The Sake Press: Information, Education and Musings @sakeyama-blog - Tumblr Blog

Posts

California drought: No water = No sake. Seems like the rain is falling, but in all the wrong places. Hang on Gekkeikan, hang on Cali.

Know Your Sake Rice 酒米

Sake labels can be beautiful.

They can also tell you a lot about what has gone into the beverage you are about to enjoy. The downside is that, in most cases, you'll need to be literate in Japanese to get any details beyond the basics. I'm not literate in Japanese, but I'm working on it.

To that end, I've gone to the trouble of creating the list below because I have been unable to find anything like it in my years of learning about sake. A list of sake rice, or 酒米 (sakamai) in English AND kanji. Why bother?

I didn't think much about the kind of rice a sake was brewed with until fairly recently, after taking John Gauntner's SPC. His insightful lecture on sake rice was followed by an awesome tasting of sake he had chosen to be representative of each rice variety. It was a real eye opener. I now try to glean the rice variety from the bottle because, although the flavor differences are often subtle, I find if I know whats in there, I can, at the very least, kind of prime my senses for what kind of flavors to expect.

You might prefer to just dive on in not knowing, but to each, his or her own.

So, I am presenting for you a list, based on John Gauntner's list of sakamai here with the kanji added. There is no particular order to the list, though some are massively more popular than others.

One thing to consider: Brewer's are not required to name the sake rice variety on the label. Don't be alarmed if you can't locate this information on the label.

Many premium sake, however, are labelled thus. Premium sake rice being in high demand, however, many kura are proud to show you what's inside.

Here's the list...Enjoy!

秋田酒こまち Akita sake komachi

山田錦 Yamadanishiki

五百万石 Gohyakumangoku

美山錦 Miyama Nishiki

雄町 Omachi

八反錦 Hattan NIshiki

八反 Hattan

佐香錦 Sakanishiki

日本晴 Nihonbare

越淡麗 Koshi tanrei

吟ぎんが Gin Ginga

ぎんおとめ Gin Otome

蔵の華 Kura no Hana

愛山 Aiyama

華吹雪 Hanafubuki

吟風 Ginpu

亀の尾 Kame no O

夢の香り Yume no Kaori

ぎんおとめ Ginotome

強力 Goriki

玉栄 Tamazakae

祝 Iwai

神の舞 Kan no mai

蔵の華 Kura no Hana

出羽燦々 / 出羽 33 Dewasansan /Dewa 33

出羽の里 Dewa no sato

亀粋 Kissui

夢錦 Yumenishiki

愛山 Aiyama

渡船 Wataribune

北錦 Kita nishiki

ひとごこち Hitogo kochi

千本錦 Senbon nishiki

*The kanji might not be 100% accurate, and for a couple of varieties, the best I could do was hiragana. I am only a beginner student of Japanese, so corrections are welcome openly.

Feel free to share your favorite sake brewed with each variety!

Tasting: Yamato Shizuku Kimoto Junmai

Refined and flavorful is how Yohei Ito describes the kind of sake he endeavors to bring into the world at Akita Seishu, at least according to his interview with Sake Samurai Timothy Sullivan, of Urbansake.com.

Akita Seishu's Yamato Shizuku Kimoto Junmai is one such exemplary sake, and it's available for retail purchase at Sakaya, in NYC.

In Manhattan for the evening and wanting to try a new Kimoto-style brew, I wandered into Sakaya, and was recommended this particular sake by Rick, who told me it was really quite special, and it was.

I've read and learned a lot recently about this style of sake, and was after a kimoto specifically because I wanted to cook a nice, warming, hearty winter meal on the heavy side, and was looking for a sake to match the food. Many sake brewed according to the kimoto method are notable for their exceptional body: smooth and rich.

Yamato Shizuku Kimoto Junmai is doubly so, being a shizuku sake, (pressed by hanging bag, using gravity alone) and when warmed up nurukan, or warm-hot, it is just heavenly. I like to think of nurukan temperature range as sake with a high fever: about 104F.

The nose is not the hook for this sake; it is, rather, the tail that impresses, the long, long tail. Slightly warmed, the dry, savory notes of mushroom spread out nicely yielding to more wooden, sweeter tones. Exiting the palate, the bright tail of this sake becomes round and smooth. Here, the body shines and lingers and lingers.

The impact is soft, and there is acid here, enough to stand up to a rich dish, but refined, too. To see what I cooked up to enjoy with this sake, read here.

Slightly chilled, the flavors are more blunt, and tight overall, while still enjoyable.

Label Facts:

SMV: n/a

ABV: 16%

Seimaibuai: 60%

Rice: 国産 (domestic rice)

Imported by:

North American Food Dist. Co, Inc.

Distributed by:

New York Mutual Trading, Inc.

#saketasting kimoto urbansake

Food and Sake: Playing Match Maker is Getting Easier

Washed rice,Saito Shuzo, Fushimi, Kyoto.

I came across this article from the Portland Herald Press Herald by Joe Appel whereby he takes on the "vast, complex, enthralling" world of sake and goes on to relate how for many lucky people, it is becoming easier to find better sake.

Appel's article runs through the typical stages of so much sake writing : dispel the myths, give the facts, and extol the virtues of the drink, offer suggestions for drinking it.

There are lots of articles like this in various publications around the world now, and rather than grow tired of them, I am both happy to see the growth of the market for sake and piqued by the chance to learn something new, or see someone else's take on sake.

"Rather than attempt to provide an overview, I mostly want to help break sake out of the stereotypes it calls to mind in this country: Drink it with sushi, drink it warm, get drunk, sing karaoke, have headache. I’m interested in how sake works with a wide variety of foods (Asian, “fusion,” Western), and how it rearranges a palate that is based on certain unacknowledged assumptions."

I'm game.

Appel interviewed Portland, ME restaurateurs Masa Miyake and Will Garfield, who attribute the growing influence of premium sake to distributors who are expanding their portfolios as well as local restaurants, such as Miyake, their own, elevating their game.

At home, Appel finds pleasure in cooking a simple dish to match his impressions of the sake he buys, and, interestingly, he shies away from lemon, garlic, and cheese.

His advice:

"Watch the flavors dance with each other; watch how the textures undulate. Photograph the label with your smartphone, buy a bottle somewhere, and start cooking."

Well, Joe, in that spirit, here's a meal I cooked for my fiancee this weekend, matched with Akita Seishu's lovely, versatile kimoto junmai I picked up from Sakaya . This sake has loads of character and velvety and rich when warmed. A good pairing for hearty Italian stew over polenta, matching the richness and savory notes of the stew."Meaty goodness," indeed.

Thanks to Joe for sharing his sake take.

Thirsty for more?

You can follow Joe Appel here at soulofwine.com

Timothy Sullivan of Urbansake.com interviews Yohei Ito, of Akita Seishu.

#sakeandfood #kimoto

Sam Harrop 'Discovering Sake' with Wine-colored Glasses

Sake's spread continues...

A joint venture between the International Wine Challenge, Hedonism Wines(London), Sakura Masamune, and the Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries of Japan have produced this short film showing international wine expert Sam Harrop, as he travels to Kyoto, Nada (Hyogo), and Niigata to learn more about sake from the source. He visits Sakura Masamune, among other kura, and stops to smell the moromi.

A wine master, Harrop comes to sake from a taste and knowledge base that is wine-focused, and the film is replete with Harrop's connections between the two beverages. Though this is how he relates to sake, certainly not how everyone does, and if you can put these continuing comparisons (and Mr. Harrop's eagerness to make them) aside, the film does a pretty good giving the basics about sake.

Take a peek

An article by Anna Greenhous at Harper's gives us some conext on the whole thing here.

#SamHarrop

'Sake Today' Hits the Shelves

The world is now officially a more sake-friendly place with the release of the inaugural issue of Sake Today, the world's first english-language publication devoted exclusively to sake.

The biannual magazine is a collaboration of John Gauntner, who needs no introduction, and long-time Japan resident, craft beer enthusiast and publisher of Japan Beer Times, Ry Beville. Ry was educating himself about sake, taking John's class at the same time as I, so I had the pleasure and good fortune to meet him in Tokyo last week at the SPC '14. I think that with these two at the helm, the future of Sake Today is bright indeed.

Volume I, autumn '13 - winter '14 is 58 pages of colorful, tasteful photographs and informative contributions from a bevy of knowledgeable sake minds from around the world, including John Gaunter (Sake World), Haruo Matsuzaki (sake critic and co-author of The Book of Sake: A Connoisseur's Guide), Ry Beville (Japan Beer Times), Rick Smith (owner of Sakaya), Robert Yelllin, and more.

Though their website is still in development, you can still head over to www.sake-today.com to purchase a copy. Join in celebrating the world of sake culture today!

#sake #saketoday sakenews JohnGauntner

Wagashi Kunpuu 和菓子薫風, Sendagi, Bunkyo, Tokyo

Save for a few quick sightseeing episodes, my brief visit to Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka for John Gauntner's annual SPC afforded me little spare time for anything but sake. Which was good. I was seeking immersion and immersion I got.

So what did I do with my free time the day before the class started? I went looking for sake, of course.

Wagashi Kunpuu, being just a couple years old and quite small, has no web presence in english, yet somehow I stumbled across this video, featuring their chef/owner, Sachiko Tsukuda, making really beautiful wagashi and serving them with some interesting looking sake.

I must drop in.

So after a morning of swimming through the tides of gawkers and tourists in the Asakusa district I walked west to Yushima station and rode the metro north to Sendagi station. From there it was a short walk down quiet streets to the wagashi shop with the beautiful name: Kunpuu.

After a brief introduction I made some broken small talk with the other guests and shared some sake kasu biscotti. They were very nice, and the kasu taste was not too strong. Yum.

She served this with a nice, lively muroka nama genshu junmai ginjo from Wakayama Prefecture's Sekai Itto. This brewery's little bit of history includes being the birthplace of naturalist Minakata Kumagusu. The sake was characteristically very aromatic, delicate in flavor but had a nice smooth body. A good pairing.

Sachiko-san made her way out and asked me what I would like to drink, to which I indicated that I'd have what my neighbor was having.

After some more friendly chat and (on my part) gesticulation, we moved on to try a variety of very nice dorayaki. The last one being a citrus infused one. Sachiko-san paired this with a delicate ginjo with a pure citrus nose and bright clean body. Very nice indeed. This was, I believe, Tatsuriki junmai(65% seimaibuai) but using 100% Gohyakumangoku rice. It was shinshu, stamped 12/2013, so it was quite lively indeed.

The last wagashi I tried was a bowl of adzuki bean, a crisped dorayaki cake and sake kasu ice cream. Here, the kasu flavor was heavy and took some getting used to. Thinking ice cream, I was expected a sweetness, butfound none. Once my anticipation of sweetness disappeared, I found the savory notes and alcohol more appreciable.

She paired this last dish curiously with a yamahai nigori futsuushu, that was ricey nose and body, but with enough acidity to be a good foil for the rich ice cream.

My mind was fairly thoroughly blown. This kind of combination of sake and sweets may be novel, but is certainly not a novelty. There are ways to do it and do it well. Sachiko-san is really onto something here. Her shop is really special.

As luck would have it, as I was gathering my belongings to head out into the chilly evening air, I was later invited to a DIY wagashi activity at the shop later that night. Of course I took her up on the offer.

And after taking a quick nap in a coffee shop, I headed back to the shop where myself and 7 others got to assemble our own wagashi and then sample them with a selection of more premium sake.

We tried a few kinds of sake with our wagashi, but the paring that really impressed me was one of contrast: A sweet potato wagashi that was very sweet paired with a typically dry style of sake, tanrei karakuchi. My camera died at that point, so I have no record, sadly, of that one. But boy did it work.

So, if you are Tokyo...please go to Wagashi Kunpuu 和菓子薫風. This is a special kind of sake experience.

And to Sachiko-san, once again,

どうもありがとうございました!

Hope to see you again sometime!

#tokyo sakepairings wagashi

Links and News

If you’re like me, you love to read about sake, so to that end, some links will follow,but first some news:

Such a very busy month that January has been, the last post was a couple weeks back. This is not an excuse I have been busy preparing for a 10-day trip to Japan, during which time I took part in John Gauntner’s Annual Sake Professional Course. So, I was a sake lover and student and still am, but now, I get to call myself a ‘sake professional’ even though, thus far, I don’t get paid for learning or writing about or making sake. This will hopefully change in the near future. More news about this to come soon, but, as this is not a personal, blog, I’ll get on with the links, already.

As has been noted, the number of sake breweries outside of Japan has been growing in the last 5 years. Click below to learn more about what is brewing in Canada and in Norway (!) if you haven’t heard.

Vancouver Brewery using BC rice!

Hey, I wonder what kind of rice they are growing up there?

Norwegian Sake, from beer brewery, Nøgne Ø.

P.S. Nogne O’s Cathie was a classmate of mine at SPC ‘14. She is a very passionate and friendly person. It was great talking to her about brewing.

P.S.S. : a teaser of what is to come soon, in my next post…sake and desserts?

Believe it or not-

Recently, I mentioned Richie Hawtin's carefully line of sake, Enter.sake, brewed by Fujioka Shuzo , which he was carefully marketing to the demi-monde of Ibiza's club scene, mixing premium sake with music and dancing.

This time the lure is not the beautiful people, nor dancing or music or impressing your date by ordering him/her an exotic drink. It's...ninjas, and, it's in Lexington, Kentucky.

The one-page website promises patrons a chance to throw and purchase a variety of 500 different throwing stars, lessons from 'experienced ninjas,' and oh yes, sake.

Though there doesn't seem to be an age restriction against young ninjas throwing stars, any 'ninjas' wishing to "pound sake" must be 21 or over. buzzkill.

Is Ninjas Throwing Star Range for real, or a hoax?

Best foot Forward in 2014

Happy New Year!

Good news isn't always easy to come by, and so, it was happily that I came across this encouraging report in the Asahi Shimbun...

Congratulations to the resilient Mr. Furudate, of Akabu Shuzo, for reaching his sales goal for the second straight year, and perhaps more importantly forging on against depression and adversity, doing the thing that he loves: making sake. I was especially touched at the encouragement he received from his customers and local community.

And what a great name for his new kura- Fukkatsu Gura.

More details in another article shed light on the irrepressible spirit in his community, and how other business have struggle to come back in the last two years.

Here again, sake is more than just a drink.

Mr. Furudate's brewery,Akabu Shuzo, has an english page here

A.S. article: Read more

#fukushima goodnews jizake

From Fushimi-Ku to Ibiza...?

Interesting bit of Sake (old) news out of Europe- It appears our favorite beverage knows no bounds.

This past September, the multi-talented, multi-passioned Richie Hawtin, electronic musician, party organizer (not political parties, but rather, raves) and sake sommelier, has organized what sounds like a unique, week-long spectacle he calls "ENTER.sake,", combining the things he loves most:

"“ENTER. will be a point of entry into new experiences: from new music and DJs through to technology and the Sake we introduce people to.”

And where is all this eye-opening happening? Wait for it....Ibiza!

For Hawtin, sake at the club is an obvious choice:

"For me Japanese sake is the perfect drink for the nightclub. It's 16-18% alcohol, it's giving me a nice feeling, and every time I start my night off with sake, its going in a good direction."

Mr. Hawtin has collaborated with Masaaki Fujioka, of Sookuu brewery in Kyoto's Fushimi ward, to bring the tight and bright crowds of Ibiza something new to quench their thirst whilst shaking what their mothers have given them and fuel their exploits into the wee-hours, and to open their minds to the culture of Japan.

How exactly does Hawtin turn on the festive Ibiza demi-monde to something as 'foreign' as sake?

Well, this is not your average sake tasting event: The conversation between Hawtin and Fujioka reveals what is a very clever and well-thought marketing approach in this promotional video.

The pair have cleverly put together a three-grade selection of sake and given each a colored "Dot" label, making it easy for the newcomer to order over the pulse of the music. The event was held on the Sunset Terrace of the Space club in Ibiza, an area they transformed in to a 'sake room' just for this event. experience.

Interestingly, "Black," (10€/glass) the entry-level brew in Hawtin's line, took the most work for Mr. Fujioka:

"I spent most of my time and put most of my feelings into [it]. This is because when people try Sookuu, the first sake will probably be the black label. If people don't love it, they will be less likely to try the other levels."

Hawtin's 'Enter.Sake' line also includes, silver (junmai ginjo 15€/glass) , and gold label (junmai daiginjo 25€/glass) bottles.

If sake and Ibiza nightclubs sound like an odd pairing, Hawtins knows it, and asks Fujioka the obvious:

"What do you think about people...having your sake in a nightclub?"

Through a translator, Mr. Fujioka admitted that at first he was worried about mixing his sake into the culture of dance and music, but that his mind was changed after seeing people drinking it and enjoying it in the night club.

Hawtin's business/cultural/artistic venture just goes to show that good sake can be enjoyed just about anywhere.

Links:

Enter.sake facebook

Hawtin's page

Hawtin @ Sookuu

dailey blend article

#nightlife #sake #ibiza

50 kinds of Sake in a Torrance Mini-Mall?

from the Press Telegram

"Hoka Hoka Sushi & Sake is a jolly place. And really, when you have a name like “Hoka Hoka” (which sounds like a dance done by Barney the Purple Dinosaur) and a list of half a hundred sakes to choose from, well, you’re gonna be jolly."

Wow! Half a hundred sakes? You've got my attention. Served cold? Tell me more...

That what is described as a hole-in-the-wall strip mall has such a selection is a telling sign that things are moving in the right direction. Now if only the journalist went into as much detail about the sake as the food. : - /

Clearly, though the distribution chain might be there, an encouraging sign indeed, it would seem our journalist forgot to clue us in.

I tried to find a website for the restaurant. No luck.

Why do you build me up, buttercup, baby just to let me down.

08/13 - In the small city of Kii-Tanabe, there is no shortage of sake, or nice sunsets. This was the first glimpse of Japan for me outside of the big cities, and it was very nice to just sit, watch the sun sink, and take it all in. No tasting notes for this "Black Cow" junmai, just this image to remember it by.

#sake #kii-tanabe

Around the Web: The Southeast Takes on Sake

Post & Courier article

Surprised this morning to find that there are actually two restaurants now in Asheville, NC that are, if not devoted to, then at least sake-centric. Blue Kudzu has been open since early this fall, and now today, I just wumbled across a noodle shop that serves sake and has plans in the works to brew their own, curiously called Ben's Tune Up.

The last time I passed through Asheville, was on a day this fall when Blue Kudzu was closed, and just learning about BTU now, I have no choice but to hurry back down there when I get the chance.

The thing that got me thinking, is a quote from the above article from co-owner of BTU, Jonathan Robinson, about brewing sake:

“In Japan, these traditions are passed down from generation to generation...We’re just trying to figure out what is tradition and what is necessary. There’s going to be something inherently American about our sake."

On first read, I thought maybe he was thinking of two mutually exclusive groups. But actually, I don't think that Mr. Robinson is trying to say "if something is tradition, it isn't necessary."

The reality is that brewing good sake is a process that requires tight control, precise handling and monitoring. There is a real temptation to say "Is all this really necessary?"

Certainly, the centuries of sake brewing techniques demand respect, anyone who has been to Japan and tasted the sake there knows that, but, the century or so has shown that techniques, and ingredients can be improved.

After all, the labor-intensive yama-oroshi process used to be considered an essential step in the brewing process until someone proved it wasn't.

So, innovation vs. tradition. The issue is up for grabs in N.C. Which side are you on?

I personally am very excited to sidle up the bar at both of these places and pick their brains a bit.

A new tradition I am fairly sure is not necessary, but interesting nonetheless :

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201311300050

Read a little more about Ben's Tune Up here

#bluekudzu #benstuneup

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs

The Sake Press: Information, Education and Musings