sakes mostly for their own consumption. Nonetheless, as is the case today, some homebrewers probably did such a phenomenal job that they could begin selling their unfiltered and coarsely filtered Sakes - this eventually led to a ban in the late 1800's when the the Meiji Government of Japan didn't want these homebrewers to evade alcohol tax simply because their Sakes didn't fall under the conventional tax classifications that licensed Sake brewers were held up to. During which time, the clear-styled Sakes, which we can all recognise, proliferated, and became the face of what we associate as Sake.
Doburoku's remained outlawed for a long period of time. (Image Source: OmuNomu)
Nigori's were later allowed back in business after a couple of decades, while Doburoku's remained outlawed for much longer. And interestingly how the government would decide if the Nigori was acceptable was to have its producers immerse a cage into the Sake tank - this cage would have holes of a predefined legal size (which was precisely 2mm in diameter), and so whatever Sake could go through the mesh of the cage was deemed legal! Thus Nigori's were back baby!
But perhaps more important to the modern context is that Nigori's have really been part of a broader effort by Japanese Sake producers to woo a more international crowd of drinkers. Compared to the Junmai's, Ginjo's and Junmai Daiginjo's, which are all typically clear, more distinct in their expression of a Sake, and certainly are best for appreciating what a specific brewery's craft and style is, they're also more pricy (requiring more refinement) and less sweet.
Ozeki has a Pineapple and Strawberry Nigori too - review here.
Nigori's are typically sweeter and therefore more accessible, and when you've got the likes of Ozeki, a really traditional brewery that's been around for over a century, adding fruits to it - you've got on your hands something that most anyone around the world can say "yes" to. And so while Sake consumption in Japan has been slipping, and much of the fate of Sake brewers rests on the international crowd, in a roundabout way, it seems like going back to their roots of Nigori's just might save the day.
With that let's give Ozeki's new Peach Nigori a go!
PS. We previously reviewed their Pineapple and Strawberry Nigori's here.
Color: Yogurt - creamy, white. Or Yakult.
Aroma: White peach puree - incredibly aromatic.
Taste: White peach flesh - still really aromatic, like the ripest, juiciest peach, but a balanced sweetness that’s not an overkill. Texturally it’s like a probiotic drink with bits of white peach and just the slightest sense of booze.
Finish: Feels slightly grainy - like cooked rice bits with a deep milky, creamy supple sweetness of rice mash or Turkish rice pudding (Sutlac).
This is incredibly tasty first of all - and having tried the Ozeki’s Pineapple and Strawberry Nigori’s, I can say this is my favourite thus far.
Superb aromas of super fresh, ripe white peach flesh that carries through to the palate. The palate does not disappoint either, I really appreciated that this wasn’t overloaded on sweetness, it still felt very much like eating a peach - estery, aromatic, peach sweetness.
Nice thicker texture as well that’s always really satisfying. And then on the finish I really liked how I could almost feel the rice bits that melted on the palate and with it came this deep, soft sweetness of mashed rice.
This is such an absolutely addictive Nigori.
My Rating: 10/10
Score/Rating Scale :
Kanpai!
@111hotpot
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It’s become a bit of a sombre notion that, for the past few years, domestic consumption of sake within Japan has been steadily declining. Local sake breweries increasingly find themselves coming up against greater competition, not just amongst themselves, but also with other new spirit categories that are gaining the interest of the Japanese consumer base. In fact, the Brewers Association of Japan estimated in 2021 that over the past decade, domestic demand for sake had actually shrunk by around 30%.
But all is not lost for Japan’s sake breweries just yet. On the flip side, the painful loss of sales on the home turf has been somewhat soothed by the exponential rise in sake exports to overseas markets, where appetite for Japan’s national drink has been growing. The tale of two trends, opposing and ironic as it may seem, reflects the fact in markets abroad, sakes enjoys a certain novelty value that is not available in Japan - where consumers are already well acquainted with the drink.
Consequently, many sake makers in search for growth have pivoted to the strategy of converting new consumers abroad. And to do so, they’ve had to try new ways of making sake more accessible and approachable for newbies to the category.
One such producer is Ozeki Brewery, one of the oldest sake breweries existing today, having been founded in 1711 in Hyogo Japan. More recently, Ozeki Brewery started rebottling their Nigori sakes into sweeter, flavoured forms designed to be friendlier and more approachable for sake newbies. Specifically, Ozeki released the Pineapple Nigori Sake - combing the Ozeki Nigori (meaning “cloudy” in Japanese) Sake with Costa Rican pineapples, and the Strawberry Nigori Sake - which blends the Ozeki Nigori Sake with Californian strawberries.
I’m always up for sake for dessert, so let’s get to it!
Aroma: Very bright and sweet notes of canned pineapple juice.
Taste: The body is quite light and syrupy. Sweet notes of pineapple with some undertones of jasmine rice.
Finish: Short, with lingering pineapple hard candy notes.
My Thoughts:
This is really tasty! It has a great, refreshing texture that doesn’t feel too cloying with sweet, juicy pineapple flavours that perked me up. I think this would be great with oiler foods, as it can cut through those greasier textures well.
Aroma: Sweet plum notes, and a creamy strawberry milk scent.
Taste: The body is quite light, with a slight citric twang. Strawberry is not the most prominent flavour though - the sweetness comes across more closely to sweet plums and it reminds me of umeshu.
Finish: Short, with subtle notes of strawberry gummies.
Overall thoughts: I do find that with flavoured drinks, I always anticipate a stronger, clearer appearance of the advertised flavouring, but in this case, the strawberry notes were not very pronounced. Instead, this tasted a bit more like a plum-based drink which was a tad bit unsatisfying for a palate primed for strawberry. Nonetheless, it’s a pleasant sipper with subtle sweetness that’s enjoyable nonetheless.
While both might be pretty one-note and straightforward in flavours, they are nonetheless pretty tasty! I can think of a few friends that aren’t big on alcohol, and I would keep a bottle or two of these sakes in my fridge for when they come over. After trying these bottles, the use of Nigori sake makes a lot of sense as a base spirit, because the cloudiness of the sake works well to soften and balance out the tangier, tart flavours of the fruits.
Ozeki Brewery has had a history of innovating on their sake product formats to try and make sakes more approachable - dating back to the 1960s when their product innovation team had the novel idea of bottlings their sakes into small ready-to-drink glass cups, which became a hit among regular daily commuters seeking an accessible and convenient refreshment. Hence, I’m not surprised to see Ozeki embracing such new product lines. I’m personally someone who suffers from a chronic case of sweet-tooth, so you won’t catch me complaining about these liqueur-style sweeter sakes. Consider me a converted consumer!
Happy sipping!
@lotusroot518
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Hailing from Hyogo Prefecture, Kiku-Masamune is one of the most well-known sake breweries in Japan, and is also one of the oldest, being founded in 1659. Sakes from this brewery tend to be smooth but dry, and are said to compliment lighter Japanese dishes well such as soba or sashimi.
Just as Asahi Super Dry Beer revolutionised the beer industry with the introduction of the dry beer, Kiku-Masamune is credited with pioneering a new style of dry sake around the late 1800s to early 1900s. In the early days, sake breweries mainly produced sweet sakes. However, Kiku-Masamune became famous for producing a sake that had a pronounced crispness and dry taste. This resonated with changing palates beginning in the Meiji era (1868-1912) when Japanese society changed drastically and consumer tastes evolved and became "modernised."
Dry sake was (and still is) seen as more versatile in food pairing. Unlike sweet sake which can overpower or clash with the flavours of certain dishes, dry sake cleanses the palate and compliments a wide range of foods.
Kiku-Masamune's innovation and recognition of shifts in consumer preferences made it a standard in the industry. Their success and the growing preference for dry sakes among consumers influenced the sake industry to adjust its brewing techniques and produce drier sakes.
Interestingly, Kiku-Masamune has also made its mark in the beauty industry. The company produces several lines of popular skincare products that feature sake as a key ingredient - this includes lotions, face serums and bath salts. These skincare products harness the moisturising properties of sake, and have gained a strong following across Asia.
Now, the two Kiku-Masamune bottles we're tasting in this review are from the Shiboritate series. The word Shiboritate is roughly translated to "freshly pressed". This refers to the essential step in producing sake after fermentation when the clear liquid sake is pressed, filtered and separated from the solid pieces of rice (a step known as "shibori").
This is an important step of sake-making because the way a sake is pressed would determine the clarity, texture and flavour of the final product. For instance nigori or "cloudy" sake is loosely pressed, allowing rice particles to pass through to make a cloudy beverage.
The special thing about the Shiboritate series of sakes is that they are bottled immediately after pressing without the usual maturation period. This gives the sake a fresh, raw and robust character. These sakes are also brewed only during the winter months under the supervision of a senior sake brewer. They are also made from expensive Yamada Nishiki rice.
Let's give them a taste.
Nose: Subtle blend of fresh melon and green apples, with a very light hint of fresh snow pear. Faint backdrop of brown rice.
Palate: Lightly sweet, reminiscent of a light honey drizzled on apple slices. The texture is medium in body, with a very mellow and smooth experience. Gentle sweet notes are quickly followed by tart notes of plum and a yuzu citrus zestiness, and a mild dryness at the back of the tongue.
Finish: Leaves a slight drying sensation, not overwhelming but just enough to cleanse the palate.
Overall, the Kiku-Masamune Shiboritate Daiginjo is straightforward and very easy to drink. It doesn't command a strong presence nor leave a lasting impression, but its mellowness and clarity makes it suitable for occasions when we want a sake that does not distract from the dishes at hand.
That said, my preference is for this to be a little more pronounced in dryness.
Nose: Very vibrant and inviting array of fresh summer fruits. Bright notes of ripe banana and sweet pineapples, with a touch of lychee and just a hint of earthiness from shitake mushrooms.
Palate: A moderate sweetness and a smooth, medium-light texture. Opens with a robust note of bananas and vanilla, with steamed rice and light note of green Kyoho grapes.
Finish: Long and pronounced, with a clear refined note of steamed rice and a crisp aftertaste of sparkling white wine.
Compared to the Daiginjo bottle (above) which felt quite muted, the Kiku-Masamune Shiboritate Junmai Daiginjo offers a surprising and delightful burst of fruitiness. It has very vibrant and front-and-center fruity aromas, along with a memorable dryness and acidity.
This makes for a fantastic sake companion to richer dishes.
@CharsiuCharlie
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Nestled away in the coastal tip of Japan's Ishikawa Prefecture, known for its natural produce of seafood and beef, the idyllic natural scenery, being kept rather historically preserved as one would say with temples and shrines abound - maybe more recently popular for the teamLab installation at Kanazawa Castle, is also the Noto Peninsula which is historically important to Sake makers.
It is home to the Noto Toji Guild, which at its peak was one of the four major Toji guilds in the country, supplying sake breweries with the keyman needed to guide the sake-making process each winter. It is a guild that is well-regarded and has defined a powerful style of sake that is flavour forward, and crafted to pair with the Prefecture's umami-rich cuisine and history of salt production.
teamLab's exhibition at the Kanazawa Castle in Ishikawa has stirred great interest in the otherwise laidback and idyllic area.
The guild itself originates from the Sogen Brewery, which was founded by the Hatakeyama Samurai Clan in the mid 1700s, and while that might seem like a distant past, its ties to the Japanese royal family remain strong - the Japanese Crown Prince even made a personal visit to the 11th-generation-running sake brewery in 2018!
Given its heritage, it's no surprise the brewery's current Toji, Yukio Sakaguchi, had spent 60 years honing his craft, having trained under the Noto Toji Guild's chief brewer, before himself being promoted to chief brewer for Sogen in 1997. Amidst the realm of Toji's, Sakaguchi has a rather big influence and presence - again no surprise given the brewery's strong legacy.
The Sogen Brewery.
The brewery's emblem is a distinctive speartip that's actually called a "yari" that was what samurai warriors traditionally used for fighting on horseback.
With that quick brief done, let's take a look at what we're having today - the Sogen "Noto no Kuni" Yamadanishiki. This is a Junmai grade sake that makes use of Yamadanishiki rice from Hyogo's Special Grade A region, that is then polished to 65%.
Let's give it a go!
Color: Light Tint
Aroma: Bright, cohesive elegant scents of fresh, ripened honeydew, alongside a light creamy, milky sweetness.
Taste: It’s lighter bodied and clean here, with an immediate acidity that’s really refreshing. There’s more on fresh florals of elderflower, supported by a light honeyed sweetness. Bright acidity and solid roundedness.
Finish: A hit of black pepper, alittle more dry here, fading out with a gentle receding of the floral and sweet notes.
This had a really nice elegant aromas - bright and fresh yet creamy. But it’s really on the palate where it shines most with this really refreshing acidity that perked me right up - it’s really a grab-your-attention sort of profile, that’s well composed with florals and a delicate sweetness, whilst remaining rounded and silky. The finish was also pretty enjoyable with a gentle receding of these floral and sweet notes.
Very enjoyable Sake that’s got great points all around, solid evolution from the nose to the palate and finish, each with displays of elegance and nuance.
My Rating: 9/10
Score/Rating Scale :
Kanpai!
@111hotpot
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Niigata prefecture stands out as one of Japan's foremost sake producing regions. It’s said that the region's mountainous terrain, graced with abundant snowfall, gifts brewers with pure, soft water ideal for sake production. The fertile soil also nurtures some of Japan's high quality rice, a crucial ingredient in sake brewing. Over 90 breweries thrive here, most of them small, local breweries that craft Ji-sake. This is a term denoting sake brewed in small quantities and typically savoured within its production locale. Ji-sake is cherished for its distinctive quality, character, and the stories it carries from its origins. For this reason, Niigata has a reputation as the Land of Ji-sake.
Obata Shuzo, nestled on Sado Island in Niigata, is one of the most renowned ji-sake producers. Established in 1892 by patriarch Yososaku Obata, this family-owned brewery has been run by the family for over 120 years.
Their flagship brand, Manotsuru sake is made using locally sourced rice and the renowned water of Sado. Their brewing philosophy, 四宝和醸 (shi-ho-wa-jo), translates to "making sake by harmonizing the four treasures": rice, water, people, and the local terroir, a concept reflected in the family ‘four-eyes’ crest.
At the helm today is Rumiko Obata, the fifth-generation owner and brewer, with an eventful self-discovery journey which led her to Hollywood and back to the family kura (traditional storehouse). Initially set on leaving the tiny Sado Island to see the world, she worked as a film promoter in the Tokyo film industry, and had the opportunity to travel to Los Angeles for her work.
This changed when she turned 28 and realised that her calling was to build a lasting legacy for the family – transitioning from a high-paced life in the movie industry to an introspective return to her roots. That said, her experiences in big cities and dining with Hollywood stars shaped her unique approach to expanding the reach of Manotsuru. Under her guidance, Manotsuru found its way to 15 different countries and is even offered as a sake in the first class cabin of Air France.
Manotsuru sakes are generally clean and dry with a mild karakuchi note.
The Obata family is also dedicated to community sake education, setting up a second brewery called Gakkogura. This former elementary school was transformed into a sake brewery and sake educational centre, reflecting their contribution to popularising knowledge and culture of sake brewing.
We ran into Rumiko-san herself at Sake Matsuri Singapore, and we had the opportunity to taste five different expressions of Manotsuru sake. Let’s get in.
55% polishing ratio, Gohyaku mangoku rice.
Nose: Fresh and floral aromas. There's a distinct sweetness that is quite inviting, accompanied by an overall clean and pure scent. In the backdrop, there's a hint of a solvent-like quality, but it's subtle and doesn't overpower the primary fragrances.
Palate: Sweet with a smooth texture that carries through the palate. A rather straightforward and delightful sweet rice note is prominent. Alongside this, there's a hint of vanilla, adding a layer of complexity and softness to the overall flavour profile. The vanilla note is quite understated but it adds a certain depth to the tasting experience.
Finish: Clean with a slightly drying sensation. This finish isn't overly pronounced, but it provides a nice counterbalance to the earlier sweetness.
My thoughts:
This is clean and easy to drink, though the flavours are just really subtle. Its subtleties are enjoyable, but perhaps it lacks a certain depth or memorability that would elevate it from good to great.
My rating: 5/10
Score/Rating Scale :
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50% polishing ratio, Yamadanishiki rice.
Nose: Fresh and vibrant, opening with prominent melon aromas and bright green apple which adds a crisp, slightly tart edge.
Palate: Rich, sweet and umami. Opens with subtle hints of pear and a touch of umami that gives it a cool salty-sweet interplay and contrast, along with a slight coastal feel to it.
Finish: Long, clean and sweet with dry sensation and mild banana notes, some floral undertones and a whisper of white pepper that – when combined with a zesty dryness – gives a nice karakuchi feel at the back of the throat.
My thoughts:
Compared to the previous expression, this is a huge step-up. It has a great ginjo-ka (ginjo aroma) with a balance between salty, sweet, and the dry karakuchi finish that is executed with skill. The flavours feel layered and harmoniously combined, making this a memorable experience.
My Rating: 7/10
Score/Rating Scale :
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35% polishing ratio, Yamadanishiki rice.
Nose: Fairly complex, clean and sweet. Opens with the sweetness of japonica rice, intertwined with a subtle earthiness. Layered within is this hint of lychee and fresh-cut grass that add a fruity brightness.
Palate: Still fresh and clean but with a touch of lemon, florals and light nutty depth. Opens with a zesty, lemony note complemented by soft undertones of cherry blossom and a delicate almond-like nuttiness.
Finish: The finish continues the journey, with predominant zest and rice notes and a light earthy feel to it.
My thoughts:
Very enjoyable and complex. The sake strikes a balance between traditional and unexpected flavours, and shows the complexity of Yamadanishiki rice. The interplay of sweet rice, earthiness, and zest creates some harmonious contrasts that make for a memorable tasting experience.
My Rating: 7/10
Score/Rating Scale :
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35% polishing ratio, Koshitanrei rice.
Nose: Immediately rich and sweet, evoking the aromas of brown sugar and vanilla.
Palate: The palate reveals a very precise flavour profile. A sweetness of Japonica rice and caramel, and a light tanginess that cuts through the sweetness, providing a refreshing contrast.
Finish: The finish reveals a bit of grapefruit bitterness, which is smoothly accompanied by an earthy mushroom note.
My Thoughts:
Once again, this has complexity and richness that is quite impressive. But above all, it stands out for its very precise and well-defined flavour profile, earning a solid 8/10 stars.
My Rating: 8/10
Score/Rating Scale :
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60% polishing ratio, Gohyaku mangoku rice.
Nose: Clean and pleasant, with a distinct presence of soft banana notes. This is complemented by an interesting light prickliness I could only describe as spiciness – which might have something to do with the higher ABV of this drink.
Palate: The obvious thing about this is that it’s moderately sweet – it is distinctly sweet for sure but less sweet than the previous expressions. It also has a pronounced dryness with prominent grain notes, carried by a substantial slightly more viscous mouthfeel. The flavours develop and reveal a combination of spice and a zestiness that gradually builds.
Finish: Gradually culminates in a peak of red dates.
My Thoughts:
This sake presents a rather interesting array of flavours that delightfully surprise me. The influence of the Gohyaku Mangoku rice is evident - unlike many other sakes, the sweetness here is more restrained. The distinct flavours are more nuanced but still allowed to shine through.
It’s a memorable sake that earns a solid 7/10 stars for its distinctive taste and refinement – it’ll definitely speak to those who don’t like their sakes too sweet!
My Rating: 7/10
Score/Rating Scale :
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Kanpai!
@CharsiuCharlie
]]>Ever had those moments when you’ve thought of something that, in hindsight, should’ve been a given, and wondered to yourself “huh, why didn’t we think of that sooner?"
That’s the sort of epiphany that I got when I came across Mùa Sake - a sake brand born out of a curiosity and passion to bring the spotlight towards Vietnam’s domestic products. Where there’s good rice, there’s good sake - case in point, the many prefectures that become powerhouses for both rice and sake production. Why not start a similar venture in Vietnam, where rice is intertwined to every facet of everyday life?
Vietnam is the 3rd biggest exporter of rice in 2022. Image Source: Mùa Craft Sake
The story of Mua begins in 2017 - at the Mùa Tra Que Restaurant in Hoi An. Mùa, the Vietnamese word for “seasons”, aims to serve modernised Vietnamese cuisine that best tells the story of its ingredients. Paying attention to seasonality and quality, every ingredient is sourced locally and nearby the restaurant - from vegetables, meat and seafood.
Souce: Mùa Tra Que Restaurant
As they say in Vietnam, all three meals consist of "rice and something else.” Naturally, someone would have the idea to bring sake brewing to Vietnam, lo and behold - with Lead Brewer Troy Kelly and Chef Tru Lang, we’ve got Vietnam’s first sakes.
Troy Keller (left) and Tru Lang (right).
Mùa Craft Sake is a three-way collaboration is three way between Heiwa Shuzo 平和酒造, craft brewery East West Brewing Co. and the Mùa Tra Que restaurant. Heiwa Shuzo has been a favourite amongst sake drinkers in Japan, with their KID Muryozan Junmai Ginjo bagging the International Wine Challenge (IWC) Champion Sake award out of over a thousand entries. Mùa Craft Sake had its first soft launch in November 2022.
If there’s anyone who has been to Vietnam and explored the nightlife, they’ll attest to the vibrant drinking culture there, commonly termed as “nhậu” - where friends and family congregate in big groups to have a relaxed, easy drinking session to catch up and make merry.
Beer is to go-to beverage for these “nhậu” gatherings in Vietnam. Source: tuoitre.vn
In a similar spirit, Mùa Craft Sake has opened up a taproom for their sakes - a place that seems to marry both izakaya and craft beer taproom culture into the same venue. The main standout feature is the many long tables and benches that encourage groups to huddle together and share a few glasses of sake together, as well as the usual suspects of craft beers, grilled skewers, and a generally informal culture.
Mùa Craft Sake has made its first Singapore debut at the Sake Matsuri 2023 (November edition), brought in by the folks from The Sake Company. You bet that when there’s new and exciting sake to try, we’ll run to get a taste of the good stuff.
Much of Mùa’s sakes follow that of typical sake making (with a few twists for the next few bottlings). The yeast and koji are cultivated and brought over from Japan, alongside an undisclosed japonica (native short grain rice from Japan) rice that is then cultivated in Vietnam, with local water is purified before being used in the sake.
The sake uses the sokujo method (where manufactured lactic acid is added to the starter), and is filtered and pasteurised. The recommended food pairings are cheese, grilled meats and deep fried foods.
Here’s the relevant stats for this sake:
Alcohol: | 14% |
Polishing: | 90% |
SMV: | -8 |
Acidity: | 2.0 |
Best served: | Cold |
Nose: Somewhat light and delicate. There's multiple layers of fruit going on here, with the initial layer being that of apricots and honey nectarines, followed by a more acidic profile of lime and lime zest.
Palate: Feels rather light and dilute texture wise. There is more fruit coming through here, this time with flavours of kiwi and unripe guava - much more discernibly green.
Finish: Here, the fruit profile becomes more sweet again, resembling peach more. There is also a rice mochi sort of cereal sweetness as well. Here, the alcohol warmth is felt a lot more as well.
My Rating |
🧼⚙️A clean, yet complex and layered sake. Despite the light and delicate profile of the sake, there is always more to dig into - each time you drink and nose it, you get a different array of fruits and aromas. Not a boring sake by any means. |
Here’s where Mùa takes a bit of a twist to traditional sake making. Typically, sake only has rice as the base ingredient - here, passionfruit and cubeb pepper is added to the brew. The suggested food pairings for this sake is vanilla ice cream, fruits and white chocolate.
Alcohol: | 12% |
Polishing: | 90% |
SMV: | -12 |
Acidity: | 1.8 |
Best served: | Cold |
Nose: Quite sweet and confectionery in general. I get cooked jujubes, dates, and a very strong, almost distillate like passionfruit aroma - the sort that you see in flavoured colas and sweets.
Palate: It reminds me of a blend of Heaven and Earth Passion Fruit Tea and Ice Lemon Tea, with that sweet tea profile but mixed with a flavouring of lemon and passionfruit. As the sake opens up a bit more, I get more rice flavours, predominantly steamed short grain rice. The acidity is lacking here, making the sake feel flabby and flat.
Finish: Mildly astringent, with that sweet tea bitterness that you get from Teh Botol or any bottled teas. The passion fruit still lingers on the palate, but more of the aromas and less of the fruit flavours.
My Rating |
🤏Hmm... I found this one a bit lacking. Not only were the passionfruit a bit artificial tasting and smelling for my liking, I found the lack of acidity a bit off balance compared to the sake as a whole. It gives me an "almost there" feeling. |
Outside of Japan, most of the “eating” rice within Asia is long grain rice - think Jasmine rice, basmati rice, etc. ST25 is the name given to a cultivar of rice grown in Sóc Trăng, winning the "Best Rice in World" in 2019, a competition organised by The Rice Trader.
ST25 Rice. Source: jccfood.vn
This is a historical win for Vietnam, as it is the first time a Vietnamese rice has won first place in the competition - with Thailand, Cambodia and USA often appearing at the top spot. The rice was assessed by a team of chefs, based on how it looked, smelled and tasted when cooked.
The rice was a project by Hồ Quang Cua, an agricultural engineer in Vietnam. He has been awarded the First Class Labor Medal by the Vietnamese government in 2011 and the title of Labor Hero in 2013. Source: gaost.vn
It’s rare to see long grain rice being used in sake, but Mùa has chosen to use this award winning tasty rice for the brew. They found that fermenting this particular cultivar yielded strong pineapple aromas.
Source: @muasake.vn
To honour the rice, Mua has started the CT25 series, the first being the Pineapple Chilli. A white stork con cò trắng is the mascot for the bottle, representing the humble Vietnamese farmer who tend to the rice fields.This sake, like the previous one, has some pineapple and chilli added to the brew.
Alcohol: | 8% |
Polishing: | 90% |
SMV: | -25 |
Acidity: | 2.5 |
Best served: | Cold |
Nose: Pink fruit punch cordial jumps right out at you. As the aromas settle a little bit, I get a pink guava syrup first, followed by distinctively overripe pineapple - the sort where there is juice leaking at the seams of the pineapple. At the nose, there is a prickly chilli burn, though quite mild.
Palate: At first, a wash of pineapple juice, the canned stuff. After the initial burst of pineapple, you get the distinct plant like freshness and chilli burn of serrano chilli. While not overbearing, there is a noticeable burn on the palate. I personally enjoyed the chilli burn alongside the pineapple, but I think the spice could be a bit too intense for those adverse to spicy foods. Apart from the chilli, there is a herbaceous freshness from coriander leaves, though subtle.
Finish: The heat from the chilli lingers quite long even at the finish. The intensity diminishes slowly, still giving the freshness of raw green chilli on the palate. The pineapple flavours do not last too long here.
My Rating |
🔥💃A spicy sake?? Now that's a first for me. It's a fun beverage, which reminds me of a huge party with lots of snacks and tapas strewn all over. It's party time! |
I’m sure that the addition of other fruits and spices into a sake brew is bound to grind at some sake purists’ gears - but hey! At the end of the day, what matters is that we have a good drink to toast to. I personally feel that as long as brewers are responsible with their nomenclature and transparent about their production methods, a splash of creativity is what’s needed to push the boundaries of a category. I’m excited to see what new spins that Mùa will bring with their rice, being the Southeast Asia represent.
@vernoncelli
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We know that water quality plays a huge role in sake quality - in an (over)simplification, softer water (lower pH / more acidic) yields softer, fruitier and more delicate sakes; while harder water (higher pH / contains more minerals) yields a drier, bolder tasting sake. Most sake breweries utilise the best natural source within the region - two if they are lucky.
Source: ichinoya.com
What if you have access to not one, not two, but eight different water sources, allowing you to blend, mix, and get the perfect ratio of minerality in your water for your sake? That’s the circumstance that Ichinoya Brewery is blessed with - which they termed Hassai 八彩.
Ichinoya Brewery 市野屋 was founded in 1865, and hails from Omachi Shimano 信濃大町 that is nestled within Nagano Prefecture. The snow-capped mountains that surround the area are known to be the “Northern Alps” of Japan, - and naturally, the brewery draws its water resources from the melted snow water that is naturally filtered as it flows down the mountain.
Source: ichinoya.com
Back to our soft and hard water - as the water flows through different pathways, it catches up different mineral compositions. Not only does this create different environments for the koji and yeast to act on, Ichinoya Brewery states that even the mouthfeel changes - and given that sake is 85% composition, being nitpicky and selective about what water you use is not overkill. From their website, Ichinoya claims that they tap on eight different water sources - these include the Iyasato Water Source 居谷里水源 , the Yazawa Water Source 矢沢水源 , and the Kamishirasawa Water Source 上白沢水源.
A map detailing the water sources that Ichinoya uses - the map pin is an approximation of where the brewery is. Source: shinshu
Being modern in their approach to sake making, Ichinoya has outfitted the brewery with technology that allows for sake brewing all-year round, including cooling tanks and climate control within the brewing facilities. To Ichinoya, using only the year’s harvest of rice for each bottle is part of their sake brewing philosophy, hence - adjusting the water is paramount to suit the variation of the sake’s rice.
Stacks of Nagano rice in the warehouse. Source: ichinoya.com
I tasted this sake at the World Sake Day event held by the Sake Matsuri folks, where we did the largest worldwide kanpai. Click here to read about it!
Ryusuisen 龍水泉 is a new line of sakes that debuted this year, in 2023. No, the “New Normal” isn’t referring to the pandemic catchphrase (or at least I think so), but instead refers to how there’s been a shift in sake palates.
The Ryusuisen sake brand is split into two branches, the “Basic” and the “New Normal”. For the New Normal, the sakes are meant to be easy drinking sakes that are meant to be drunk with food, deliberately brewed at a lower alcohol percentage of 10-13%.
Source: ichinoya.com
Under the Ryusuisen sake brands, the Basic is split into three tiers: the standard, the Premier Cru, and the Grand Cru; while the New Normal series is split between the standard and the Premier Cru. This tiering system takes a leaf out of the Burgundy cru appellation system, with Grand Cru being the best in quality.
Nose: Quite acidic and sharp on the nose. Despite the sour aromas, there is quite a bready and mochi fragrance as well. In terms of fruitiness, there’s some nectarines and pears.
Taste: The acidity of the nose is mirrored in the taste, with predominantly pear and peach flavours. There is a splash of sourness that, while nowhere near intense, is enough to bring a refreshing feel.
Thoughts: This sake was quite refreshing. The sourness adds a nice clean finish to the sake, that nevertheless still has its bready, rice aromas and mouthfeel as well. A great sake that’s easy going.
@vernoncelli
We were invited to the Asian Sake Festival Industry tasting, where sake distributors, restaurant owners and sake enthusiasts alike gather to sample sakes from all across Japan. There were 99 sakes to be tasted!
Image Courtesy of Asian Sake Festival.
Upon entering the venue, I headed straight to the first booth: where Akitameijo were showcasing their sakes. Truth be told, I haven’t had much sakes at this point, including sakes from Akita Prefecture. Let's start the sake tasting!
As the name implies, Akitameijo 秋田銘醸 hails from Akita Prefecture. Akita is known for a few things, hot spring towns, Akita Inus (the dog breed which has a statue outside the Tokyo Shibuya Station), and most relevant to our topic of discussion today: large snowfalls in winter and consistently cool weather.
Snow Giants are a natural phenomenon of Akita. Source: Tokyo Weekender
Akita Prefecture is also famous for its rice production - being able to produce 192% of its prefecture’s demand for rice. The plentiful rice production is owed to the many rivers that run across the prefecture, contributing mineral rich water to the soil; alongside snow melts that protect the soil and mountains that block cold winds that damage crops. A famous rice cultivar “Akita Komachi あきたこまち” is widely loved across Japan.
Source: Ranman.co.jp
And where there is good water and good rice, there is good sake - in fact, Akita, while being known as “Rice Country 米の国”, it was also known to be “Sake Country 酒の国”, with over 500 years of sake brewing history. In an official letter submitted to the shogunate in 1618 by the Satake clan, there were 746 sake breweries within the domain. Some sources attributed the sake boom to the influx of workers at the silver mines in the prefecture, where harsh cold winters necessitated the need for sake. Naturally, much of rice production from Akita went to brewing sakes as well - making Akita’s sake production self-sufficient on a prefecture level.
A sake brewery buried in the snow, sometime in early Showa era. Source: Source: Ranman.co.jp
Akitameijo Co. Ltd 秋田銘醸株式会社 was founded in 1922, having just celebrated their 100th anniversary last year. The brewing operations were established in Yuzawa City, at the southernmost tip of the Akita prefecture, where water from the nearby Omono River was used.
Omono River. Source: Wikipedia
The sake’s brand name, Bishu Ranman 美酒爛漫 (bishu 美酒 translates to “beautiful sake” and ranman 爛漫 translates to exorbitant/luxurious), was selected from a public naming competition. 88 sake brewers, politicians and government officials gathered and started the company, which was an unusual endeavour at the time.
A bird's eye view of the brewery at the time of founding. Source: Ranman.co.jp
From the get go, Akitameijo embraced technology - which was again, unusual at the time. The outfit was equipped with then modern technology, increasing sake productivity. For its size, it managed to produce 10,000 koku (roughly 180 litres) of sake.
Facilities at the Mitake brewery. Source: Tohoku Kanko
After some time, the company had to expand its brewing operations, hence, opening another more modern, automated brewery. Currently, there are two sake breweries operating under Akitameijo: the Ogachi brewery 雄勝蔵 that produces premium sakes such as daiginjo sake with traditional methods, and the Mitake brewery 御嶽蔵 that utilises more modern and automated processes. Now, the breweries produce 100,000 koku of sake, tenfold from its beginnings.
The words Ranman 爛漫 on the sake cask. Source: Ranman.co.jp
The rice industry in Akita has been suffering as of late - as farmers are ageing and there are not enough successors to take over rice production. Sake rice production has been on the decline as well. In 2022, Akitameijo wanted to “revive the land of sake rice”, by trying its hand at rice cultivation as well.
Hence, Akitameijo now owns a few rice fields near the brewery - where staff sprout rice in their greenhouses, sow the seedlings, manage water and fertiliser, harvest the rice, and eventually de-bran and polish the rice in their brewery.
Source: Ranman.co.jp
Essentially, that means that the sake brewery had a hand in every step of the sake making process, all the way down to obtaining their ingredients. The concept was modelled after the winemakers in Europe, where the winery oversees grape growing, harvesting and wine production. Akitameijo states that this is a new shift to focus on terroir in their sakes, a bold step for their next 100 years in sake brewing.
On the topic of terroir, Akitameijo also prides itself in its low temperature and slow fermentation times. Given the naturally cold temperature during the autumn and winter (when sake is brewed), the yeast and koji is allowed to ferment the sake for a longer period of time.
Source: Ranman.co.jp
From the Akitameijo website, there are currently two flagship sake series under the Ranman brand. The first series is called the “Ine Series 稲シリーズ”, with a great emphasis on the rice used for the sakes. Under this series, the sakes are further split into two lines: the Tamakine 環稲 for the junmai daiginjo sakes and Mone 萌稲 for the junmai sakes.
Akitameijo has, for one, always used rice that were natively produced within Akita prefecture. There are two sakes under the Tamakine line that uses two different types of sake rice: Hyakuden 百田 (and the one we are reviewing today) and Ichihozumi 一穂積.
Source: Ranman.co.jp
Here’s an infographic that illustrates the lineage of Hyakuden: Hyakuden is a crossbreed between Misato Nishiki 美郷錦 and Akikeishu No. 718 秋系酒718号, which, respectively are Yamada Nishiki 山田錦 x Fukushimashu No. 2 福島2号 (Yume No Kaori 夢の香) and Yamada Nishiki 山田錦 x Miyama Nishiki 美山錦. Hyakuden rice has been known to provide a rich and deep rice taste, with Akitameijo describing it as “full and plump ふくらみ”.
Source: Ranman.co.jp
Here are some specs of the sake:
Alcohol | 15% |
Rice | Hyakudan |
Polishing rate | 40% |
SMV | +2.0 |
Acidity | 1.3 |
Nose: Quite delicate on the nose. I get a light peach aroma that is accompanied with banana, as well as peach juice with very subtle tropical fruit notes (like a mix of mango and pineapple).
Taste: Not as fruity as the nose would suggest. There is quite a drying sensation, with a potent rice cracker and steamed rice aroma.
Finish: The drying sensation lingers for a bit, but gives way to a musty, somewhat savoury aroma. I think of cured sausages (saucisson) oddly enough.
Now, this is the second Ranman flagship series, the Kaori series かおりシリーズ. As the name implies, this series focuses on the aromas of the sake. The spotlight for this series lies in the yeast, though, the species of rice is nevertheless an important factor as well.
Source: Ranman.co.jp
Here, the junmai sakes and the junmai ginjo/daiginjo sakes uses different rice as yeast. The junmai ginjo sake uses the Akitasake Komachi 秋田酒 こまち, which is a cross of Akikeishu No. 251 秋系酒251号 and Akikeishu No. 306 秋系酒306号, which respectively, are crossed between Gohyakumanshi 五百万石 (I’m not sure if this is the correct way to read it) x Yoneshiro ヨネシロ and Akikeishu No. 40 秋系酒40号 x Hanafubuki 華吹雪.
Source: Ranman.co.jp
Additionally, the yeast, Komachi Yeast Special こまち酵母スペシャル , gives the sake a fruity and “gorgeous” aroma.
Alcohol | 15% |
Rice | Akitasake Komachi |
Polishing rate | 60% |
SMV | +3.0 |
Acidity | 1.4 |
Yeast | Komachi Yeast Special |
Nose: Quite sweet and aromatic on the nose. For me, it smells like rose water, turkish delight and jasmine flowers. There is a hint of ripe peach that is mixed in together with the floral bouquet.
Taste: Initially, it has a bit of a savoury, confectionery sweet profile, that reminded me of plain mochi that was coated with a dusting of rice flour. As the palate develops, the peach aromas reveal itself a bit more.
Finish: With how delicate the palate was, I was left with the aroma of freshly steamed rice at the finish. The peach aroma does not linger long, nor does any sweetness.
Sometimes, sake production gets a bit of an unfair reputation, that it is steeped in the old and the archaic, valuing tradition over modernity. In fact, there is a lot of science and innovation that goes behind the scenes, and Akita prefecture is well known to be on the frontiers where the horizons of sake brewing is broadened.
The AKITA Yukikuni Yeast project. Source: furusato-pr.jp
Not only is Akita prefecture one of the first few prefectures to have their own sake rice and yeast research centres, sake breweries often work closely with these laboratories to produce better sake - be it more climate resilient rice or different strains of yeast with desirable properties.
For this sake, the rice and yeast used are relatively new players in the scene. The rice, Ginsan ぎんさん, was bred in 2013 in Akita prefecture, a cross between Akita No. 63 秋田63号 and Iwate No. 75 岩手75号.
Akita No. 107, also known as Ginsan. Souce: Akita Prefectural Agricultural Experiment Station
Despite being a large producer of sake, Akita’s booze rarely gets exported overseas. As it turns out, long transports, irregularities in temperature and exposure to light decreases the quality of sake, where off flavours are often produced. Hence, researchers were tasked to produce a yeast that could mitigate such effects.
Yukikuni 雪国酵母 (with 雪国 translating to “snow country, referring to Akita”) was developed within this decade, with this aim.
How Akita Yukuni Yeast fares diffrently compared to other yeast in producing off flavours in stored sake. Souce: Akita Yukikuni Yeast
There are two yeast variants of the Akita Yukikuni Yeast. The UT-1, which produces about the same amount of ethyl caproate (often described as having an apple scent, also known as ethyl hexanoate) as its parent strain Komachi Yeast Special, produces less off-flavour caproic acid (also known as hexanoic acid, which is associated to a fatty, cheesy, goaty aroma). The development of this particular yeast received an award from the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology at the 2020 Tohoku Regional Invention Awards.
Ms. Uehara, a researching involved in the yeast project. Souce: furusato-pr.jp
The UT-2 variant has similar achievements. The yeast produces the same amount of isoamyl acetate (the aroma associated with bananas, also known as isopentyl acetate) as its parent strain Akita No. 12 秋田No.12, but does not produce as much isoamyl alcohol (also named as isopentyl alcohol).
As of now, there are 14 breweries in Akita that uses the Akita Yukikuni yeast, with Akitameijo being one of them.
Alcohol | 15% |
Rice | Ginsan |
Polishing rate | 50% |
SMV | +3.0 |
Acidity | 1.6 |
Yeast | AKITA Yukiguni yeast |
Nose: A strong, dusty aroma of unwashed rice. The rice aroma is quite pronounced here, more of toasted rice grains and fried rice in character.
Taste: The flavours are more umami, with a bit of an oceanic savouriness. I think of deepfried ikan bilis (whitebait), with some of that savouriness without an overtly fishy taste.
Finish: The finish is relatively short, given how intense the flavours were. The finish leans towards a more steamed rice sensation.
Overall thoughts on Akitameijo: ⛄
I think there is a sake for everyone with Akitameijo. There is a delicate sense around the sakes, that remind me of a fluffy snowball. For those looking for pleasing, sweet and floral sakes, the Kaori series is a great recommendation, and for those looking for a drier, more intense sake, the Bishu Yukikuni is a good option. I’m looking forward to tasting more Akita sakes in the future.
@vernoncelli
]]>A wise man once said: A visionary, vision is scary. I feel like these are appropriate words when thinking of Sake Bar Yoramu's owner and operator, Yoram Offer.
On top of him owning one of the few sake bars in Japan, he's also probably the only one bottle aging his sake. But I won't go into that again as I've already talked about it in a previous review.
For me, another factor that makes him a visionary is him mentioning that he fears the momentum sake is gaining right now will weaken; and even lose popularity if majority of the producers continue to follow and make the light, delicate, clean and fruity style of sake that Dassai has made popular. Basically, due to the lack of variety.
Even though my exposure to sake is still minimal, I feel like I’ve explored enough of it to see how little explored the vast category is. Having started like most contemporary sake drinkers, I also once felt that all sake tasted the same. Because, prior to Sake Bar Yoramu, most of the ones I've had are fragile and have a similar profile to Dassai. What opened my eyes and made me more excited about the category is trying various sturdy wild fermented brands like Tamagawa and this one from Miyoshino.
The readily accessible sake brands going around these days are mostly fragile with delicate and light profiles. Fragile because the breweries encourage them to be drunk within a year of bottlings. If they don’t, the sake is expected to change to an unwanted profile. Whether it turns out better or worse, I’m not sure. Even the sake geeks I’ve spoken to say the brewers themselves aren’t sure. The fact is, the sake becomes different. Which can be a problem as it's not the same product the brewery wants to present. On the surface, this may encourage sales because distributors have to sell sell sell. But, coming from the perspective of wine and whisky collectors, I think it leaves out the segment of the market that wants to collect. Why collect a product if the belief is that the product isn’t worth keeping because it will end up being different which will make it lose value.
As someone who used to think that all white rum are similar to Bacardi's Carta Blanca, I can totally see where Yoram is coming from. I mean, for the longest time, white rum was only mainly seen as a light tasting mixter. Which only brought sales to a few brands but didn’t really help the category grow. It's trying white, funky and wild fermented sugarcane spirits like Hampden's Rum Fire from Jamaica and Haiti’s Clairin that really opened my eyes as to how diverse sugarcane spirits can be. After learning about these types of rum, I became more excited about it and let others try it; These others ended up becoming more interested in rum after learning of the variety rum has. I should note that there are also good funky and cultured yeast fermented white rum such as Wray & Nephew, Rum Bar Silver, Rum Bar Overproof and agricoles.
We all have a pretty good idea of the effects of having only one popular style. The category stagnates. With light white rum such as Bacardi and Havana Club ruling the market, people ended up thinking that's all the category has to offer. Even though the different regional styles of Scotch single malt is now considered flawed, we can’t deny that it gave Scotch more press. What happens if this trend continues in sake? It's safe to say that people will also lose interest. Because they think that everything will just taste the same despite having different stories.
The sake I’m reviewing today is a wild fermented Yamahai Junmai from Nara that’s been stored in cedar wood barre. Both the rice and koji are also from Nara. With the rice polishing at 70%. The brewery is called Miyoshino; This brand is called Hana Tomoe. Hana refers to flowers. I tried a different expression while at Yoramu.
17% abv. 720ml. JPY 2500.
Color: Melted Butter
On the nose: I get light but dry and long aromas of sandal wood, wood shavings, cedar, incense, Japanese temples, dried mango and tsukemono cucumber.
In the mouth: The wood notes are more intense here but shorter and less coherent. I get bold but delicate tastes of spice, cedar, overripe citrus peels, dried mango, incense and gherkins.
Conclusion: The flavors here are bolder than the typical sake. This is likely due to the wild fermentation and cedar barrel aging. But from what I know, the Japanese sake producers aren’t known to toast or char their cedar casks. So I’m curious if the cedar for this has been, at least, seasoned. I think fans of the white varieties of sherry will like this one.
Is it worth the price point? Hell yes. Considering this is a sturdy kind of sake you can enjoy or keep over a few months and maybe even years. Letting sake drinkers who have never tried something like this will surely shock them.
Lead image courtesy of John Go.
John is a cocktail and spirits enthusiast born and raised in Manila. His interest started with single malts in 2012, before he moved into rum and mezcal in search of malterntaitves – and a passion for travel then helped build his drinks collection. |
Daishichi is the banner child for the Kimoto method of sake-making - a really laborious, traditional process that almost triples the time taken to make sake and accounts for only about 2% of all sakes made today.
Like all great inventions, the Kimoto method was somewhat of an accident. But first let's talk about what the Kimoto method is.
The Kimoto method revolves around how the fermentation starter (called shubo) is created. Much like bread, sake-making involves the use of a fermentation starter to kickstart the production of alcohol. This is unique to sake versus other types of alcohols because with rice, starch must be converted by the koji (a fungus strain) to sugars, for the yeast to work its magic. With other base materials like barley, the grain is germinated to create sugars which can immediately be fermented; or sugarcane which already contains a high level of sugar needed for fermentation - hence a critical step with sakes is the requirement of a starter.
And so in the Kimoto-style, the idea is to create that starter from scratch. Ask any baker and they'll immediately give you a dismissive chuckle because the thought of making your own starter is outright ridiculous.
Nonetheless, this traditional method starts with two craftsmen who use wooden poles to rhythmically mash a small batch of rice, water and koji in a comically small tub. Now this is the fun part - in the old days, sake makers thought that this intense pounding was turning starch to sugar - that's totally not the case. What they were in fact doing was helping to warm up the mixture to help lactic acid bacteria to grow which actually creates an inhospitable environment for unwanted bacteria, leaving only the desirable yeast; as well as helping to quickly dissolve the rice before it got contaminated.
Today, most sake makers use the Sokujo method which involves a direct addition of industrial lactic acid to the yeast starter to achieve the same effect. So with the Kimoto method, all they were really doing was creating that lactic acid from scratch so to speak.
But of course, it's redundant to keep old methods if they don't actually yield better results, or perhaps would simply be a matter of marketing - you'll be pleased to know that the Kimoto method actually does produce better results! It actually produces sakes that are known to be creamier and softer, generally achieving a richer and more mellow profile. It also tends to last longer and keep its aromas and taste better.
While some breweries do it for select special edition expressions, Daishichi is known to do this for all their expressions. And that's at least one aspect that's solidified the brewery's high esteem.
Daishichi Brewery, which was started in 1752 and based in Fukushima, currently run by the 10th generation heir of the Ohta family, isn't just a one trick pony either. It's not out to do things traditionally for the sake of it - in fact, they've been quite the pioneer in aspects of sake making such as developing the super flat rice polishing method that allows the brewery to eke out the most of the rice grain's shinpaku (a 50% super flat polish equates to a 35% conventional rice polishing ratio), as well as the anoxic bottling system which allows sakes to be bottled without ever having to be exposed to air.
Ultimately it appears that Daishichi's core philosophy is simply to make the best sakes they know how to - be it through traditional or modern means.
So today, we'll get down to trying three expressions from Daishichi - the Junmai Kimoto Classic, the Minowamon Junmai Daiginjo and the Masakura Junmai Ginjo.
Let's go!
As the name suggests, this is supposed to showcase the classic Daishichi house style and is matured for a year before bottling.
It's made using Gohyakumangoku rice that's polished down to 69% using the brewery's proprietary super flat rice polishing method, creating a Rich and Dry expression (+2 SMV, 1.6 Acidity) with Yeast No. 7. This one comes in at 15% ABV.
Aroma: It starts off creamy and lightly sweet, with a very gentle hint of green melons and yogurt. It's quite rich and mellow but the aromas are still pretty distinctive. There's a light nuttiness as well of husks.
Taste: It has a very rich, creamy sweetness, the sort from a raw rice mash grain kind of milky sweetness, but it's also earthier, with a little bit more on soil or old wood. It's umami-ness is reminiscent of Ankimo (or Monkfish) liver pate.
Finish: A lengthy finish that recedes in refreshingly lightly sweet creaminess - think rice pudding.
This is a very lovely starter - it's creamy and just lightly grainy sweet, it gives off a really delightful rawness to it as expressed in the umami albeit creamy flavors. This makes it very easy to appreciate and enjoy without any difficult flavors. A nice refreshing finish keeps the palate clean and not overworked.
This is a great introduction of not just Daishichi, but also what the Kimoto style has to offer - the creaminess, umami and earthiness!
This would go well with meat dishes, oysters or fried foods.
Daishichi which means "Big Seven", has been in the hands of the founding Ohta family, who were once of the samurai class, occupying till this day the castle town of Nihonmatsu - that's where the brewery resides!
The name Minowamon is an homage to the main gate of the Nihonmatsu castle that has stayed resolute since the Edo period. The brewery hence decided this was befitting of the expression that debuted in Japan the first commercial use of the super flat rice polishing technique.
This expression uses the Yamadanishiki rice, polished to 50% using the super flat technique, to create a Semi-Dry expressions (+1 SMV, 1.4 Acidity), at 15.5% ABV.
Aroma: This starts off more aromatic and fruity - candied cantaloupes and pineapples, as well as white peaches. The same creamy rice mash is still present albeit much more in the background to the brighter top notes. Very light tartness.
Taste: It's almost alittle syrupy - tinned fruit syrup, with green pears and juicy cantaloupes and apricots. It's silky smooth and sweet on the palate with almost a cordial-like quality. There's a very light honeyed quality to it.
Finish: It's crisper here with more of the tartness and acidity showing up balancing the sweeter palate.
This is definitely an upgrade and it showcases more elegance - almost a sparkle to it. It's brighter, more distinctive and accentuated and certainly more silky and gleaming on the palate. It's fruitier here as well and tends towards a sweeter profile. The body here is somewhat thinner but still medium-bodied, and this has less of those earthy umami flavors.
Very enjoyable and drinkable, and definitely would make a good gift. This almost compares to champagne. It would go great with sushi (why not an omakase).
The Masakura is basically the value-for-money top of the line pick for Daishichi. It takes everything Daishichi does but scales it from Junmai Daiginjo to Junmai Ginjo, which simply means the rice is polished down 10% less - that also brings the price of this bottle down by 25% from the brewery's Junmai Daiginjo options.
The rice used here is Gohyakumangoku, with a super flat rice polishing ratio of 58%, bottled at 15% ABV. This creates a Semi-Dry profile (+3.5 SMV and 1.3 Acidity).
Aroma: Bright and fruity with big juicy notes of green pears, green melons and muscat grapes. It balances the creamy sweetness of rice pudding. It's altogether well-balanced between the brighter top notes and the richer base sweet graininess. There's alittle bit of creme brulee here as well - caramelised sugar and custard. Just a touch of earth - summer truffles.
Taste: Creamy but not as sweet, again leaning more towards rice pudding or custard, with just touches of green grape chewy candy (Hi-Chew). There's alittle bit of nougat-y nuttiness here. This has a really nice hefty texture. Also a little bit of brie cheese notes - light creaminess, savouriness and umami.
Finish: It fades very quietly, with a receding creaminess of rice mash, with just a little bit of nuttiness of grain husk.
This just screams balance and complexity - the entire experience has a consistently good contrast between brighter top notes and richer base notes. They're always hand in hand and atop a very smooth, velvety texture that is of sweet and lightly umami rich pudding, whilst not being overly sweet.
The balance here is just fantastic and really nails it on the head - never veering offtrack, all whilst maintaining a lovely creamy body.
Incredibly enjoyable, this would work great as a daily drinker, something you'd just pop open for any occasion or if you're just having a nice conversation. Works great with something like pasta or a cheeseboard.
Having tried three of Daishichi's sakes spanning their range from basic expressions to higher end expressions - it is quite evident that there's something to the Kimoto-style, you can clearly tell that its added alot of seamlessly cohesive creaminess and richness to the entire tasting, creating very rounded flavors.
I've tried Kimoto-style sakes from other breweries that don't do it as a matter of brewery-wide practice - just for select expressions - and I will say they don't ace it as well as Daishichi. It's a very understated cohesive, rounded creaminess that is obvious the moment you taste it.
Of the three - the Junmai Kimoto Classic, the Masakura Junmai Ginjo and the Minowamon Junmai Daiginjo, I'll definitely pick the Masakura as my top choice.
It's not only intermediate in price, it also showcased such elegance and complexity in its balance. This made it so enjoyable and doesn't get old - it had a lovely texture as well. It didn't get as earthy umami as the Junmai Kimoto Classic not as bright as as the Minowamon Junmai Daiginjo - which really lands it perfectly in the middle.
When I tried all three, the Masakura really got me excited and raving about it.
You can find it at Inter Rice Asia (Singapore) or True Sake (US), Tippsy (US) or Sake Social (US).
Kanpai!
@111hotpot
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To understand the growing popularity of the controversial doburoku – which has landed Japanese homebrewers in jail – you need only to have a taste of it.
A few months ago, I found myself rubbing shoulders with the country’s top sake sommeliers in the intimate and comfortable setting of Sake Social – where a curated range of premium sake products and guided tasting sessions were prepared for the sake-curious. The evening whispered by with quiet conversations, tasty izakaya dishes, passionate discussions and light clinking of glasses. And it was here that I encountered my first taste of the doburoku.
This is the original sake. Doburoku isn't even considered 'sake' by Japanese law. But for the passionate enthusiasts and sake historians, this is as sake as it can get – call this the primordial sake, if you will. As Elliot Faber (one of the many prominent regional sake presenters) poured this cloudy, chunky stuff into my wine glass, it almost felt like I was sticking my glass straight into a sake brewer's tank.
Doburoku, you see, is the original rice wine from Japan that is as old as the country’s history of rice cultivation. Over a millennia before it evolved into the sophisticated sake we know today, historians remarked on the Japanese people's love for their 'rice wine', as mentioned in the Chinese Records of the Three Kingdoms.
This murky brew also shares its history with its Korean cousin, makgeolli. However, the two evolved in parallel, separately crafting their unique identities. The Japanese doburoku entrenched itself in the spiritual fabric of Japanese Shinto folk religion. Till today, Shinto priests would offer doburoku, made from freshly harvested rice, to the deities during special festivals, praying for a good harvest the next year.
But, as fate would have it, doburoku's deep ties to Japan's history and culture didn't save it from the government's ban during the Meiji era (1868–1912). Why the ban, you ask? Well, booze was the golden goose of the government, accounting for over 30% of the nation's tax revenue. Homebrewing doburoku meant no taxes from commercial sake purchases, and so, it was outlawed. This drink became somewhat of a rarity.
Laws against homebrewing remain quite draconian in Japan till the modern age, punishable by fines and jailtime. And despite the law, the spirit of doburoku remained undeterred, thanks to many passionate homebrewers. A self-styled Doburoku activist, Toshihiko Maeda, made the headlines in 1981 when he published a book “Let’s Make Doburoku” that encouraged people to ignore the law and brew their own doburoku. He was convicted of illegal homebrewing under the Liquor Tax Act, but his argument that the law infringed his “right to the pursuit of happiness” during his high-profile court case only fanned the flames of his cause.
Fast forward to the 2020s, and doburoku has slowly but surely been claiming its place in the hearts of drinkers. There are still only about 20 sake breweries licensed to brew doburoku (there are about 1,500 sake breweries in Japan). But just a sip of doburoku and you’ll understand its charm: Almost like having a dessert, its unique porridge-like texture, milky mouthfeel, and bright rice sweetness have been winning over sake enthusiasts. A fizzy natural carbonation from the fermentation process also adds a delightful kick that's hard to resist.
In the heart of Tokyo, a trendy, up-and-coming craft sake maker, Konohanano Brewery, led by the ambitious 30-something brewer Shuhei Okazumi, is pioneering a new era of doburoku. Inspired by the youthful exuberance of American craft beer, Konohanano's offerings push the boundaries of traditional doburoku. From a doburoku that curiously tastes like a New England IPA to a rosé and a lemony variant, these brews are painting a new picture of Japanese spirits.
Today, we're diving into a side-by-side review of two iconic Konohanano offerings which we had the chance to taste at Sake Social. First, we have the 'LAB05' All Koji Doburoku from their experimental LAB series, which explores the nuances of different rice and sake yeast varieties. Then, we have the 'Hazy Sake' Doburoku, a love letter to the tropical flavours and hoppiness of hazy IPAs, crafted with a blend of sake and ale yeast and finished with a dash of Sabro beer hops. So, let's strap in, grab our glasses, and dive headfirst into these cloudy, bubbly wonders.
The LAB05 is made from Sasa Nishiki rice, a rice prized for sushi-making. This rice is less glutinous than other species, and grains remain firmer ensuring that it does not become sticky when sushi vinegar is mixed. The grains have been polished to about 80%, while sake yeast no. 901 - the foamless variant of Kumamoto Kobo(酵母) yeast was used.
Appearance: Milky white with large lumps. I'm gonna be honest - seeing this poured from a bottle wasn't the most appetising sight! Haha.
Nose: But this is incredibly rich, milky and meaty all at once. Immediately noticeable is the scent of honey stirred into milk, accompanied by strong hints of cedar and vanilla. A strong lactic note punctuates the bouquet, reminiscent of a robust Italian salami, specifically the rustic mouldy variety. Rounding off the aromas are subtle undertones of spices, with notes of anise and peppercorn present.
Palate: The texture and taste is very reminiscent of cold rice pudding, accompanied by a gristy, meaty feel that is quite rustic and farmy. There is a mild makgeolli milkiness, paired with the soft flavour of sweet poached pear. A noticeable fizzy tanginess (this is quite carbonated) and alcoholic note build gradually, balanced by an abundance of cereal and biscuity tones. There’s an ever-present mild funky presence of Italian salami, accented by mild spices once again – now cloves and pepper.
Finish: The finish is long and bright, and clings to the tongue like honey and sweet rice porridge. Undertones of vanilla and jasmine florals add a very pleasing complexity.
My Thoughts:
👀 like Aladdin’s carpet, this really opened my eyes to the multitudes of flavour potentials offered by rice and yeast.
Wow. Drinking the 'Lab05' All Koji Doburoku is akin to indulging in a boozy rice pudding or a sweet rice porridge, but one that is very complex, exotic and unusual in taste.
What is memorable is the dominant lactic note that constantly nudges the drinker, invoking distinct memories of Italian salami. And like Aladdin’s carpet, this really opened my eyes to the multitudes of flavour potentials offered by rice and yeast.
I’m mindful that this is an experimental brew. If there’s one thing that can be worked on, I’d say it’s the rather intense dryness that nips the tongue at the end. This could appeal to an even wider pool of audience if they’d just turn the knobs slightly to increase the sweetness and counterbalance its dry nature.
This is Konohanano’s love letter to beer lovers, and one of the most iconic bottlings from the brewery.
Crafted in the image of rich and tropical hazy IPAs of the American East Coast, as I mentioned earlier, it’s brewed with ale yeast and Sabro beer hops often used by beer brewers to bring out juicy, tropical fruit flavours.
Appearance: Similar to the above, quite milky but with a mild pinkish hue.
Nose: Wow – get a whiff of this! It’s like walking into a pear cider mill, with vibrant, sweet pear cider greeting the nose and light notes of poached pears. A trace of milky soursop note gives a smoothness but slight tanginess. As the bottle thaws a little, it starts to feel more and more like a craft IPA, with a tropical kick of pineapple and a whisp of gentle, barely-there grassiness that brings to mind mosaic hops.
Palate: The texture is rice pudding once again. But the flavours continue to really impress: The first sip reveals tangy soursop juice, quickly followed by a juicy tropical sweetness - with bright pineapples and mangosteens adding a juicy depth.
A dense, fizzy, and milky undertone akin to makgeolli can be detected, followed by a sweet, potent alcoholic note accompanied by carbonic fizziness. Gentle touches of florals and maltiness mingle with a light milky flavour.
Finish: Long, tropical and hoppy. The finish leaves behind a fading dryness reminiscent of pineapples, grapefruit, and a slightly bitter-sweet orange pith characteristic of an IPA.
My Thoughts
🤩 What an absolute blast, this it impresses on all fronts!
This IPA inspired doburoku is a dense, decadent, and all-round delightful beverage. It's really like taking a big bite out of a soursop and hazy tropical IPA.
Everything about it is just so delectable – from the nose that's all flowers and sweet stuff to the palate that's a fantastic mix of milky, malty, and tropical – all the right notes that'll make any craft beer lover swoon. I can see why this is a super clever positioning that has attracted a lot of positive buzz for Konohanano Brewery.
Some comparison with the LAB05: While the LAB05 is much more complex and intriguing in profile, the Hazy Sake scores higher in accessibility and pure enjoyment. It’s significantly sweeter, balancing out the dry notes, while the rich tropical fruitiness constantly beckons you to return for another sip.
I purchased a bottle of this stuff and needless to say, it was gone in no time.
Stumbling upon Sake Social has been an absolute delight, as I had been taken on a journey to experiencing some of the most intriguing genres of sake we aren’t often exposed to – the most memorable one being the world of doburoku. From tasting sake reminiscent of hazy IPAs to the ones evoking memories of pear cider, it's been an absolute joy ride!
Days and weeks after finishing Konohanano’s bottlings, I find myself tempted to purchase another set of doboroku. The only catch of purchasing unpasturised sake products is that unlike hard liquor, the entire bottle has to be finished within several weeks.
But if you, like me, have a curiosity for the unconventional, I strongly recommend getting a bottle. Trust me, your palate will thank you for this.
| If you’re based in Singapore, you can purchase Konohanano’s Hazy Doboroku and more here.
@CharsiuCharlie
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Kuheiji Kuno is a particularly philosophical spirit. Unlike many of his sake-making peers, the 15th-generation heir to Kuheiji Sake's Banjo Jozo often talks about his sakes in an almost poetic manner. "Korin, Jakuchu, ... Did you have the feeling that you were writing about culture?" asks Kuheiji in his opening address on his brewery's philosophy, calling out to revered 17th-century Japanese illustrators as if they were his contemporaries.
Kuheiji also has a particular affinity for France and its arts, ever since he was struck by Monet's Water Lilies that he had observed on a school trip to Paris when he was just 18.
Kuheiji Kuno, fashion model turned sake maker, is a particularly philosophical spirit. (Image Source: Kuheiji)
This is all particularly key when appreciating Kuheiji's sakes (or wines, for that matter - yes, the brand does both). While the brewery itself has operated since 1647, Kuheiji Kuno has largely reshaped its trajectory since he took over the helm - and his love for France clearly has a deep influence on the brewery's produce.
His sakes standout for the use of vintages, French names, clear indications by domaines of harvest and rice varietals - his sakes even sport a fairly new style of being lightly effervescent, as if taking a page out of Champagne-making.
A respect for terroir is necessary for sake appreciation, a key lesson Kuheiji has adapted from French winemakers. (Image Source: Kuheiji)
But for this Francophile, these aren't mere theatrics. They reflect a deep understanding, reverence and appreciation for the terroir from which his sake's rice is harvested.
To Kuheiji's mind, his sakes should offer a distinctive taste that reflects the changing climate from one harvest to the next, the difference in rice varietals and even the specific domaine from which the rice is harvested from.
To ignore the influence of the terroir is to Kuheiji's mind what would impede the sake making tradition from being passed down from one generation to the next.
All this has not gone unnoticed, with the brewery gradually growing its own cult-following that has even found its way to the haloed counters of some of the most esteemed Michelin-starred restaurants such as Guy Savoy and Le Gabriel.
That sounds like every sake-maker's dream, and yet Kuheiji maintains that he, in the vein of his sake forefathers, is on a relentless pursuit of "new brilliance". The former fashion model and prolific art collector who dons his brewery with highly bided artpieces, has ventured to the country that most captures his fascination - France. He's not only established his own vineyards under the Domaine Kuheiji banner, he's also sought to grow rice in France for use in his sake expression "Born In Camargue".
Today, we're gonna take a sip of Kuheiji's 2021 Eau de Desir Junmai Daiginjo, or "Water of Desire". It makes use of Yamada Nishiki rice polished to 50% and bottled at 16% ABV.
Color: Light White Wine, Pale Straw
Aroma: Silky with notes of ripened green melons, green pears and green grapes. The creaminess is accompanied by green fruitiness, a light sweetness, with just a faint acidity. It’s generally mellow and rich.
Taste: The creamy and silky texture delivers on the palate, with mellow but sweet ripe green melons and yogurt. Here it’s deeper and richer.
Finish: The acidity is more pronounced here with a slight white pepper kick overlaying a still creamy and sweet profile, with hints of that ripened green fruits. Here there’s a light effervescence and minerality that shines through with a backseat tone of cedar wood tannin.
When you first pop it open, you’ll notice smoky wisps similar to what you’ll commonly find with champagne, however this effervescence is interwoven very gently and only becomes apparent at the finish.
What it does provide is a very aromatic nose of ripened green fruits, lightly sweet on a bed of creamy yogurt. It’s mellow, aromatic and lush without any prickle. And then on the palate, you’ll be pleased to find that creamy and silky texture as promised by the aromas - largely a continuation of what was on the nose but deeper and richer here. Towards the finish is where it spices things up little with a good contrast of acidity and very gentle pepperiness to the overall sweet, fruity and creamy saccharine profile thus far.
My Rating |
💃This is such a fashionable sake - it has an elegance from the aromatic flavors, light spritzy effervescence and gentle crisp tartness. This feels posh and classy and is incredibly drinkable - all at a great price as well. If they're in the business of making joy juice - they've definitely succeeded. |
It really has an elegance about it - not just in its presentation, but across the entire tasting experience, it’s balance, body and aromatic but rich and mellow fruity flavours are incredibly cohesive. It has that sparkle to it.
This is incredibly drinkable with not a very pronounced alcohol kick and would pair very well with heavier foods - meats and cheese platters. You could easily see this as a sweeter-style Chardonnay, and definitely one for Champagne lovers. Just lovely!
I was incredibly pleased with this as I had read good reviews about it and it truly delivered - this is one I’d readily recommend as a gift or for a nice dinner to impress or treat yourself.
Kanpai!
@111hotpot
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Benten 辯天 純米大吟醸 原酒 雪女神 Junmai Daiginjo Genshu Yukimegami 28% Seimai Buai
Rice - Yukimegami 雪女神🌾
Prefecture - Yamagata 山形県
Brewery - Goto Shuzoten 後藤酒造店
Alcohol - 17%
Color - Colorless
Aroma - Vanilla, 🍏, 🍌, Grapefruit
Taste - Light
Umami - Light
First impression - Fresh
Body - Light
Sweetness - Medium Dry
Tail/length - Medium
🍌 🍌 🍌 🍏 🍏 🍏
Notes - A birthday 🎁 from the wife. This is a sake that has won the Gold 🥇 in the 2021 National Sake Awards held in Hawaii. Brewed with a unique 🌾 Yukimegami which can only be found in Yamagata, this sake Is clean and crisp on the tongue. Very light and delicate with slight sourness of unripe fruits. Medium length that lingers in the throat with a bitter tartness aftertaste. First time trying a sake made with Yukimegami 🌾 and I find that the taste is exceptionally refreshing yet complex to a certain extent. Also to note that this sake also obtain the GI Yamagata Prefecture.
Unfortunately there was no food pairing when I drank this sake but I would recommend fried or oily food pairing for this sake. Chicken karaage, 卤肉饭, Korean kimchi 🥞, 🦪 omelette etc. Basically the clean and crisp texture of the sake will wash away the oily feeling and the sourness will reset the palate for more food intake making each mouthful of the food more enjoyable. Being a Genshu also means the alcohol content is slightly higher than normal sakes which makes one get more relax easily during a gathering.
Overall, this is a very good sake. Unique in its way and highly recommended for sake lovers to try. 🥇 🥇
Mitsui San (See all posts here)
An amateur sake lover who loves anything 🇯🇵 and started exploring 🍶 drinking 5 years ago. A Kikisakeshi #唎酒師 by SSI & Certified Sake Sommelier by SSA.
IG: @mitsui.sakenoob
Haneya 羽根屋 纯米吟酿 究極しぼりたて Junmai Ginjo Shiboritate 60% Seimai Buai
Rice - Gohyakumangoku 五百万石 🌾
Prefecture - Toyama 富山県
Brewery - Fumi Giku Sake Brewery 富美菊酒造
Alcohol - 16%
Color - Light Yellow
Aroma - 🍏, Vanilla, Starfruit, Roasted Nut
Taste - Light
Umami - Light
First impression - Fresh
Body - Light
Sweetness - Medium Sweet
Tail/length - Short
Notes - This is a bottle of Shiboritate, which means freshly squeeze sake and is only available from Dec-March. Shiboritate is bottled directly after pressing and thus doesn’t go through any pasteurization and is also one kind of “Nama sake”. Shiboritate is as fresh as you can get type of sake after pressing. Lightly sparkling when the bottle is opened with amazing aroma of tropical fruits. Slight nuttiness with a light toffee taste and the medium sweetness tends to linger in the throat after every sip.
Only paired it with savory Japanese snacks of くんさき (smoked thick 🦑 ) and つぶし豆 🥜. The savory snacks balances out the sweetness of the sake making it just sweet and more enjoyable on the palate. For food pairing, I would also recommend savory dishes like Shoyu 🍜 , fried 🥟, or cold cut charcuterie board to help balance out the sake flavor. Recommended for sake lovers who have not yet try a Shiboritate namazake.
Overall, this is a good sake. 🦑 🦑 🥟🥟
Mitsui San (See all posts here)
An amateur sake lover who loves anything 🇯🇵 and started exploring 🍶 drinking 5 years ago. A Kikisakeshi #唎酒師 by SSI & Certified Sake Sommelier by SSA.
IG: @mitsui.sakenoob
Toko Junmai Ginjo Genshu 東光 纯米吟酿 原酒 55% Seimai Buai
Rice - Local 🌾
Prefecture - Yamagata 山形県
Brewery - Kojima Sohonten Co
Alcohol - 16%
Color - Light Yellow
Aroma - Steam 🍚, 🍏, Vanilla, 🍓
Taste - Medium
Umami - Medium
First impression - Lively
Body - Medium
Sweetness - Medium Dry
Tail/length - Medium
Notes - A lovely bottle of Junmai Ginjo Genshu. Full of complex aroma. Dry and clean on the tongue with a hint of 🍋 barley water flavor. Some bitterness at the palate but mellows out into a smooth finish. Recommended by Toko to enjoy chilled at 11c to best enjoy its fragrance and delicate texture of the sake.
Food pairing was with the Omakase dinner at @kenjapaneserestaurant.sg. First time dining over there after Botak sold off his restaurant. With the medium sake, it makes good combination with the heavier flavor dishes such as the Waygu 🥩 with lotus root and the 🦀 kani with Ikura. The dryness of the sake makes every bite of the beef taste extremely delicious as it washes the oil from the mouth after every sip. While the umami supports the freshness and adds another level of complexity to the 🦀 and Ikura.
Overall, this is a good sake. 🦀 🦀 🥩 🥩
Mitsui San (See all posts here)
An amateur sake lover who loves anything 🇯🇵 and started exploring 🍶 drinking 5 years ago. A Kikisakeshi #唎酒師 by SSI & Certified Sake Sommelier by SSA.
IG: @mitsui.sakenoob
Mitsui San (See all posts here)
An amateur sake lover who loves anything 🇯🇵 and started exploring 🍶 drinking 5 years ago. A Kikisakeshi #唎酒師 by SSI & Certified Sake Sommelier by SSA.
IG: @mitsui.sakenoob
Mitsui San (See all posts here)
An amateur sake lover who loves anything 🇯🇵 and started exploring 🍶 drinking 5 years ago. A Kikisakeshi #唎酒師 by SSI & Certified Sake Sommelier by SSA.
IG: @mitsui.sakenoob
Mitsui San (See all posts here)
An amateur sake lover who loves anything 🇯🇵 and started exploring 🍶 drinking 5 years ago. A Kikisakeshi #唎酒師 by SSI & Certified Sake Sommelier by SSA.
IG: @mitsui.sakenoob
Mitsui San (See all posts here)
An amateur sake lover who loves anything 🇯🇵 and started exploring 🍶 drinking 5 years ago. A Kikisakeshi #唎酒師 by SSI & Certified Sake Sommelier by SSA.
IG: @mitsui.sakenoob
Mitsui San (See all posts here)
An amateur sake lover who loves anything 🇯🇵 and started exploring 🍶 drinking 5 years ago. A Kikisakeshi #唎酒師 by SSI & Certified Sake Sommelier by SSA.
IG: @mitsui.sakenoob
Masumi Sake comes from the Miyasaki samurai family based in the Nagano Prefecture. The family had for centuries supplied their sakes to key historical figures and was well-loved. Nonetheless, after some two centuries, the brewery had begun to struggle - that is until the brewery was almost shuttered for good when Masaru Miyasaki, an heir to the family, decided to pull a hailmary - he appointed a young Chisato Kubota as the brewery's Master Brewer.
Together they embarked on a journey to learn from breweries around Japan and kept of working at improving the quality of their sakes and sure enough, they had begun to win major national awards!
Now, little did they know that they had incidentally captured lightning in a bottle. Now, hold that thought.
The Masumi Brewery - a tale of overcoming the odds and triumph. (Image Source: J Passport Selection)
Taking a little segue, sake brewers today often harp on the use of high quality rice - that matters certainly, but something perhaps even more powerful that is is less spoken about, almost microscopic, is the yeast used.
Up until 1906, most sakes were brewed in a fairly haphazard manner, where brewers would leave the rice mash to the hands of natural ambient yeast. This was of course prone to creating sakes of inconsistent quality - it was ultimately the job of the toji to control (or at least act like it) the brewing process.
Around the turn of the century, there was a growing consensus that things had to change if the industry was to survive, and so the Brewers Society of Japan was created to figure how to protect the tradition of sake-making.
Deep in the cold Nagano climate lies a hidden treasure. (Image Source: Readers Digest Canada)
One of the first things they did was to isolate a reliable yeast (called seishu kobo) that could be widely distributed and used by sake-makers. Unlike beer or wine, sake requires yeast that can perform under the low temperatures at which sake is made, and still possess the hardiness to produce high levels of alcohol. In fact, sake is actually the strongest naturally fermenting alcoholic beverage in the world.
In the first year of its founding, the Society was able to isolate its first yeast strain from studying some of the best and most consistent breweries of the time - this was named Association Yeast #1 (or kyokai kobo).
Association Yeasts, also known as Kyokai Kobo. (Image Source: Origin Sake)
As the decades went on, more Association Yeasts were isolated and distributed across breweries, however, most of them eventually were phased out for being too acidic and didn't gain much traction with breweries. It wasn't until #6 that things really got heated, as the new strain at the time was said to be lower in acidity, more consistent and hardy, given that it was discovered in a brewery from a much colder climate.
That lucky brewery was not Masumi. No, Masumi's Miyasaki and Kubota were far luckier - they had discovered Yeast #7.
While #6 was popular, being the only yeast used throughout the war era, #7 was far more popular (and remains the most popular strain used today) as it wasn't just operationally good, it was also a hit with drinkers for its ability to produce fragrant fruitier ginjo aromas. It was so popular in fact that it was at one point the yeast of choice for breweries submitting entries to the Annual New Sake Competition.
As Miyasaki and Kubota toiled away at improving Masumi's sakes, they have unknowingly struck gold. This Midas touch caught the eye of the National Brewing Institute's chief yeast scientist, Dr Shoichi Yamada, who had suspected that Miyasaki's brewery had surely stumbled unto something far greater than the sole efforts of the dynamic duo. As we now know, Dr Yamada was right - his visits to the brewery had found in their fermentation tanks the yeast we now know as Kyokai #7. It is this discovery that has enshrined Masumi into the sake hall of fame.
As a testament to the brewery's underdog story, Masumi continues to singularly use Yeast #7 in all its sakes.
Today, we'll be sipping on Masumi's Sanka expression that uses Yamada Nishiki rice polished to 45%, and of course Yeast #7, and bottled at 15% ABV.
This Junmai Daiginjo is said to be "as fresh as an alpine meadow in the spring", hence the name Sanka, or Mountain Flowers.
Color: Clear
Aroma: Fairly bright, with light touches of green melons and banana candy, pears and grapes - leans more towards the tart and dry profile. There’s a very light touch of dried oregano.
Taste: Dry but still with a good weight to its body, with a good balance starting with tartness that lets up into a deeper autumnal sweetness - think cedar oak or autumn leaves.
Finish: It turns deeper and sweeter with a mellow but not astringent woodiness of fallen autumn leaves and more on ripened pears and kuromitsu (a kokuto or Japanese brown sugar -based sauce often used on Japanese mochi). The tart-sweetness on the palate turns into more of an umami-sweetness of cooked chestnuts here.
My Rating |
🍁🌟This was just absolutely wonderful! Lovely autumnal notes with lots of depth and evolving complexity - rich, creamy, sweet-umami glow, fading into a gentle, aromatic kuromitsu (Japanese brown sugar syrup). What's best is that you can find this easily, all year round at most Japanese specialty supermarkets or sake stores at an incredibly good value. |
This was absolutely wonderful - this evolved along the way starting out more dry and tart but kept getting sweeter and richer along the way, and by the end of it showcased a beautiful “autumnal” rich, creamy, umami-sweet glow.
This was incredibly enjoyable and rather than balance in the conventional sense, its splendour comes more from its ability to take you on a journey that keeps blossoming to reveal new flavours. Each sip felt like a rollercoaster addict going right back for another ride.
It’s effortlessly easy to enjoy - not overly tart or sweet, but with such crisp fruitiness at the start ending with such rich glowing depth at the end. This has so much complexity and yet isn’t hard to pick out flavours, with an overall rounded and smooth profile, that is great for beginners and seasoned drinkers.
That simultaneous complexity in how it evolves while possessing simple, easy flavours also makes it a good daily drinker - and at a really affordable price and is easy to find!
This is probably my favourite sake by far considering enjoyment, price and availability.
Kanpai!
@111hotpot
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Ichi-go Ichi-e (一期一会) is my favorite Japanese idiom. This idiom helps me to remember to live in the moment. It means once-in-a-life-time encounter or having an experience that can’t be repeated. Meaning you can have the same company at the same place. But the moments you share with each other won’t be the same as past or future ones.
Because Japan has such a unique culture that I will never fully understand, I rarely find myself taking anything for granted there. The country is rife with new experiences. If not, it helps me gain a better understanding of a previous concept or experience. It keeps me on my toes in a good way. As I’ve said before, there are just pockets of everything for everyone there. My latest trip there let me have another ichi-go ichi-e experience in Sake Bar Yoramu.
The 8 to 9-seater bar is owned and solely operated by Yoram Ofer. He’s an Israeli who moved to Japan as a student in the 80s. As you can guess, the bar’s name comes from his name. He opened his bar some time in the year 2000. Which means the bar has been open for at least 22 years. I’m not going to pretend that I got to know personal information about him. So I’m going to direct you to this NHK video on him and these articles from Punch Drink, Melbourne Sake and Sake Today.
Teuchi Toru Soba’s Yamakake Soba (cold soba topped with grated yam, raw egg yolk, sliced green onions and wasabi. Mix and slurp.)
From 11:30am to 3pm on certain days, the space is called Teuchi Toru Soba. It’s a soba restaurant run solely by a different person; who makes his soba from scratch. Don’t worry, there’s an English menu. By night, it’s Sake Bar Yoramu. Check the website for the hours.
I didn’t get to know Yoram on a personal level. But I managed to find out how much he loves and how he sees nihonshu. There were a few things that made going to Sake Bar Yoramu and meeting Yoram an ichi-go ichi-e experience for me. Firstly, it’s rare to find a nihonshu bar in Japan. This is something I didn’t realize until Yoram pointed it out. The places that mainly serve nihonshu there are either izakayas or shops that let you taste in the store. But it’s hard to geek out in an izakaya due to the, usually, fast pace of these places. Plus the servers tend to not know intimate details of the brand. Add the language barrier issue if you’re a foreigner. The lack of nihonshu-focused bars is odd for a country with a very advanced drinking culture. There are numerous bars focused on wine, cocktails, rum and whisky but it’s hard to find a bar that’s as focused as them on one of their indigenous drinks.
Secondly, there’s no menu. This is always a good sign for me as it means the person/s behind the bar intimately knows what they are talking about. When in bars, it usually means I’m going to get to learn or try something new. I remember him asking me what direction I would like, as I took a seat after he welcomed me. Browsing through the shelves and the fridge behind him wasn’t much help. None of the bottles there were familiar to me.
Thirdly, he’s the only nihonshu bar that bottle ages his nihonshu. His means of aging is just storing bottles of nihonshu in his house. When asked if the aging makes the nihonshu better, he will tell you it makes it different. Which is a refreshing answer. Because the majority of the (lazy) industry has conditioned consumers into thinking that aging always makes a drink better. So it’s easy for someone behind an unfamiliar concept, such as aged sake, to claim it to be. But he doesn’t. The 2nd reason is it reaffirms my hypothesis that this man is honest. He opened the bar for his passion and not to swindle money from customers.
This leads to the fourth reason, which is more connected to the third. He’s set in his ways. What gave me this impression is none of the brands in his bar is mainstream. So he’s not out there, as a foreigner, trying to catch the market of tourists curious about nihonshu by serving mainstream brands. Instead, he serves brands which have character. After drinking there for two nights, I agree that all of the nihonshu he served me were full-bodied, very interesting and far from the clean tasting brands readily available in the market. If I recall correctly, everything I tried were also wild fermented and unpasteurized. I admire people like this. They find ways to do what they want with as little compromise as possible. He was even advised not to open the bar and that he would fail due to how unpopular nihonshu was in Japan then. Remember, Yoram opened this bar in the year 2000. Nihonshu is only just getting popular. Imagine how much more unpopular it was then!
Looking back, how I scheduled my visit was a mistake. Stephen Lyman recommended the place to me when I asked for a sake bar recommendation. I didn’t do any research on it so I thought I’d just give it a shot. I now realize and wish I could’ve had more nihonshu by exploring less bars and spending less time in them. For my first visit, I went at around 10pm after coming from Rum and Whisky Kyoto. Luckily, the bar wasn’t full.
As you take a seat, he will ask which direction you want to go. Having been not familiar with the brands there, I just told him I wanted a full-bodied junmai made from namazake (unpasteurized) Omachi. He said that those weren’t enough for him to go on. With that I asked if he had any funky nihonshu. He proceeded to bring out a few bottles. I can’t read Japanese so I just slowly tried most of what he brought out. After trying each bottle, I’d ask what the brand was called and which brewery it came from. One of the bottles he brought out was a Tamagawa.
If my talking about Bar Yoramu makes you feel intimidated, please don’t. As long as you’re open minded enough, he’s willing to guide you through the motions. He will tell you about the brands and the producer of what you’re drinking. He’s someone I’d easily consider opinionated and assertive but keeps it polite. The prices are also so affordable. I think I spent around JPY 5000 for ordering three to four glasses in one night. In my opinion, the prices don’t match the quality. In a good way.
Because I arrived at 10pm and his closing time was midnight, the experience was short. So I told myself I had to return the next day as the bar would be closed the day after that. I’d be leaving for Osaka the day after. I wanted to drink more and ask more questions. I made sure to return at an earlier time and to not drink anything before going. When I arrived at around 7pm, the bar was full. So he asked me to come back later. Luckily, after an hour, a seat opened up. Despite being full, he made sure he gave everyone ample attention. So I got to ask more questions on how he chose which nihonshu to age and if there was a proper way to age it.
Basically, he said that he chose fuller-bodied sake because they can withstand the changes the bottle aging brings. This reminds me of Tamagawa's philosophy of making durable nihonshu. Apparently, everything I ordered was wild fermented like Tamagawa. The range of flavors I tasted were astounding. One of them tasted like an imperial stout minus the bitterness. Imagine all those cacao, coffee and malty notes in a nihonshu. There was also this other one that reminded me of a rancio sec. All that acidity and funk! Others had flavors that reminded me of the less popular sherries like Amontillado and Palo Cortado.
Not meaning to brag, but as someone who mostly thinks and breathes booze, it’s rare for me these days to get wowed by someone and something alcohol related. Still, Yoram wowed me. Hence me saying going there was an ichi-go ichi-e experience. My appreciation for nihonshu grew stronger thanks to going there. For me, it also gives a new meaning to the saying rice is life.
The bottle of Tamagawa I’m reviewing is, again, different from what I had at the bar. But it’s not bottle-aged unlike Tamagawa in my previous review.
Also, I appreciate that Tamagawa has a QR code on the back label. It directly takes you to the product’s page. This removes the hassle of having to, with uncertainty, navigate through a brewery or brand’s website.
Abv: Between 15% to 16%. 60% polish rate. 720ml. JPY 1760.
Color: hay
On the nose: I get light and dry aromas of rice husk, rice cake, bamboo shoots, hard cow’s milk cheese, unpeeled pears and burdock root.
In the mouth: I get lighter tastes of pear skin, mochi, rice husk and undistinguishable leafy notes. Maybe very light pickled radish at the end.
For this Tamagawa, I find it to be more expressive on the nose. But I get drier notes in the mouth. This isn’t as full-bodied as the Tamagawa I had at Yoramu, but it’s still more full-bodied than its more popular junmai ginjo counterparts.
I think I prefer nihonshu which are less polished. By less polished I mean around 70% or 80% as it tends to have more textures and a bite to it. Still, the dryness and more full-bodiedness makes this good for drinking with food.
For Bar Yoramu and the nihonshu he serves there are not for the blinkered folks who only care about brand prestige and looking good. If you currently only like smooth drinks but are open minded, I recommend you check it out.
I liken this experience to trying Jamaican rum and peated whisky for the first time. It’s like having your mind expanded after thinking rum was just Bacardi and Scotch was just Johnnie Walker.
Lead image courtesy of John Go.
John is a cocktail and spirits enthusiast born and raised in Manila. His interest started with single malts in 2012, before he moved into rum and mezcal in search of malterntaitves – and a passion for travel then helped build his drinks collection. |
In the middle of February, I was able to finally return to Japan. Where I spent a total of a week split between Kyoto and Osaka. If I were to encapsulate my trip in a few words it would be these lyrics from Kenshi Yonezu’s Kickback. “Happy. Lucky. Konnichiwa, baby.”
Happy because Japan has always been my happy place. It’s easily my favorite country to visit. Largely because it’s a place with an amazing culture, great people, delicious food and tasty drinks. The organized public transportation makes it easy to go around. It’s also very safe to go around at any time of the day. Everything there just works.
Lucky because anyone who gets to travel for fun is really lucky. Also, weeks before my arrival, Japan was experiencing a cold snap. Kyoto experienced snow storms. Their public transportation suffered. Residents had to shovel snow and break ice on the streets. The cold snap ended or toned down during the week of my arrival. It was extremely good timing for me otherwise my tropical ass would have frozen over. I wanted to bring home as many bottles as I could so I didn’t pack thermals to save luggage space.
Konnichiwa, baby because who doesn’t feel good about visiting Japan? I always do. Everyone I know has always wanted to visit or go back there. I'm always in such a good mood there that I don't get as much sleep because I feel like sleeping there is time wasted. As much as I’d love to keep saying hello to Japan in my lifetime, it’s where I also would like to have my last meal. That happy ending kind of scenario where I just pass away peacefully in my hotel room after having one last great meal and drinks.
Over the years of frequently visiting Japan, I wasn’t always sure whether Tokyo or Kyoto were my favorite cities there. But my new experiences from this trip made Kyoto my favorite destination in Japan. It’s just a really good mix of a modern urban city mixed with nature and traditional design.
One of the new reasons was visiting Kiyomizu-dera. I don’t even know the history of the place. But there’s something about hiking up a mountain to visit a temple that reminds me of Jenga. Getting there makes for a good morning walk as you’re going up a slope coming from Gion.
Another of the new experiences was finding a very unique nihonshu (sake) bar called Sake Bar Yoramu. Thanks again to Stephen Lyman for recommending this to me. I’ll talk about this amazing bar in more detail in my next article. What I’ll say for now is thanks to this bar, I’ve found a deeper appreciation for nihonshu. As well as more brands to love and geek out on.
Tamagawa sake from Kinoshita Brewery is one of the brands that I ended up liking. The brewery is in the region of Kyoto but it’s pretty close to the coast. So it’s pretty far from the city. I’ve read that it’ll take about 3 hours via train to get there. They’ve been making nihonshu since 1842. It’s been under the same family ever since their 5th generation head founded the brewery.
What makes Tamagawa unique to other nihonshu breweries is that their toji, Philip Harper (master brewer) is British. He’s said to be the first immigrant to have this title. Ever since becoming the toji in 2007, he has aimed to challenge industry preconceptions. You can learn more about him through this NHK video.
One of these preconceptions is that nihonshu is delicate. I think this is largely due to the availability of more popular brands, like Dassai, having a cleaner and delicate profile. Which results in most of the industry saying that nihonshu has to be consumed within a year of production. Meaning, most believe that sake can’t be aged like some wine because they “will go bad”. Being delicate means they have to be kept in cold and controlled temperatures to keep from going bad also.
How Tamagawa challenges these preconceptions is they make more durable products. My interpretation of durable is that there’s more body to their products. By more body, I mean they seem to have more acidity compared to the mainstream brands. The ones I tried at Bar Yoramu and brought home so far, at least, have these characteristics. They’re also advocates for the 3 u’s in nihonshu. These are undiluted (genshu), unpasteurized (nama) and unfiltered [by charcoal (muroka)]. For the whisk(e)y drinkers this would be the equivalent of cask strength and non-chill filtered.
Aside from these, they also employ spontaneous fermentation. The brewery started doing this after Phil Harper became the toji. In spirits lingo, this would be using wild yeast or natural fermentation. The oenophiles may be more familiar with the term natural wine in this case. Meaning they don’t employ cultured yeast for fermentation. Rather, they rely on the ambient yeast unique to their brewery. Natural wine, Clairin, traditional Mezcal and some Jamaican rum are some examples of categories that use wild yeast. Let me say that there’s nothing wrong with using cultured yeast. It's just that, for me, wild yeast is a less commonly used technique that, often, produces more interesting flavors.
Not only do they use spontaneous fermentation, they also like to use the Yamahai technique. The way I understand it, it’s a less common way of starting a fermentation as it tends to produce a funkier profile. Kimoto is currently the more common one. Nihonshu made with the Yamahai method is said to produce funkier and acidic flavors. Which leads to the nihonshu having more body. My limited experience with all the Yamahai sake I’ve had so far agrees to this.
Before bottling, they age some of their nihonshu in, what seems to be, stainless steel tanks at room temperature. Despite the lack of wood contact, this type of aging also results in the liquid turning brown. My guess is this is due to contact with oxygen.
So far, I also love that they use the original sake rice (sakamai) strain called Omachi. It's currently my favorite sakamai because I get more flavor from it compared to the more mainstream Yamada Nishiki.
I didn’t have this particular sku of Tamagawa at Bar Yoramu. But one of their other bottlings available at the bar made me gravitate toward the brand. So I asked the owner where I could buy bottles of this. He graciously pointed me to a store with a huge selection. This is one of the ones I bought.
The “BY” on the label stands for brewing year. This nihonshu was bottled in November of 2o22. Tamagawa’s Time Machine Vintage is aged for 3 years in the bottle. I guess this means that the nihonshu spend at least 2 years in stainless steel tanks before being bottled.
12% abv. 360ml. JPY 1760.
Color: brown
On the nose: I get light, mellow and dry aromas of barley tea, roasted and toasted rice, honey and coconut syrup. While this isn’t wine made from grapes, the texture and flow of aromas remind me of Madeira. This is just without its added sweetness.
In the mouth: I get light and brief notes that make me think of barley tea, toasted rice, roasted rice and biko. It’s Filipino rice cake made from glutinous rice and coconut syrup.
Drinking this makes me think that there’s still so much to learn about the world of booze; especially the wonders that (wild) fermentation can achieve. This is like going from drinking clean tasting mass produced 100% agave tequila, like Patron, to drinking agave-forward tequila from Fortaleza.
All images courtesy of John Go.
John is a cocktail and spirits enthusiast born and raised in Manila. His interest started with single malts in 2012, before he moved into rum and mezcal in search of malterntaitves – and a passion for travel then helped build his drinks collection. |
Mitsui San (See all posts here)
An amateur sake lover who loves anything 🇯🇵 and started exploring 🍶 drinking 5 years ago. A Kikisakeshi #唎酒師 by SSI & Certified Sake Sommelier by SSA.
IG: @mitsui.sakenoob
Mitsui San (See all posts here)
An amateur sake lover who loves anything 🇯🇵 and started exploring 🍶 drinking 5 years ago. A Kikisakeshi #唎酒師 by SSI & Certified Sake Sommelier by SSA.
IG: @mitsui.sakenoob