Travel Japan Sake

Hakkaisan Tokubetsu Junmai; Masumi Okuden Kantsukuri Junmai

Travel Japan Sake:

Japanese sake(sake rice wine)are considered the best in the world, and once you are an aficionado you would travel Japan to sample different ones in order to determine which is the best sake. The essence of the sake ingredients are the sakamai, or polished sake rice, the pure Japan water, and the koji, or special mold microbe whose enzymes are introduced into the steamed sake rice and breaks it down into sugars which can then be fermented by the yeast cells, which then gives off carbon dioxide and alcohol. The koji making process takes about 40 to 45 hours. The whole process is done under the watchful eyes of the Toji, or brew masters. Today, the jizake, or premium regional sake are more popular than ever, and as the saka gura limit production, the consumers’ demand for the premium sake grows even more. There are perhaps as much as 2,000 jizake manufacturers in Japan.

From the northern island of Hokkaido to the southern island of Kyushu the sake are brewed and bottled. The saka gura, or sake breweries are located in small towns and in large cities throughout Japan. These premium sake are drunk cold, in sake glasses.

Travel Japan Sake Rice:

Sake rice is quite different from rice that is eaten in that the sake rice, being more delicate, requires more water, nutrients and protection from the elements, and is more expensive to grow. This fact ensures that the sake rice is grown in limited quantities. Whereas Niigata rice is known to be the best rice for eating, sake rice is grown elsewhere in Japan. Sake rice is a larger grain rice, and some of the grain is ground or polished away in the manufacturing process. In a rice to be made into a Daiginjo or super premium wine, more than 50% of the grain is removed to concentrate the sugars in the rice. In a Ginjo or premium wine, 40 - 50% of the grain is polished off, leaving 50 - 60% of the rice grain for the sake, called seimaibuai. In a Tokubetsu Junmai, or special premium wine, 40 - 50% of the rice grain is polished off, leaving 50 - 60% of the grain. In a Junmai or pure rice wine, 30 - 40% of the grain is polished off, leaving 60 - 70% of the grain. With a lower polished grain, the taste of the sake is of fuller body and of more pronounced flavor. With the higher polished sake rice, the sake is lighter and fruitier, and with a clear aroma and refined flavor. Some of the more well known sakamai are the Yamadanishiki, Gohyakumangoku, Miyamanishiki, Takanenishiki, Todorokiwase, Yukinosei, Hidahomare, Yamahikari, Bizen Omachi, Nihonbare, Kinnanfu, Hattannichiki, Ginpu, Kiyonishiki, and Matsuyamamitsui.

Travel Japan Pure Water:

Sake consists of 80% pure water, and it is said that a slightly semi-hard water is ideal for sake. This water is found in Niigata, in Nada in Hyogo Prefecture, in Hiroshima, and in Fushimi in Kyoto Prefecture. Travel Japan to find the waters, which have good ingredients of potassium, magnesium, and phosphoric acid. In Niigata, as an example, the waters are from the plentiful winter snow in the area.

Travel Japan Koji Mold Microbe:

Koji is the aspergillus oryzae microbe that is used in the production of Japanese miso and soy sauce.

Nihonshu-do Value:

Nihonshu-do is the sake meter value, which determines the fruitiness to the dryness of the sake. The lower the value the fruitier the sake, the higher the value the drier the sake. Nihonshu-do ranges from -3.0 amakuchi(sweet) to +10.0, with +3.0 being neutral. A +20.0 Nihonshu-do value is an exceptionally dry or Karakuchi sake.

Travel Japan Sake Making:

To make sake, the process starts in the fall and goes into winter. The rice is polished to get rid of the amino acids, the fats and the proteins. It gets to the starch concentration core.

Next the rice is washed and steeped or rested before cooking.

Next the rice is steamed, and then the rice is injected with the koji mold microbe.

Then sake yeast is added along with water to the steamed rice and is made into a sake mash.

Then the sake mash is combined with more steamed rice for multiple parallel fermentation.

The starch is broken down into sugars and the sugars are in turn converted into alcohol.

After filtration and pasteurization, the sake is stored in large vats where it is stored until early fall until it is bottled and shipped.

Travel Japan - How to Drink Sake:

Premium sake is meant to be drunk cold, and in sake glasses. Heating tends to compromise the flavor of the sake. However people still drink heated sake. If you heat your sake, put the sake in a tokkuri or ceramic bottle, and place it in gently boiling water for about 5 minutes until lukewarm, then it will be ready for drinking.

Travel Japan - How to Serve Sake:

While there are no hard and fast rules in serving sake, sake glasses or sake masu, (cedar boxes), are normally used to serve cold sake, and tokkuri bottles are containers for warm sake, and are poured into small sakazuki or ochoko cups.

This writer is an aficionado of sake and have tried quite a few all over Japan.

Travel Japan - Quest for the Best Sake:

In Hokkaido, I have been to the Otokoyama Sake Brewery, located in Asahikawa, and tasted the Otokoyama Junmai sake, a Nihonshu-do +10, which I like very much. I haved also  been to the Chitosetsuru Sake Brewery in Sapporo and their Hiyaoroshi Junmai was very good.  I also tasted the Taisetsu junmai daiginjo.

In Niigata, I have been to Sado Island and have been to the Manotsuru saka gura, where I found very good sake: junmai, ginjo and daiginjo with Niigata sakamai and water. Other Niigata sake I have tasted and that are light and dry include “ma boroshi” (phantom)sake like Koshi no Kanbai Tokusen junmai ginjo, a Nihonshu-do +7, Hakkaisan honjyozo ginjo, a Nihonshu-do +5, Hakkaisan Tokubetsu junmai, a Nihonshu-do +5, Kubota Senjyu honjyozo ginjo, a Nihonshu-do +6, Shimeharitsuru junmai ginjo, a Nihonshu-do +3, Kikusui junmai ginjo, a Nihonshu-do +3, Kikusui junmai daiginjo, with a Nihonshu-do value of +3, Kanbara Bride of the Fox junmai ginjo, a Nihonshu-do +3, Echigo Denemon junmai ginjo, a Nihonshu-do +3.

I have tasted the Dewazakura Dewasansan junmai ginjo, a Nihonshu-do +4 and the Dewazakura Oka a ginjo with a Nihonshu-do +4, two sakes produced in Yamagata.

In Nagano, I have been to the Miyasaka Brewery and tasted the Masumi Yumedono, a daiginjo with a Nihonshu-do value of +3, and the Masumi Okuden Kantsukuri, a junmai with a Nihonshu-do value of +3.

I have tasted the Taiheizan Tenka, a junmai daiginjo from Akita, with a Nihonshu-do value of +2.

In Fushimi, Kyoto, I visited the Tamanohikari Brewery and tasted the Tamanohikari Kaori ginjo with a Nihonshu-do value of +3. Also I tasted the Shochikubai deluxe ginjo with a Nihonshu-so value of +2.

In Hiroshima, I visited the Kamotsuru Brewery and tasted the Kamotsuru Tokusei Gold junmai daiginjo, with a Nihonshu-do value of +3.

I have tasted the Hakutaka junmai, a sake from Nada, Hyogo, with a Nihonshu-do value of +2.5.

I have sampled many other premium sake, many of which I cannot remember the names of, but continue on my quest to find the best sake and hope to write about them in another article soon.

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