Meishu no Yutaka

Summer Liqueur Tasting!!!

2010-07-16T18:41:00.001+09:00

The spring tasting was a big hit...
So we are back this weekend with a Japanese Liqueur Tasting!
Ume-shu, Yuzu-shu, Natsu-mikan, and much much more!

If you are in town please stop by!

Sendai Summit post coming soon!

Meishu no Yutaka staff

Carlin

2010 Sendai Sake Summit

2010-07-06T14:24:00.000+09:00

I will be attending the Sake Summit in Sendai on July 7th.

A gathering of Sake makers and sake stores; the Sake Summit is a great way to get a good look at a wide variety of sake, and to exchange info with other sake stores in Japan.

This will be my second time attending the Sake Summit (the first being last year together with my wife) and my first time there on my own, the only white boy in a sea of Sake experts (^_^;.

The biggest event at the Summit will be a 100+ bottle blind tasting.
I don't know how many people out there have gone up against a 100+ bottle tasting, but it is one heck of a challenge. (Although listening to the stories our company president tells about 300+ bottle tastings, makes the Summit sound like a walk in the park.)

This year they introduced a new section to the summit in which the participants where to pick a bottle of sake (from any maker, participating or not), and write tasting notes for it, and send it in with their registration. I picked Nagano prefecture's, Daishinshu Shuzo's, Restricted lable Kozuki (香月) Junmai Ginjo Naka Gumi. One of my favorites. Daishinshu is not participating in the Summit, and I figured that this was a good opportunity to spread some love for one of my favorite breweries.

If I had taken the time to read the BIG RED fine print that was right under the part that said I was supposed to send in the tasting notes, I wouldn't have been surprised when about a week later I received a phone call asking me to send a bottle of the brew in, so that every one could taste it at the summit. Apparently they decided it would be a good idea to get some outside suggestions, and they liked what the white guy said.

So in celebration of being picked, I bring to you:

Kozuki / 香月

Junmai Ginjou Naka-gumi / 純米吟醸中汲み

Alcohol: 16% / Polish: 50%

SMV: +4

Tasting notes:

On the nose: Big nose with sweet melon and lots of rice. Slightly zesty and very fresh.

On the palate: Medium to full bodied with big rice flavors. Hints of melon continue to a very dry finish. Well balanced with a finish that cuts like a knife (In a very good way).

Other notes:

The Kozuki label is a very limited release brand, being that not all of the stores that carry the main Daishinshu label, can can sell the Kozuki label.
This sake comes in a pasteurized and nama version. The Unpasteurized (Nama) version is released around February and ends when it sells out. The pasteurized version is available almost all year. (this post is about the pasteurized version)

I will post more about the Sendai Sake Summit (with pictures) soon.

Cheers,

Meishu no Yutaka staff

Carlin

Spring brews at last!

2010-04-24T20:59:00.000+09:00

Spring is finally arriving here in Hokkaido, although we still have about a month left until the cherry blossoms come.
In celebration of the spring season, it's time for some spring sake!

This time I would like to introduce a brewery that you probably have never heard of (although they did enter their sake into the U.S. national sake appraisal in 06, 07, and 08). I know I hadn't before the breweries Toji gave us a call, out of the blue, to let us know he was coming for a visit. I have to admit that we were a little put off by this first impression (as most of our sake selection is built out of long term relationships and hard work, not sudden phone calls), but the sake we tasted was fantastic, so we decided to give it a go. We have been carrying this brand for almost a year now and it has created a pretty big fan base. I bring to you:

本洲一 / Honshu-ichi

春限定おりがらみ純米酒

Limited Spring release Origarami Junmai-shu

Alcohol: 16-17% / Polish: 65%

SMV: +4

Umeda Shuzo / Hiroshima Prefecture

Tasting notes:

On the nose: Light and slightly sweet, with hints of fruit and flowers over a base of rice and koji. A very inviting nose.

On the palate: Very full bodied with a burst of ricy sweetness from the Ori (Origarami or Ori-zake is kind of like a Nigori, but with less solids. Ori is the solids), followed by strong acidity and a slight astringency, giving it a bit of a sweet and sour tanginess. Fruity with a quick clean finish.

Other notes:

Honshu-ichi is a really really really small brewery. With a brewing capacity of a little under 500 Koku (1 koku is roughly equal to 100 Issho-bin or 180L. 500 koku would then be 90,000L or 23,775 Gallons for those of you living in the US), which is or smallest brewery and a small fry in the sake world where most breweries do about 1,000~2,000 Koku or more.
Origarami is a type of sake very similar to a Nigori. Sometimes you will even hear people refer to it as a Usu-Nigori (thin nigori or only lightly cloudy). What exactly does this mean? This:

The Ori is settled at the bottom of the bottle. A little hard to see but it is a really fine white almost milky substance with very few large pieces.

Here I gave the bottle a little shake so you can see the Ori better. Once thoroughly mixed it looks more or less like a regular Nigori.

One of the fun things about a Origarami is: you get two sakes in the same bottle. Now don't start thinking "yeah if I mix the two half bottles in my fridge together, I have two sakes in one bottle too!" Although that is technically true, that's not quite what I'm getting to here. More precisely you get two different flavor profiles out of the same sake. By this I send out a challenge: Go out and buy a bottle of Origarami (a good lighter nigori is Probably ok too Usu-nigori better), let the bottle sit until the Ori is all settled at the bottom of the bottle. Without shaking the bottle carefully pour yourself a glass, and taste it. Then give the bottle a light shake (more like putting the cap back on then tipping it upside down and back slowly) then pour out another glass and compare the two. If you think they taste exactly the same, then I really want to know what you are drinking!

So keep your eyes out for a bottle of Honshu-ichi near you, because it is a sure hit!

More to come!

Cheers

Meishu no Yutaka staff

Carlin

Spring Sake Tasting!

2010-04-17T14:18:00.001+09:00

Here is a call going out to anyone following along from the Sapporo area who has been thinking about stopping by, but just hasn't found the right incentive.

Meishu no Yutaka's first (and not the last if I have anything to do with it!) SAKE TASTING!
We will have an arrangement of about 6 spring sakes on taste for free. Just in Time for the Cherry Blossoms!

If any one is interested please stop by.

I will be around pretty much the whole time and would love to talk sake!

Looking forward to seeing you there.

Cheers

Meishu no Yutaka staff

Carlin

New website + Samurai action!!

2010-04-08T14:51:00.000+09:00

The new English website for the store is finally up and running!!
Please take a look and let me know what you think!

Coming up in May, Japan has a holiday for boys (Holiday for girls was in Feb. sorry I didn't take any pictures), And it is traditional to put up a display of a samurai warrior (or in some houses just the armor).
We have our display up in the store, so I thought I would write a post about it as an interesting tidbit of Japanese culture (although sake isn't involved).

This is our "Kabuto" or Samurai display:

It is now about 27 years old, although it doesn't look it, And since there aren't any children in the family now, it gets proudly displayed in the store every year. Really intricately hand made, with a real rabbit skin rug for the doll.

Well I will get a some tasting notes up here soon.
We got some new really good spring sake into the store recently, although unfortunately the ones that I really want to post here are ones that I can't even mention on the internet (restricted by the brewery).

New Nama sake from Hiroshima prefecture that I am hoping to taste soon too.

More soon!

Cheers,
Meishu no Yutaka staff
Carlin

4 Months and no posts???

2010-04-01T18:45:00.000+09:00

You are probably all wondering where the heck I have been for the past 4 months.
That is if any one out there is still checking in.
I apologize for the lengthy lapse in posting, and hope to get a few new posts in over the next couple of days.

As to the where:
I have been to the depths of webpage building hell, and come back with a fire breathing dragon of a new website for the store http://www.yutaka1.com.
Take a look if you like.
English webpage is still in the works; I hope to have it up and running in the next week.

Thank you to all those who check in periodically, and I shall resume posting very soon.

Cheers,
Meishu no Yutaka staff
Carlin

From water to wine

2009-12-18T10:27:00.001+09:00

From water to wine, this is the story of the next steps in sake making.

Taking Kome-koji, where we left off last time, and steamed rice, mixing it with a little water and yeast, waiting for a month, then presto you have sake.

Well it's not exactly that easy, but those are the basic steps involved (I suspect magic).

Here is a little something I forgot to put in the last post. When steaming the rice, what makes the steam? This huge boiler of corse. This thing was impressive. Once started it emitted a earth rumbling growl, as it created enough pressure to blow up the entire brewery if it exploded. (^_^;

This story starts very similarly to the story of kome-koji, as both require rice milling, washing, and steaming. I will skip the milling and washing steps this time, as they are the same as those for kome-koji. Daishinshu has two rice steaming pots, the one that was in the last post on the second floor, and the other on the first floor. The second floor steaming pot is used primarily for kome-koji rice and yeast starter (Shubo 酒母 in Japanese, literally written as sake mother), wile the first floor steaming pot is used exclusively for the Moromi (main mash) tanks. This is a picture of the first floor steaming pot taken from above, on the second floor.

As we are starting with the shubo, this rice was steamed on the second floor where the shubo tanks are located. The steaming hot rice was then hand carried and dumped out on the cooling table, where it was spread out and mixed until cooled to just the right temp.

The rice is then transfered into the shubo tank.

Then stirred like crazy by the Toji in order to equalize the temperature. The temp is checked frequently, and the temperature is adjusted by the temperature of the rice that is added in. If it is too cold then the rice is added in without cooling very much, and if too hot, it is thoroughly cooled before it is added.
The kome-koji is then added in in a proportion of about 30%.

The finished product is a super sweet mixture of steamed rice and kome-koji. This is then kept at a relatively high temperature (around 45˚C) for about a day. Keeping the temperature high increases the speed in which the koji enzymes break down the starch in the steamed rice, further sweetening the mixture. In short, this is yeast heaven in a 200 liter tank.

The story of the Shubo is a two part story that happens in parallel. At the same time that the sweet mixture above is being concocted, the yeast is being populated. This is done in a very scientific manner (or at least it looks really scientific). The yeast is populated in beakers filled with a sugary liquid in an oven at about 30˚C. The beaker's stopper is made out of a sponge like material which lets out the CO2 gas produced by the yeast. That being said, I still heard many stories of having the stopper pop off the top of the beaker like a champaign cork, while being stirred, and having half of the contents jet out of the bottle much to the holder's dismay.

After the Yeast army has assembled in large enough numbers, it is left to settle, and most of the liquid is poured off leaving a fine white sediment at the bottom of the beaker (which is the yeast). The yeast is then added in to the sweet rice mixture, and a small portion of lactic acid is added in to raise the over all acidity of the shubo. The lactic acid, which can be created naturally like in the Yamahai and Kimoto styles, but takes a lot more time, acts as a guard against unwanted bacteria and foreign yeasts. The mixture is then kept warm for about a day to give the yeast a good foothold.

The next steps? 1) Get ice.

(You may be thinking "hey didn't I see that ice maker in the Motel 6 I stayed in the other week?"

No this is an ice machine on steroids. Instead of using dingy motel water this baby runs on pure sake water! that's right folks ice that won't change the flavor of your favorite brew!)

2) dump ice in shubo tank.

It may be a little hard to see, but yes this is a pile of ice on top of the shubo they just made.

3) Stir!

It just so happens that the quickest way to cool a brew is in fact to add ice. This of course also adds water to the mix, so it has to be added into the calculations later on. A lot of other breweries use large metal jugs of ice water (or hot water if you wanted to heat things up), but cleanup is a pain, and the ice thing works pretty well.

For the fine tuning, a cooling belt (a rubber belt with hoses running through it that circulate cold water) is wrapped around the tank. The cooling belt helps to keep the heat produced by the yeast from building. Getting the belt on is not easy (and this is a small tank, think about wrapping one around a tank the size of an 18 wheeler!).

Making shubo takes about 10 days (using the method that Daishinshu uses, there are many ways to make shubo and all of them differ in the amount of time it takes) This is a picture of one of the tanks that was just about finished. The sugur, acid, alcohol, temperature, and yeast levels are checked frequently throughout the 10 days. Taste wise I like the shubo tank at about day 3, it was sweet and sour and selled really good.

When the shubo has reached the desired super yeast population, it is transfered to a larger tank. Daishinshu uses a series of increasingly larger tanks for their "san-dan-shikomi," the process of increasing the volume of the mash in three steps over four days. Using one large tank is also common, however it is much easier to fine tune in a smaller tank.

The shubo is moved by hand using a big ladle and a barrel shaped bucket.

At this point Katsumi-san (in the picture above) turned on the pressure with his nonchalant "This is a Daiginjo, so don't spill anything."

The last bit of shubo is extracted by pulling the plug out of the bottom of the tank, tilting it, and then pouring a little water around to wash all the rice out.

The next step is to add more water, rice, and kome-koji. I don't have any pictures of them dumping the rice into this tank, so you will just have to take my word for it. While the rice is being added the toji continually stirs the contents of the tank, while keeping a close eye on the temperature (the long thin probe that Komatsu-san is holding is a digital thermometer).

At this point, the brewing sake ceases to be called Shubo and becomes the first step in the san-dan-shikomi "Soe Jikomi." It is again cooled, although this time down to a chilly 8˚C! Above picture is the ice I was stirring in.

After a day the Soe jikomi is moved into a tank roughly twice the size of the last (a little over a 1000L). Rice, water, and kome-koji are again added doubling the volume of the mixture. At this stage the brewing sake is called "Naka Jikomi." This picture was snapped towards the end of the 2 days this part of the brew sits for.

After the naka jikomi has rested for two days, it is moved again to an even larger tank. This move is done with a special pump designed to limit the stress of pumping the sake around (although it looked like a pretty old pump).

The next step in the process is to add in a ton or two of rice. Daishinshu, like many breweries these days, uses a cooling and vacuum transport machine to move the rice from the steaming pot (the one way~ up at the top of the post) to the moromi tanks. This machine uses a series of mechanisms to mix and aerate the rice until it is considerably cooled, then shoots it through a tube...

And then finally down a canvas pipe into the moromi. It is a really interesting thing to see, although the cooling machine is very loud. the kome-koji is added by hand from the second floor by pouring the trays of koji rice down the canvas pipe.

The finished product. This stage is called "Tome (literally translated as stop)" and is the end of san-dan-shikomi, and the beginning of the moromi.

The next thing that happens in the moromi stage is that the rice sucks up most of the water in the tank, and the whole thing solidifies into a giant glob of mushy rice..

A close up of the saturated rice. This continues for several days. During this time the moromi is not stirred, as stirring it would make the rice break down more quickly (which is generally not a good thing, not to mention that it is really hard to move the pole around in the tank).

After a few days the water is released from the rice, and the moromi becomes much more fluid. The yeast are busy doing their job eating sugar and making alcohol (sounds like a pretty good job to me!).

This is a movie of the moromi in Action. I was hoping that you would be able to hear the bubbling of the moromi, but at least you can see it in action. the voices in the back ground are Katsumi-san, and another Hokkaido sake store owner who joined us for a couple of days.

When and how much you stir the sake during the moromi period is extremely important, as too much or too little stirring can have a pretty big impact on the final product. The above picture is the Toji stirring one of the 22 ton (22,000L the one I said was the size of a 18 wheeler) tanks, containing futsu-shu. Most of the tanks that Daishinshu uses are 2~4 ton tanks.

After about a month of bubbling and alcohol making, the moromi reaches it's peak, and it is time to press it! All of Daishinshu's sake is pressed in a Yabuta (accordion press), as seen above. From the picture above it would seem as though that giant hydraulic piston presses the sake by squeezing the plates, thus the accordion part. Oh contrair! In fact the pressure is applied gently and consistently by a series of airbags that are built in to the walls of each of the plates inside (more detailed photos below).

This is what a Yabuta press does for about 10 hours.... Exciting stuff.

The liquid sake then runs into a holding tank beside the press, where it is later pumped into a storage tank to either be aged for a period of time or bottled right away for that delicious shiboritatte (fresh pressed sake) taste.

After the sake has been pressed, the piston is released, and the plates are then shifted one by one, by hand, until the part that had the sake in it is reached.

Once there, the sake kasu, or pressings, is revealed! Cleanly stuck on to the walls of the press, the sake kasu must then be scraped off. You can see each individual panel in this picture; underneath the white fabric cover is the airbag that does the pressing.

The kasu is then neatly stacked, packed into 15 kg boxes and shipped off to sake stores, like mine, to be sold as sake kasu for Amazake (sweet drink make by mixing the sake kasu with water and sugar usually consumed warm; very tasty!). In my opinion, one can not truly understand the full taste of a sake until you have eaten that sake's sake kasu. Why? The sake kasu is half of the sake it'self. The sake you buy in bottles is only half of the taste, the rest of it is still trapped in the kasu.

After you have pressed the sake, the next thing you do (for a shiboritatte anyway) is to put the sake into bottles! Before that, however, one must ensure that nothing falls into the bottles, and that means cleaning the roof. What's the best way to reach the roof? A fork lift of coarse!

This is the bottling machine that they use at the brewing facilities. Like I mentioned in the first post, Daishinshu is broken up into two locations, one for brewing and one for offices and bottling, so I don't know if they have a fancier bottling/labeling/capping machine at the other location (as I didn't visit the other location).

As the bottles go around the machine they are filled with sake. The bottles are placed in and taken out of the machine by hand.

Then passed to a table where the tops of the bottles are checked for chips and cracks, and the amount of sake in the bottles is added to or subtracted from as needed. The bottles are then capped and boxed.

Here is a wider angle view of the bottling. The boxes to the right are full of empty bottles.

The finished product: Shiboritatte Nama sakes!

These are two of the sakes that they were making while I was there. the green bottle on the right is the sake they were bottling in the pictures above. Both sakes are big on the palate light on the nose and very fresh!

Someone asked me the other day "So now that you have been there, what makes Daishinshu sake so good?" My reply, well maybe it's the hard work, or the fun working environment that keeps everyone in high spirits. But if you really want to know, I think it's the classical music they play to the brewing sake.

That's the end of the sake making part of the Daishinshu posts, but not the end of the stories. I will be back to post more tidbits of the sake world in future posts!!

Well it's getting into the new Years rush here in Sapporo,

and with the crowds in the store comes the inability to post to my blog.

This will probably be my last post for the year (will start up again in January), although I will try to get some pictures of the end of the year madness if I can.

Wishing everyone happy holidays and a prosperous new year!
Just remember, Christmas may be ruled by wine, but New years, sake is king (here in Japan anyway)!

See you next time!

Cheers
Meishu no Yutaka staff
Carlin

Koji making, no wimps allowed

2009-12-01T20:24:00.000+09:00

This episode is all about Koji.

That magical mold that makes sake what it is.

Koji mold, unlike that mold that is growing on the thanksgiving leftovers sitting in the back of the refrigerator, is a needy mold that requires lots of attention to grow into a fine fungi.

This is the story of the little Daishinshu Koji mold, that started out as a spore on his mother's rice kernel, and grew up to be a Ginjo class kome-koji.

Making kome-koji is a process that includes a lot of heavy lifting, dangerous steaming pots, lightly burned hands, and worn thin skin. It takes a lot of determination and attention to detail (apparently monthly massages too, although that's a trade secret) to make sake the traditional way, And thus I have given this post the name "koji making, no wimps allowed."

First off I would like to share with everyone something you don't often see when shopping for, or studying about, sake, the faces behind the sake.

The picture above is team Daishinshu. With a team of only 9 people, Daishinshu brews about 50 different kinds of sake (including seasonal and limited quantity varieties). The person in the white hat in the front row is Daishinshu's Toji (master brewer), who is now the head Toji, after the previous Toji retired last year at the age of 92 (although he still stops by to check on things). The women on either side of the Toji are seasonal workers (although most of them have been working in the brewery for close to 30 years); in the off season they are apple farmers. In the back row (from left to right) are Katsumi-san, Komatsu-san, Hayashi-san, and Morimoto-san, all seasoned sake makers, and full time employees. And last but not least, Yokomizu-san, who started this year at the beginning of the season (October 1st).

If you are going to tell the story of Kome-koji, then the logical place to start would of course be, the Kome (rice). Daishinshu gets most of their rice from two farms in Nagano prefectures. About 70% of the rice Daishinshu uses is grown under contract, which gives them the ability to work with the farmers closely in order to get exactly the kind of rice that they want. Daishinshu's main sake rice varietal is, Hitogokochi (also known as super Miyama-Nishiki, a varietal bred in Nagano), although they also use a mix of Yamada-nishiki, Miyama-nishiki, and others.

These Guys grow the rice.

Of coarse the rice's tale starts in the paddies, but this story will start a little later after the rice has become big and strong Gen-mai (元米 unpolished or brown rice). Daishinshu polishes 60% of their own rice, something that not all sake breweries do these days, as polishing machines cost about as much as a mid sized house. The other 40% is polished in a local polishing facility. The reason that they don't polish 100% of their own rice is simply time. in order to polish 800~1,000 kg of rice to around 60% it takes upwards of 30 hours of continual polishing, and that amount of rice doesn't last all that long. Thus it is hard to polish all the rice they need themselves, especially in the start of the season when they need to start brewing as soon as possible. The 40% they don't polish themselves is mainly used in the first brews of the year, and for their Futsu-shus.

Huge sacks of unpolished rice, (Komatsu-san jumped in for dramatic effect). This pile totaled 9 metric tons.

Daishinshu's polishing machine (costs upwards of $300,000 USD or 3千万円)

Collecting the rice flour from the polishing machine.

It's a dirty job, but somebodies gotta do it.

There is a dirty little rumor floating around that the portion that is polished off the rice, the "Nuka" in Japanese, is wasted, or thrown away. This is in no way correct. The Nuka is used in a variety of different ways, the "red nuka," the first 20% of the rice polishings, is used in Livestock feeds, whole grain foods, and Suke-mono (Japanese pickles), The "naka nuka (say that 10 times fast)", the 20~30% portion, is used in whole grain foods and other bread products, and the "shiro nuka", the 30%+ portion, is used in High end confections and as high quality rice flour.

After the rice is polished, there is still a thin coating of Nuka on the rice that must be washed away. Until a year or two ago this was done by hand with large buckets and strainers; A very labor intensive process which took 5 or 6 people, and a lot of time. Now, Daishinshu uses these neat little rice washing machines that wash the rice by circulating it with a jet of water. A method that now only takes 2~3 people, about half the time, and is softer on the rice.

Rice washing machine

Pouring rice into the washer

Washer in action

The rice is washed in about 20 kg loads for about 2 minutes, then soaked in water for a specific amount of time (differs depending on the type of rice and the polish rate). Everything is timed down to the second using a stopwatch.

Morimoto-san soaking a bag of rice (notice he is holding a stopwatch)

Polished and washed Sake rice, in the midst of saoking

How do you know when the rice has sucked up enough water? Weigh it!

Generally when the rice has sucked up around 30% of it's own weight in water it's ready for the next step, Steaming!

The large steaming pot (Koshiki in Japanese) capable of steaming around 800 kg of rice at a time. The white sacks around the rim are full of small plastic beads. The sacks are placed at the bottom of the pot so the steam does not hit the rice directly and cause it to break.

The steaming pot ready to be loaded with rice

The steam is started and then the rice is added in a little bit at a time. this allows the steam to thoroughly permeate the rice and give it an even steaming.

After all the rice has been loaded into the pot a fabric cover is placed over the top of the pot and tightened down to create pressure inside the pot.

The steam flow is controlled by a flap at the top of the cover, closing the flap creates more pressure and increases the heat inside the pot, opening the flap allows more steam to escape, and lowers the pressure and temperature.

The steaming pot is truly a site to see, once turned on a huge plume of super heated steam bellows out, making it a spectacle as well as a true danger, as being horribly burned is quite possible. Steaming the rice takes about an hour, while the rice is steaming the crew eats breakfast.

The freshly steamed (and extremely hot) rice is then shoveled by hand into a bucket

The bucket is then wheeled at break neck speed to the cooling area outside the Koji-muro (Koji room)

The rice is then spread out on a cloth and allowed to cool. (Yes that's me bending over the steaming rice) Even with gloves my hands were mildly burned (when I took the gloves off my hands were bright red). The rice is cooled down to about 35~40˚C before being moved into the Koji-muro. The stands that we are cooling the rice on was hand made by the Toji this year, up until now they cooled the rice on top of rubber sheets on the floor which, as I found out a couple of times when the loads were big and we had to use the floor, was extremely back breaking and knee hurting work.

Once brought into the Koji-muro, the rice is further cooled to around 31˚C before applying the Koji spores. During the cooling process the rice is mixed and flipped several times to allow even cooling.

The Toji then applies the Koji Spores

The can used to apply the koji spores, the lid of the can has a screen mesh built in, from which the spores float out.

Steamed rice with Koji spores on it (the green powder is the koji)

After the spores are applied, it is left to rest for a few minutes before the rice is mixed and flipped. The sporing process is repeated again two or three times.

After the koji spores have been applied, the rice is let to sit for a few hours. Then piled,

And bundled in blankets. It is then allowed to sit for about a day.

The next morning at 5:30 am the rice is unbundled and passed through a metal screen to break up any clumps. At this stage the rice is getting harder, as it dries out a little, but is not yet visibly coated with koji mold. This is one of the thin skin parts.

The Toji then transfers the rice into wooden trays

At first only half of the tray is used. This is to ensure that the rice does not cool too much before the koji has started to fully develop. The koji rice is then left to sit for about a day.

The next day the koji rice is mixed thoroughly and spread out so that it takes up the entire tray. At this point you can just begin to see white spots of koji mold growing on the rice. (more skin thinning)

The trays are then wrapped in blankets and allowed to sit for another day. During this time period the trays are rotated several times to keep the temperature in all the trays even. The temperature of the koji rice can climb to as high as 45˚C during this time.

The next day the koji rice (which, maybe it's just me, I thought would be granulated like you always see in books, but was actually clumped into one big piece in the shape of the tray) is mixed and the clumps are broken up until it is more or less individual kernels. This is of coarse done with your bare hands. Not only is the koji rice hot, if it were bath water at 45˚C you probably wouldn't want to get in, but the rubbing action required to break up the clumps, again makes your skin quite thin. (my hands were bright red at the end of this step too)

Finished koji rice after it has been broken up and mixed. You can clearly see a white coating of koji mold at this point. I don't know if anyone else out there has eaten warm koji rice before, this was a first for me (although I had eaten cooled koji rice before in the past), the sweet koji flavors expand in your mouth, and as long as you keep chewing, even long after the kernels have disappeared, the flavor keeps coming out kind of like gum. A truly incredible experience.

The koji rice is then spread out on the trays again, and a pattern of a circle with two lines in the middle is drawn into it (in order to assure even cooling and drying). The koji rice is then left uncovered for half a day to cool in the koji-muro. At night when the other trays are being shuffled around, the finished trays are pushed out of the koji-muro into the cold brewery rice cooling area. The koji rice is thoroughly cooled over night, effectively halting the koji growth and hardening the koji rice considerably.

This is the end of the Kome-koji making process, but not the end of the kome-koji's story. At this point the kome-koji is ready to be used to make sake, and it's story continues inside the story of brewing sake (told in the next post!).

I hope that this post is helpful, I had a lot of fun working at the sake brewery. It is really hard work, and I have developed a real appreciation for the people who are willing to brave this kind hard work in order to make the sake that we all love and enjoy.

Join me in the next post, and delve into the brewing world of the sake brewery!

Meishu no Yutaka staff

Carlin

Making Sake with Daishinshu Day 1

2009-11-26T15:48:00.002+09:00

So i'm back in Sapporo, and ready to start blogging!

Things are starting to heat up for the holiday season, so before things get too crazy, I will recap on the sake making experience.

On the afternoon of the 16th, I flew in to Matsumoto airport, an airport so small it only has flights to and from Sapporo 4 times a week, and is on the list of airports to be shut down now that the economy isn't doing so well (a big problem for those of us who live in Hokkaido and want to go to Nagano, as flying into Tokyo means a switch to the bullet train and about twice the price).

The small turbo-prop plane we flew in on.

I was picked up at the airport by the brewery president Ryuichi Tanaka.

Tanaka-san

The drive to the brewery took about an hour on the tollway.

On the way, Tanaka-san played a bit of tour guide giving me some general info about the surrounding area.

Daishinshu brewery is nestled in a beautiful valley between the Northern Alps (Kita Alps) and Southern Alps (Minami Alps) mountain ranges. Mountain ranges named for their likeness to the Swiss Alps. Quite and impressive sight, as the mountains jut up suddenly and steeply from the valley floor.

Northern Alps

Southern Alps (bigger than Northern Alps)

Southern Alps from the airplane, on the way home.

Daishinshu, as a company, is broken up into two places. One closer to Matsumoto City, mainly the company offices and some bottling facilities (no brewing takes place there), and the other, a little farther to the north west, where they make the sake. The reason for the split was that the brewery grew too large for their original location, the current office and bottling building, so the brewing facilities were relocated.

Once we reached the brewery, I was handed off to Katsumi Tanaka (The presidents younger brother, in charge of brewery operations). Katsumi-san and I have met several times in Hokkaido (I have met the president many times in Hokkaido as well), and he is very good friends with Meishu no Yutaka's president. Katsumi-san gave me a lighting tour of the brewery, mainly to let me know where I was expected to be the next morning at 5:30 AM.

Katsumi-san

The day's work is more or less over at 5:30 PM, so after the tour it was time for dinner. Lunch and dinner are prepared by a really nice lady hired on as a cook, and breakfast is prepared on rotation by the five people who live at the brewery.

After dinner, it was time for the evening work, which consisted of tending to the yeast starters and Kome-koji (Koji molded rice). I helped out in the Koji-muro (room where the Kome-koji is made). The Koji-muro is more or less a sauna. With the temperature around 30~35˚C (85~95˚F) and the humidity bouncing around 50~70% depending on the work that is being done, you break a sweat pretty quickly. While being relatively inhospitable to Humans (unless you live in southern Japan), this is the ideal temp and humidity for our little moldy friends.

The nights work consisted of rotating the Kome-koji trays so that the temperature would remain constant throughout all the trays, and checking the temperatures of all the different stages of koji growth. Last the Toji (Master brewer) checked the temperature of the room, and adjusted it by opening little windows here and there to cool things down, or turning on and off various heaters to warm things up and/or keep the temp steady. The Toji is the king of the Koji-muro, and it is his touch that creates the Kome-koji that will later determine the greater part of the overall flavor and fragrance of the sake. (I will discuss the Kome-koji making process at Daishinshu in more detail in later posts.)

The end of the evening work meant the beginning of the evening drinks. That night's drink of choice: Daishinshu's futsu-shu, Okan (warmed). A good table sake with a small nose of rich rice aromas, and a medium to full body with a sturdy acid base and a crisp dry finish.

Well that's it for day 1. I plan on splitting the weeks events into three or four posts by the different steps in the brewing process rather than by day at the brewery. The reason for this is that I jumped around between different jobs on the same day, so doing things by day might be kind of confusing, and putting everything in one post would be way too long.

See you at the next post!

Meishu no Yutaka staff

Carlin

Unexpected difficulties

2009-11-17T23:19:00.001+09:00

So it turns out that Daishinshu doesn't have an internet connection that I can use so, I will be posting from my cell phone.

Today is my second day at the brewery, but my first full day. yesterday was mostly travling, and then a quick tour of the brewery.
Today's work started at 5AM, whith a trip to the koji room. We started a fresh bactch of koji today so the first line of business was to make room for it. This meant a fair amount of moving things around. After making Some room it was time to steam some rice. The large steam drum that they use was very impressive, and quite frankly terrifying. Steaming the rice took about an hour, then came cooling, and then spreading the koji spores.

All in all I spent most all of today making kome koji.

I will keep posting from my cell, but look forward to a full recap when I get home.

Cheers

Carlin

Winter is HERE!!!

2009-11-14T14:47:00.001+09:00

Well folks it's official: Winter is here.
How do I know?
Well it's not the cold weather, or the snow, or even the Christmas decorations that are already going up in department stores.
My sign came through the store doors in two sizes, 1.8L and 720ml!

That's right I'm talking about the Winter brew, "Shiboritatte (fresh pressed) Sake"!!!
Riding in on the snow here in Hokkaido, we received our first Shiboritatte of the year.
I present to you:

Shimeharitsuru / 〆張鶴

Shiboritatte Nama Genshu / しぼりたって生原酒

Alcohol: 20% / Polish: 60%

SMV: +4

Miyao Shuzo / Niigata Prefecture

Tasting notes:
On the nose: When I first opened the bottle and poured this sake, the nose was huge, with tons of rice, and very sharp. As I let it sit in the glass a little the nose opened up and became more complex, with rich fruit aromas and good depth. Overall very fresh with hints of yeast. The high alcohol came through on the nose a little when chilled, but mellowed as the temperature rose sitting in the glass.

On the palate: Very clean; lots of full bodied fruit and rice flavors. Slight fruity sweetness was balanced beautifully against a dry body with crisp acidity, and a bite from the alcohol on the finish. The finish was crisp and clean. As the sake sat in the glass and warmed a little the acidity mellowed out and the alcohol became almost invisible.

Other notes:

This is a Genshu sake (Undiluted sake), so be careful of the high alcohol content.
This is a nama (unpasteurized or raw) sake so keep this one in the fridge.
Being Shimeharitsuru this is a Niigata prefecture sake, although, in my opinion, this sake does not fall into the traditional Niigata style (light and dry), as it has a full body and a good amount of flavor.
Despite the polish rate of 60%, Shimeharitsuru Shiboritatte is in fact a Futsu-shu. This is due in part to the kind of rice they are using and the amount of alchohol that was added to the Moromi (main mash/fermentation). Although it is classified as Futsu-shu there is nothing Futsu about this sake.
This is only the first Shiboritatte sake to come in, so look forward to plenty more to come, as well as a turn over to this year’s sakes.

On a final note, I will be heading off to brew sake with Daishinshu for a week starting this Monday the 16th through the 23rd. Both my camera and my computer will be in tow, so look forward to a week of behind the scenes sake making.

I will be posting tasting notes on more shiboritatte and new sakes as they come out, including the ones that I help make!!

See you all next week!

Meishu no Yutaka Staff
Carlin

First snow of the season!!

2009-11-03T12:01:00.001+09:00

The first snow of the year fell here in sapporo yesterday!
The temperature is now well below freezing (although they say it will warm up a bit by the weekend),
and it is starting to feel like the sake brewing season again!

The first snow came just about the same time as some very good news!!

I will be Joining Daishinshuu Shuzo for a week and learning how to make sake FIRST HAND!!!

Join me between Nov. 16th~23rd as I enter the world of the Jizake Sake makers.

True handmade sake; no koji machines, no fancy rice steaming conveyors, only sweat, blood, tears, and a lot of hard work!

I will also be heading over to Kozaemon (Nakashima shuzo) and Nishida shuzo (makers of Denshu, Utou, Kiyoizumi etc.) in February of next year for a week at a time.

I am looking forward to sharing my adventures and insights with you!

Cheers!

Meishu no Yutaka staff

Carlin

Hiyaoroshi PART 3!!!

2009-10-07T18:32:00.000+09:00

Continuing on my Hiyaoroshi binge...
Great fall brews are popping up everywhere!
This time we are going to take a trip (an imaginary trip) down to Akita Prefecture to visit our friends at Akita Seishu.

Makers of Kariho (刈穂) and Dewatsuru (出羽鶴), made an appearance at the sake tasting event the other day, Akita Seishu is throwing down all the stops in this years Hiyaoroshi, definitely a must drink!

Kariho / 刈穂

Yamahai Junmai Hiyaoroshi / 山廃純米冷卸

Alcohol: 16% / Polish: 60%

SMV: +3

Akita Seishu / Akita Prefecture

Tasting notes:

On the nose: Big nose with lots of sweet honey and over ripe banana rounded by a sharpness to the nose and hints of rice.

On the palate: Light to medium bodied, honey and banana notes continue, but are far less prominent. Comes off sweet at first, but finishes quite dry. Not as round a mouth feel as I was expecting.

* Above tasting notes were done in a white wine glass, I later switched to a smaller "Sake cup." The result was a much mellower nose, a much rounder mouth feel and smoother finish.

Other notes:

I didn't play around too much with the temperature of this brew but I wouldn't be surprised if it drinks really well at room temp or luke warm.
The difference between the white wine glass and the sake cup was really big and I was thoroughly surprised at what a huge difference just changing the cup can do to the flavor of the sake. This was a real learning experience for me, and in the boom of "drink your sake from a white wine glass," I offer these words of advice: White wine glasses are not always better.
This is a textbook example (although much tastier than a textbook) of a yamahai sake, and would be well paired with heartier foods, although not overly heavily flavored foods, as well as tangy foods like sweet and sour.
This sake is available in both the 1.8L and 720ml bottle size.

Thats it for this installment, I'll keep drinking if you keep reading.

(Thats a lie... I'll keep drinking no matter what you do)

Cheers

Meishu no Yutaka staff

Carlin

Hokkaido Sake Store Association's fall tasting!

2009-10-05T16:08:00.001+09:00

So as it turns out I was too busy helping out with the event That I didn't get a chance to up anything from my phone. I did manage to get in some pictures, so I will give a recap of the event in a normal post.

This was the second tasting event for the year that the Hokkaido Sake Store Association (Hokutou Sengoku kai 北斗千国会 in Japanese) has put on. It is a yearly event with a spring and fall tasting.

Six sake breweries and two shochu distilleries makes for a lot of good cheer!

Here are some highlights:

The event hall Just as things were opening up. There were booths set up around the perimeter of the room with tables laid out in the center for "notes."

Going around the room counter clock wise we had Ryusei's (龍勢) president Fuji-san. Personally delivering his trademark "delicious acidity" (旨い酸味).

Next up we had Matsuoka-san from Rokkasen (六歌仙) serving up a delicious selection of Yamahoushi (山法師) Including a fantastic Daiginjo Genshu (not on sale yet) that was to die for. Also up for taste was their umeshu and sparkling sake Hitotoki.

In the next booth over we had Nakaya-san from Fukumitsuya, delivering their usual blend of awesomeness, in both Kagatobi (加賀鳶) and Kuro-obi (黒帯). Plus looking smart in his bright orange Happi!

Next in line was Akita Seishu (秋田清酒) bringing to the table a little bit of Kariho (刈穂) magic, and mixing up the routine with a little Dewatsuru (出羽鶴). The booth was so busy that I unfortunately could only get this shot of the bottles when the event was closing. (^_^;

Continuing we have Tanaka-san, president of Daishinshu Shuzou! He brought a great selection of sake including several of my most favorite, and a good selection of fall brews. If you haven't enjoyed a Daishinshu brew, you are missing out!

Unfortunately I didn't get around to getting a picture of the last brewery Jyousan (常山), but they were carrying a pretty impressive selection of their own.

KAGOSHIMA SHOCHU!

That about says it, a fine selection of sweet potato shochu from our friends down south.

This is the booth that I was working in. "what? That's not sake you fool that's smoke eggs!"

Yes thats right, smoked quail eggs and chicken eggs.

Meishu no Yutaka was in full force with our friends over at Big Egg (the woman in the pic is Wada-san from the egg company) This tasty little treat goes like bread and butter with sake, and is our newest joint venture in our escapades to further all things sake.

Things underway in the second half of the event (the event was broken into two parts, the first for restaurant, bar, etc owners, and the second for everyone else). Every one drank their fill, and then went home with a sake souvenir!

Lastly, my favorite part, the after party!

With close to 100 different sakes to choose from, it truly was heaven in a smoke filled room (A high percent of Japanese people smoke...inside). (>_<)

This is the way to throw a real sake party!

That's it for this time around, will be posting tasting notes on some more great sake soon so stay tuned!

Meishu no Yutaka staff

Carlin

WHAT I AM DRINKING RIGHT NOW!

2009-10-03T21:44:00.000+09:00

TENGUMAI KANAZAWA KOUBOU
AND
DAISHINSHUU TSUGA NO MORI
LOOK FORWARD TO NOTES SOON!
CARLIN

(note from my PC: Since blogger now accepts email blog posts, I thought I would give it a try.
Tomorrow is a big sake event so I will throw up some pics when I have the chance.
I apologize about the all capitols, but using caps normally is a pain in the butt from my phone.
By the way, I will be posting from my phone, so posts will be short and mainly for the pics.
Let me know if you love it or hate it.

Meishu no Yutaka staff
Carlin

Nihonshu no Hi (Sake Day)!

2009-10-01T14:54:00.001+09:00

In celebration of Sake Day, and because the net is alive with the sound of sake day, I would like to give a little explanation I like to call: "what the heck is Sake Day?"

Sake Day (Nihonshu no Hi, 日本酒の日) Is much more than a party put on by True Sake SF, or a celebration at Sakaya NYC (although both of those are an awesome way to celebrate Sake Day!).

First "why October 1st?"
Two reasons:

The Kanji (Japanese symbol) for Sake 酒 is made up of two parts: the three lines on the right, representing water, and the covered box part on the left 酉, which represents a Sake jug or pot. The progression from pot to Sake is believed to have gone something like this:

In Japan we use a really confusing system (for those who are not used to it) for marking the date of production for sake. Some of you out there may be saying "Oh yeah, I've heard of that, the Imperial calendar, Heisei year 21 and all that, old news." That is only part of the story. In fact, just to confuse you Roman Calendar only people out there, the sake world uses three labeling systems. The Roman Calendar, the Imperial Calendar, and to top it off The BY Calendar (Short for Brewers Year).

The Brewers Year calendar is about 6 months behind the Imperial calendar, so that the start of the brewers calendar is July (Meaning that the sake you have been drinking all year was made in BY 20 and the sake they are about to start brewing will be BY 21). Why is this important? Before 1965 the start of the brewers year was October 1st! In 1965 in order to better accommodate an earlier brewing season, as technology was Changing to allow it, the National Brewers Association of Japan Changed the start of the brewing year to July 1st.

The very first sake day was held on October 1st, 1978, as decreed by the national Brewers Association that year.

"So now I know why Sake Day is on Oct 1st, but what am I supposed to do for Sake Day?"

Well similar to St. Patties day in Ireland one should dress in red and make an ass of themselves, right?

Not exactly... Although I won't stop you.

Sake day is a day when we should all grab our favorite brew, relax and enjoy.

A lot of blood sweat and tears goes into the making of every bottle of sake, and we should all take a moment to reflect on the fabulous brew.

Going to True sake's event or stopping by Sakaya NYC is a good start too!

If you live in Japan it gets even easier!

Just stop by your local Jizake Senmonten (地酒専門店 specialty sake store) and grab your favorite brew.

Till next time

Cheers

Meishu no Yutaka staff

Carlin

Hiya-Oroshi PART 2!

2009-09-21T14:03:00.001+09:00

"Back again with that smooth mellow taste that's always good to the last drop.
Yes folks, we're talking about Hiya-Oroshi, the smooth fall brew."
Thats what you would be hearing on the radio, 40 years ago any way....

But seriously I'm back again this week to introduce another great fall brew to keep you going until new years when the Shibori-tatte (fresh pressed) sakes come in.
Time is flying by; only about a month to a month and a half left until the start of the brewing season!
It's like waiting for the super bowl, except everyone still has their shirts on.

Now, without further ado I present to you, a first for this blog and one of my new favorites:

Ishidzuchi / 石鎚

Tokubetsu Junmai Hiya-Oroshi / 特別純米冷や卸し

Alcohol: 16~17% / Polish: 55~60%

SMV: +6

Ishidzuchi Shuzo / Ehime Prefecture

Tasting notes:

On the nose: Very light, lots of rice, with a little bit of an almost fruity sweetness. Very mild and pleasant.

On the palate: very smooth and round. Medium to full bodied, lots of rice with an underlying fruity sweetness to balance out it's dryness. Very well balanced with a good finish.

Other notes:

This sake comes in two sizes, 720ml and 1.8L.
This is a Hiya-Oroshi sake, Ishidzuchi also puts out a whole line of great sakes including other seasonal brews. We also have five other types in the store (Only in 1.8L size).
This brew is a good match to a wide varieties of food, it's fuller body gives it a good edge for heavier flavored foods including a wide variety of meat dishes. meat dishes.
I enjoyed this one with a really good hand made tofu and edamame.

Well that's it for this round, I'll keep posting them as I drink 'em.

Meishu no Yutaka staff

Carlin

NEW: Hiya-Oroshi is here!!!

2009-09-10T12:56:00.005+09:00

Well folks, Fall is finally here.
Well at least if you live in Sapporo Japan it is.
This time of year a lot of things happen.
Halloween, Thanksgiving, Pumpkin Pie, but most importantly: Hiya-Oroshi!

Just in case not everyone is familiar with Hiya-Oroshi (written 冷や卸し in Japanese), I will give a little bit of an explanation here. First off, if you plug Hiya-Oroshi into one of those fancy pants online translators you get something around the lines of "Cold Distribution." Which although isn't the most elegant of terms, is more or less correct. Hiya-Oroshi stems from the many years before refrigeration, and pasteurization. In those long ago times, sake breweries would store their sakes in a cool place for the dreadfully hot summer months, until things started to cool off again in the fall and it was safe for the sake. The result of the extended storage was a rounder, softer, slightly fuller bodied sake. Now, with both refrigeration, and pasteurization, there is no longer a need for sake to be stored over the summer, however, the softer refined taste of a fall brew has become a seasonal favorite, and is continued to this day.

I would like to start off the Hiya-Oroshi season with bash, so I will be introducing two Hiya-Oroshi sakes in this post. The fall season in Sapporo is rather short, with the first snow fall looming just about a month away, but I will try and get in tasting notes of a few more fall brews before the season ends.

This season we have about 25 fall brews, Jammed like sardines into our already quite full fridges, so if you are looking for a good brew, feel free to stop by if you are in the area.

The sake behind the door on the right is all Hiya-Oroshi, and half of the sake on the left.

Well that's enough lip flapping for now, on to the tasting notes!

Yutaka Private Label sake

Third edition Hiya-Oroshi Junmai Daiginjo

Alcohol: 16% / Polish: 50%

SMV: Not Available

Daishinshuu Shuzo / Nagano Prefecture

Tasting Notes:

On the nose: Thick full nose, although not overbearing. Slightly yeasty with lots of rice and accents of fruit.

On the palate: Quite dry medium bodied with a solid acid structure. Dry but very smooth and fresh, with an underlying ricey fruity sweetness. Quick, clean, crisp finish.

Other notes:

This is the third installment of private label sakes that has come into Yutaka.
I designed the label myself.
The first label had a blue bear (our stores mascot) the second an orange bear (still about 6 bottles left), and now in honor of fall, a green orange red gradation.
The first two were Junmai Ginjo, although they could have been Daiginjo, and were lighter bodied and more fragrant. The third edition has more body and a less complicated nose.
the third edition is available in both 720ml and 1.8L bottles.

Kenkonichi / 乾坤一

Junmai Ginjo Genshu Hiya-Oroshi / 純米吟醸原酒冷や卸し

Alcohol: 17% / Polish: 50%

SMV: +2

Oonuma Shuzou-ten / Miyagi Prefecture

Tasting Notes:

On the nose: Lots of Kome-Koji, light tangy nose.

On the palate: Medium bodied, medium dry. Very round with solid rice and Kome-Koji. It's mild acidity and round mouth feel make it very smooth, and before you know it half the bottle is gone.

Other Notes:

Oonuma Shuzo-ten's style is a brew that is smooth, easy to drink, not overbearing but has good body and good flavor. Their Hiya-Oroshi takes this style to the next level by adding in a very round mouth feel and mellowed acid base. Kenkonichi sake is a sake made for drinking and enjoying with food or by itself, not for winning gold medals.
This sake is available in both 720ml and 1.8L bottles.
be carful of the slightly higher alcohol content as this is a Genshu (undiluted sake).
Kenkonichi sake is one of my all time favorite sake brands, and I highly recommend any of the other labels, ranging from Junmai to Daiginjo, as well.

That's it for this time, I will be posting a bit more on the Hiya-Oroshi sakes before we head into Shiboritate (Fresh brewed fresh pressed winter brew) season.

This years brewing season is almost underway with most breweries starting their first batch in the beginning or middle of next month. This year I plan on going to several of the breweries during the brewing season to help out / learn the sake making process first hand. I of course will be towing my computer and email capable cell phone (blogger allows you to post by email, thank goodness), so there will be plenty of sake secrets coming in the nest few months!

Until next time,

Cheers!

Meishu no Yutaka Staff

Carlin

Out with the new and in with the old!

2009-08-15T17:10:00.006+09:00

In a first for this blog, I would like to introduce everyone to a kind of sake that not all of you may be familiar with: Koshu (古酒). Literally translated koshu means "old sake," wich although quite blunt is more or less correct. Koshu is in fact aged sake.

Aged sake is often compared to aged sherry, and shares many similarities (although is in no way the same thing). If a sherry comparison does nothing for you, keep reading, otherwise, keep reading.

Now, not all sake makes good aged sake, and there are many different styles of aging that make a huge difference in the out come of the Koshu. Some examples being: Aging unpasteurized VS. pasteurized, aging at room temp VS. rifrigerated, etc.

Aging a sake generally brings out a very distinct taste profile consisting but not limited to: earthy tones, cooked honey or sugar smell and flavor, added depth of flavor, and a lighter nose.

On that note I bring you (more information on this particular type of koshu after the tasting notes):

Daruma-Masamune / ダルマ正宗

Special Blend / 特別ブレンド

Alcohol: 15% / Polish: Blend

SMV: N/A

Shiraki Tsunesuke Shouten / Gifu Prefecture

Tasting notes:

On the nose: Strong honey, and hints of almost a rice pudding. Very sharp clean nose for aged sake.

On the palate: Clean slightly sweet and minerally, with understated earthy tones. Caramel-honey notes round out a medium body balanced nicely by a clean mild acidity, keeping the slight sweetness in check.

Other notes:

This is a blended Koshu, with a blend ratio of: 40% 4 year aged sake, 60% 14 year aged sake, and about 0.5% 30 year aged sake.
"Why use a blend?" Blending aged sake give you more freedom to more or less craft your desired taste profile. Simply using straight aged sake leaves a lot open to mother nature.
This particular Koshu was born from the idea of letting as many people know about aged sake as possible. in order to achieve this goal they have created an aged sake with a mild taste profile, lots of delicious flavor, and all at a very affordable price.
This particular koshu was aged Pasteurizes at room temperature, giving it more earth tones and a deeper darker color.
Daruma Masamune koshu is characterized by the big red Daruma doll of a guy named Masamune (name of unknown origins) who to me looks kinda like a pirate.
Look for other great aged sakes out of Daruma Masamune, including a line up of age it yourself sakes (vintages starting from this year and going back as far as 30 years are available).

Well that's it for this time around, if you have any questions please feel free to ask!

Cheers!

Meishu no Yutaka staff

Carlin

Mansaku Mania PART 2!

2009-08-12T20:11:00.010+09:00

Well something like that any way.

Part two is kinda catchy right?

I know what you are yelling at your computer screen right now,

"Part 2? What? You can't have a part 2 with no part 1! Are you crazy?"

Yes I am in fact crazy, but There is a part one to this story.

You just won't find it in this blog.

Part 1 came out about a year ago after the big earthquake in the northern part of the main Island.

You may remember it by the fiasco with the nuclear power plant leaking waste into the ocean.

At that time a lot of the Breweries in the area lost a lot of good sake, and didn't have enough to put out individual labels.

At that time Mansaku no Hana came up with the great idea of: "Hey, lets just blend all the leftovers together and sell it as a blended sake!"

The result: Mansaku no Hana "Jishin Saku" (Earthquake Bloom).

A beautifully blended sake that was a huge hit among Mansaku fans.

So this Year they decided to re-unleash the Jishin Saku blend upon the hungry fans,

And without further ado I bring you PART 2:

Mansaku no Hana / まんさくの花

Jishin Saku Gold Blend / 地震作ゴルドブレンド

Alcohol: 16~17% / Polish: Blend

SMV: +3

Hi no Maru Jouzou / Akita Prefecture

Tasting notes:

On the nose: Very fresh with lots of rice and Kome-Koji. Slight fruity sweetness balanced by a nice crisp bite to the nose.

On the palate: Fresh medium bodied, very dry, but balanced by a nice ricey fruity sweetness on the front of the tongue followed by an almost sour bite to the sides of the tongue on the after taste.

Other notes:

Although there was no earthquake this time, Mansaku still pulled off one heck of a blended sake.
This sake drank a little bit rougher than the average Mansaku no Hana sake, however, that is not to say that it wasn't still a mouth watering piece of work.
Hi no Maru Jouzou has bounced back just fine after the earthquake, and is making some other killer sakes. Definitely worth checking out their other sake.
I got a little behind with this post, and we are already down to our last bottle of this one at the store, so unfortunately if you missed out this year, they will probably be releasing a blended sake of some sort or another every year from here on out.

Sorry for the long lag in posting...

The store is one person short for the month, so I haven't had a whole lot of time to post in my 12 hour workday. I will try and take a little more time out soon to post again.

If not the start of next month will be back to posting as usual.

Thanks for hanging in there.

On another note if anyone out there ever feels like talking sake, please feel free to give me a call at the store or email me at contact.yutaka@gmail.com!

Untill next time...

Cheers!

Meishu no Yutaka Staff

Carlin

Shochu Tengumai Style!

2009-07-27T11:21:00.003+09:00

I know what you are all thinking

"Shochu? I thought this was a sake blog...You traitor!"

Well maybe not quite those words, but hear me out.

This is not your average Shochu.

Tengumai / 天狗舞

Jiroukaja / 次郎冠者

Shochu / 焼酎

Alcohol: 41% / Aged 5 years

Shata Shuzo / Ishikawa Prefecture

Tasting notes:

On the nose: Very fragrant, lots of Ginjo-ka (that beautiful fragrance you get from a good Ginjo Sake!). Hints of dark honey, and a little bit of a fruity sweetnes.

On the palate: Very round, Explosive flavor. Dark honey and Fruity notes carry through, Sake like characteristics, strong bite from alcohol. Very fragrant inside mouth.

Other notes:

Shata Shuzo has played around with making shochu in the past, but this is the first time I have encountered anything of this high a level under the Tengumai shochu label.
This is a Kome Shochu, or Rice Shochu, and is made using the "Sake Kasu" (pressings left behind after the solids are seperated from the liquids in the sake making proccess) from a Ginjo class sake, so You get a lot of the characteristics of a Ginjo sake coming through in both the Nose and the Palate.
This Shochu was made using two distillation methods, the first creates a depth of flavor and a sharper taste profile, while the second creates a much rounder mouth feel and a smoother taste. The two are then blended until the desired taste and smell are achieved.
This Shochu has been aged for 5 years, giving it an extra layer of complexity and making it slightly smoother.

If you have a chance I highly recommend trying this one out. It is a new creation from the masterminds of Shata Shuzo, and I for one look forward to more shochu out of the Tengumai Label.

I didn't have a chance to update from America as I had planned (T_T) but I will be posting updates about what happened in the coming weeks.

Thanks for sticking around,

Until next time,

Cheers!

Meishu no Yutaka staff

Carlin

A little bit of Born Special!

2009-07-02T10:58:00.021+09:00

This is the first post I have done on a Born Sake, but the lack of posts does not translate into a lack of love for the brew. About a week or so ago, we received a shipment of Born's 180ml Nama-Genshu. This isn't something we get all the time, although we carry the 720ml and 1800ml, so I was a bit excited. In all of my excitement, I ran over and grabbed a bottle for myself, and drank it that night. In one word: Delicious!

Born / 梵

Naka-dori Junmai Daiginjo Muroka Nama Genshu

中取り純米大吟醸無濾過生原酒

Alcohol: 17~18% / Polish: 50%

SMV: +4

Brewery: Katou Kichibee Shouten / Fukui Prefecture

Tasting notes:

On the nose: Sweet, very fruity, HUGE NOSE, with lots of melon and Koji rice.

On the palate: Full bodied, lots of rice and Koji rice up front, with hints of melon. Good subtle finish, with a slight bite from the high alcohol content.

Other notes:

Katou Kichibee Shouten has been around for a long time, and thus has established itself as one of the most famous breweries in Japan. They also make really good sake.
Born's president, Mr. Katou himself, is the only person I have ever seen who looks exactly like his cartoon caricature.
(Image taken From Born's Website born.co.jp)
This sake comes in three sizes: 180ml, 720ml, and 1800ml.
This is a genshu, so be careful of the high alcohol content.
This is a Nama Sake (unpasteurized sake) so keep it in the fridge.
Born is really famous, although due to it's fame, I think it doesn't really gets all the respect it deserves. Under the Born label you will find just about any class of sake you want, most very good warmed or chilled.

I apologize for the delay in postings. The store's news paper / flier will be released in the middle of this month, so we were going like crazy to get it done (finally finished it today! (^_^)V) You can find it on our website Here around the 15th.

On another note, I will be heading over to the United States (San Francisco bay area) from the 9th to the 21st of July!

We (myself and Staff Rie) will be stopping in to visit our friends over at True Sake as well as Yoshi's in San Francisco, not to mention the obligatory Napa wine tasting!

I will continue to update this blog while I am in the States.

Drop me an email @ contact.yutaka@gmail.com if you are in the area and want to talk SAKE!

That's it for this time!

'Till next...

Cheers!

Meishu no Yutaka staff

Carlin

One heck of a double play!

2009-06-13T11:56:00.009+09:00

Hot off the presses, so to say, well perhaps more like: slightly chilled off the floor of the store warehouse, I have some very hot news.

Just in through the doors of our warehouse yesterday, and much to my surprise, came an incredible double play from our friends over at Nishida shuzo.

Denshu / 田酒

Yamadaho / 山田穂

and

Tankanwataribune / 短稈渡船

Junmai Daiginjo / 純米大吟醸

Alcohol: 16~17%

Polish: 40%

At the risk of looking like a Denshu maniac (although a do hold a dear appreciation for the stuff), I decided to post this set (without tasting notes and the likes), because I thought it was just too amazing to not let my readers in Japan know about it.

It is a little hard to put my excitement into words as I write this post, however I will do my best.

This set of Junmai Daiginjo sakes, from Denshu, features the mother and father strains of Yamada Nishiki, one of the most famous and widely used sake rice today.　to me this is an amazing chance to not only directly compare the differences in rice type in sake, but also an incredible chance to better understand the origins of the famous Yamada Nishiki rice. Not to mention that this is some crazy good sake.

I am going to break off from my usual stance with this blog, a position I have taken in hopes of having this blog be a center for information, and not selling sake, and provide information on price and how to get this sake. I do this in the hopes that if this sounds appealing to you, and you can afford it, that you will try this sake out if you can.

I only hurry with this one because this particular set is limited to 30 sets. That's it. when these 30 are gone there will be no more until next year if at all.

The set runs for ¥10,200 and you can order by phone at: 011(716) 5174 or FAX: 011(716) 5175. We ship to all of Japan with payment on delivery by JP postal service money order. If you do not speak Japanese, ask for Carlin or Rie, and our store staff will pass the call on.

I really hope that you will take the chance to get in on this, as it is really to good to pass up. If I had the money to buy this set (spent it all on the wedding (^_^; ) I would be enjoying this set with all of you.

Sorry for the long post...this should be it for a little while.

Meishu no Yutaka staff

Carlin

Celebrating this year's Utou with a toast to last year's!

2009-06-11T14:45:00.013+09:00

Coming back full circle, back to the same brewery as the very first sake posted in this blog, we find ourselves back at Nishida Shuzo, makers of the famous "Denshu."

What I would like to present to you today, however, (not Denshu) is one of the lesser known labels produced by Nishida Shuzo: Utou!

This years Utou was just just released a couple of weeks ago, and to celebrate it's release, I would like to do a spot on last year's Utou, which has aged beautifully over the last year.

Utou / 善知鳥

Daiginjo / 大吟醸

Alcohol: 16~17% / Polish: 40%

SMV: +3

Nishida Shuzo / Aomori Prefecture

Tasting notes:

On the nose: Very clean, slightly sweet, light, and fruity.

On the palate: Light to medium bodied. Dry with an underlying fruity sweetnes that rounds the mouthfeel. Quick clean finish that leaves you reaching for another sip.

Other notes:

Utou is a much lesser known label from Nishida Shuzo; meaning that it may be a little bit harder to find stores that carry it.
Utou is a sake for the more serious sake aficionado, as it is a far more complex sake than your average table sake. you will also find yourself digging a little bit further into your pockets as well.
This post is on last year's Utou, but look forward to (hopefully) a posting on this year's Utou in future posts.
Look for other great sake from Nishida Shuzo under the Denshu and Kikuizumi labels.
I don't think you fine folks over in the states will be able to find the Utou label in stores, but if you have the chance, and the interest, ask your local Sake shop, you never know.

Playing a little bit of catch up here, but I would also like to up the pace of my posting a little bit. Please feel free to post any suggestions or requests for reviews of sakes you have seen, or have caught your attention. I will be attaching an email address to this account pretty soon, so I will also start accepting questions and comments by email!

Thank you to all who have been reading, and I hope that this blog can eventually become a one stop sake notebook for all!

Cheers,

Meishu no Yutaka staff

Carlin

Another great from our friends at Heiwa-shuzou!

2009-06-09T15:40:00.019+09:00

After a short hiatus here (Busy getting married), It's back to blogging! (See Mansaku no Hana's blog {5/24 posting}, or Nanbu Bijin's blog for pictures!)

But back to business...

Heiwa-shuzo's brain child, the Tsuru-ume series, hits yet another home run!

Tsuru-ume Kanjuku Nigori / 鶴梅完熟にごり

Liqueur

Alcohol: 8% / Distilled Alc. base

SMV: N/A

Heiwa Shuzo / Wakayama Prefecture

Tasting notes:

On the nose: Very sweet with a bit of a bite that makes your nose tingle. Strong plum with hints of peach.

On the palate: Sweet but not overly sweet. Strong peach up front with plum bringing up the rear. Good acid base gives it a nice roundness and slight depth of flavor.

Other notes:

Now, when I heard the word Nigori (unfiltered, or cloudy) in combination with liqueur, the first word that came out of my mouth was "WHAT?" Nigori, often associated with Nigori sake, or unfiltered sake, isn't a word you hear too often when talking about liqueur, but it does pop up now and then. This is however, the first time, in any of our memories, that we have had a liqueur labeled "Nigori" in the store.

I took the above picture to illustrate the differences in clarity between the Normal Kanjuku and the Kanjuku Nigori. The Nigori coming in the cool reverse label on the left.
Being unfiltered gives the Nigori a much stronger palate of peach, one of the ingredients (Kanjuku is a plum peach mix), although the nose doesn't change all that much.
We just received our sample bottle a day or two ago, and it will be available in about a week or so in store.

Untill next time!

Cheers!

Meishu no Yutaka staff

Carlin

A blast from the past!

2009-05-13T15:45:00.014+09:00

I'm setting my Delorean time machine to six months ago, an age in which the people of earth celebrated Holidays such as Christmas and new years.

On a more serious note: every year, in December, Mansaku no Hana releases a very stylish Sake set including a 180ml bottle of Daiginjo sake and one cute little blue cup. The whole set sells for about ¥1,000 and makes a really good stocking stuffer. At the time, I bought a bottle with the intentions of drinking it as soon as possible. One thing led to another, and we arrived at about a night or two ago when, after 6 months of sitting unopened in my refrigerator, I finally got around to opening it. Now it is not generally recommended to age your own sake, (although I think it is a blast, and highly recommend experimenting with it) as not all sake ages well and you run the risk of turning a perfectly good bottle of sake into something you may or may not want to drink.

I had a six month aged bottle of Mansaku no Hana, so I drank it, and the drinking was good.

Mansaku no Hana / まんさくの花

Daiginjo / 大吟醸

Alcohol: 15~16% / Polish: 50%

SMV: No data

Hi no Maru Jouzo / Akita Prefecture

Tasting notes:

On the nose: Very very light, little bit of a honey smell coming from the half year aging in my fridge. Very little nose for a Daiginjo, most likely diminished by the aging.

On the palate: Little bit on the sweet side, but very well rounded out by the sturdy acid structure. Really round mouth feel with a slight hint of vanilla. Finish was crisp and pleasant.

Other notes:

The SMV data on this was thrown out several months ago, but my guess would be somewhere around a +3~4.
I unfortunately didn't get a chance to taste a fresh bottle of this sake, as it would be a lot of fun to compare the two.
Mansaku no Hana has a full line up of a lot of good sake, so look forward to more posts!

Cheers,

Meishu no Yutaka staff

Carlin

A Junmai to be proud of!

2009-05-04T15:17:00.019+09:00

I would like to introduce to you all one of my favorite Junmai Sake. This one is not for sake wimps; this is a Junmai on steroids!

I present to you:

Daishinshuu / 大信州

Karakuchi Tokubetsu Junmai Nama / 辛口特別純米生

Alcohol: 16% / Polish: 70%

SMV: +5

Daishinshuu Shuzo / Nagano Prefecture

Tasting notes:

On the nose: Very fresh with lots of good yeast / Koji smells. Loads of rice and strong fruity hints. Huge nose for a Junmai!

On the palate: Very full bodied and smooth. Clean crisp and fresh; Dry but with a lot of full flavored sweetness from the rice, and a refreshing fruitiness. Ends with a finish that will knock your socks off.

Other notes:

Meishu no Yutaka has the largest selection of Daishinshuu Sake in Japan, with over 30 different kinds under two labels, there is a Daishinshuu sake for everyone. Look forward to more goodies from Daishinshuu in future posts.
This sake is a Nama sake, or unpasteurized sake, so it must be kept in the fridge.
Karakuchi Tokubetsu Junmai Nama comes in one size 1.8L, but don't worry because even a bottle this size will disappear before you know it, when it's this tasty.
This is a seasonal sake so it probably won't be around for ever. It just came in about a month ago so there is still stock, but if you want to try this one you should grab a bottle sooner than later.
What is Tokubetsu (special) about this Junmai, with a polish rate of 70% you might be thinking "why is this a Tokubetsu Junmai and not a regular Junmai?", is the polish rate of the Rice used for growing the Koji mold. This sake is actually made with Daiginjo class Koji rice, milled to 50%. This is also mostly responsible for this sake's great nose. This for me is like going to heaven before you die, It truly is the best of both worlds!

That's it for this time,

Cheers,

Meishu no Yutaka staff

Carlin

Gasanryuu- back to the basics

2009-04-18T14:30:00.016+09:00

I would like to regress a little from the last few posts, and move back to a more simple form of sake, Futsu-shu (Also refered to more politely as Seishu, or refined sake). Translated directly into English it means: regular or normal sake, but this little beauty from our friends over at Shindou Shuzouten is anything but normal. This is Futsu-shu with an attitude!

Ura-Gasanryuu / 裏雅山流

Kouka / 香鼻

Alcohol: 14~15% / Polish: 65%

SMV: +2

Shindou Shuzouten / Yamagata Prefecture

Tasting notes:

On the nose: Sweet with slight hints of rice, Very clean.

On the palate: Medium dry with a clean light to medium body, and a very round mouth feel. Clean and light.

Other notes:

A lot of you out there might be thinking "Why is this a Futsu-shu when it has a polish rate of 65%? Shouldn't it be a Junmai or Honjozou?" This sake has the credentials to be a Honjozou. However, there is a catch. Honjozou sake has a strict limit on the amount of brewer's alcohol you are allowed to add to the sake. Kouka, due to the varying conditions of the rice (a yearly variable for all sake), and wanting to create a sake with a consistent flavor profile, The brewers decided that on the years when the rice melts more during the brewing proccess (and I do mean melts, into what looks like rice porridge or sometimes pudding) that they would add in a little more alcohol than what is allowed for Honjozou. In the years when the rice doesn't melt as much Kouka is a Honjozou. As changing the lable every year is both expensive and confusing for the customers, Shindou Shuzouten decided to Leave the general classification as a Futsu-shu.
The Gasanryuu label uses all home grown Yamagata ingrediants, primarily partaining to the rice (Dewa33, pronounced "day-wa-san-san," it was created in Yamagata and is primarily grown and used there.) The Ura-Gasanryuu lable doesn't use the Dewa33 rice but still uses Yamagata yeast, and Miyama Nishiki rice which, although it is not specified on the bottle, is probably grown in Yamagata Prefecture.

Thats it for this post but look forward to a lot of good things coming out of the Gasanryuu and Ura-Gasanryuu labels.

Until next time,

Cheers!

Meishu no Yutaka staff

Carlin

Dewazakura Junmai Daiginjo "Ai Yama"!

2009-04-13T11:59:00.024+09:00

Here to share the love, is a little bit of heaven called "Love mountain." Well.......really it's "Ai Yama (愛山)" and its a Junmai Daiginjo from our friends over at Dewazakura!

Dewazakura / 出羽桜

Junmai Daiginjo "Ai Yama" / 純米大吟醸愛山

Alcohol: 17% / Polish: 45%

SMV: +3

Dewazakura Shuzo / Yamagata Prefecture

Tasting notes:

On the nose: Sweet, fruity, very clean with hints of honey.

On the palate: Very clean, slight bite on the start with a nice rounding sweetness from the rice. Hints of honey carry through to the tongue. Ending with a crisp, quick, and refreshing finish.

Other notes:

Even though Ai Yama is not a genshu watch out for the high level of alcohol. this one is especially dangerous because it drinks so smoothly you may not notice the high alcohol content.
Dewazakura is a larger brewery with a full lineup of sake (our store alone carries about 10 different kinds), So look forward to more posts on Dewazakura sake in the future!
This Sake is pasteurized, so it is ok out of the fridge, but Dewazakura also has a good line up of Nama Sake (Unpasteurized sake) as well.
The name Ai Yama refers to the kind of rice that is used. As best as I can tell, and there is a short explanation in Japanese on the bottle, Ai Yama is a decedent of both the Yamada nishiki strain and the Omachi strains of sake rice. *

Until next time,

Cheers!

Meishu no Yutaka staff

Carlin

*I am currently doing some research on this, but info in English on the lesser known strains of sake rice is rather limited. I would like to do a post on the Ai Yama strain of sake rice, and others as well, when I have enough info to make it worth while.

Visit from Ume no Yado.

2009-04-11T17:30:00.009+09:00

We all had a bit of a surprise this morning, when out of the blue the Toji (master brewer) From Ume no Yado (see previous post on "Mikan"), Takahashi-san, walked through our doors!

From right to left: Takahashi-san, me, Horii-san (sake shop owner from Osaka)

We had a little bit of face to face time, in which I got to practice my Japanese tea preparation skills (still need some work), it sounds like they have a lot of good things in the works.

look forward to more excellent sake and liqueurs coming out of Ume no Yado!

Cheers!

Meishu no Yutaka staff

Carlin

Yamahoushi Daiginjo Nama Genshu

2009-04-01T15:09:00.021+09:00

This time we are going with a little bit of light and dry with a bang.

Yamahoushi / 山法師

Daiginjo Nama Genshu / 大吟醸生原酒

Alcohol: 18~19% / Polish: 50%

SMV: +4

Brewery: Rokkasen / Yamagata Prefecture

Tasting notes:

On the nose: Very clean and fresh. Sweet, slightly fruity notes, with hints of rice and yeast.

On the Palate: Dry with a strong bite off the bat, followed by underlying sweet and fruity characters that give it a nice rounded flavor. Light to medium bodied.

Other notes:

This is a genshu so be careful of the high alcohol content.
A little light bodied for your average genshu, but still enough body and spice to keep you satisfied.
Coming from Yamagata Prefecture, it has a lot of character. Very fun to drink.
Yamahoushi has a full line up of sake, from Junmai and Honjozo, to Junmai Daiginjo. Under a different label, but same brewery, there is also an Umeshu (plum wine) available. Look forward to more Yamahoushi in future posts!

Cheers,

Meishu no Yutaka staff

Carlin

Old Sake (>_<)

2009-03-27T17:40:00.024+09:00

I'm talking about that bottle of sake that you opened about a month ago, you know, the one sitting in the back of your fridge. The one you can't drink any more, but don't want to pour down the drain because "It's such a waste of good sake!"

Well do not fear, because I present to you:

10 things to do with old sake!

A Few fun uses you may not be aware of.

Cooking sake- Like a good bottle of wine a good bottle of sake can be used as an accent in many kinds of food. In fact in my household we use sake in place of white, and sometimes red, wine, for all kinds of dishes ranging from pasta to stew and other meat dishes. So don't be shy; throw in a splash of sake, and experiment to your hearts content! Also very tasty in miso soup.
Chocolate- Sake (even old sake) is really good mixed in with dark, or milk, chocolate. A little late for Saint V day, but next time you feel like making chocolate throw in a splash of sake! Good for chocolate sauce for ice cream and the likes too!
Put it on your face- In our shop we sell a product called "Suppin," which is in essence old Junmai sake. Slather a little bit on your face before bed, and it's guaranteed "baby butt smooth" skin.
Put it in the bath- Pour about a cup to a cup and a half of sake into the bath water, and enjoy a bath that will warm you up better and leave your skin smooth and beautiful.
Dried out cheese- "Dried out cheese?!" That's exactly what I said too, but if you brush a little sake on that old dried out piece of cheese in your fridge, it will miraculously come back to life!
Rice- Pour a little sake in the water before cooking, for some killer white rice. Also, spray a little sake on refrigerated or frozen rice before microwaving for that "just cooked" taste.
Fishy fish- Soak raw fish in a little bit of sake before cooking to get rid of that persistent fishy smell.
Seafood- Besides making really delicious seafood dishes, sake can also play an important role in saving seafood for later. Steam shellfish with a mix of water and sake, then keep them in the freezer for up to 2 weeks. Make a mix of sake and salt, then soak raw fish in it. Drain and dry, then freeze for up to 2 weeks. Unfreeze and eat any time with very little loss of flavor.
Instant Ramen, cup noodle, Yakisoba- Thats right, put a little sake in your noodles. For ramen, add a splash right before turning off the heat. For cup noodle a little before you eat. For yakisoba, a little sake before you sauce it goes a long way.
Meat tenderizer- That cheap cut of meat you bought at the supermarket, the one you were planning on stewing for hours to make edible. Marinate it in a bit of sake for a couple of hours, and you'll have tender delicious meat.

This is not to mixed up with "koushu," or aged sake, which will last a lot longer after opening, and is not good for a lot of the uses above.

Of course there are hundreds of uses for sake that has been open too long, so if you have some uses that are not on my list, feel free to post your own tips, recipes, suggestions, or questions as comments to this post or to your own sake blogs!

That's it for this time folks,

Until next time,

Cheers,

Meishu no Yutaka staff

Carlin

Kenkonichi Junmai Daiginjo

2009-03-24T12:19:00.021+09:00

Here's a little bone for all of you out there who enjoy a meaty full bodied Daiginjo!

Coming from Miyagi Prefecture's Oonuma Shuzo-ten brewery, I present to you:

Kenkonichi / 乾坤一

Junmai Daiginjo Nakadori / 純米大吟醸中取り

Alcohol: 16% / Polish: 45%

SMV: +2

Brewery: Oonuma Shuzo-ten / Miyagi Prefecture

Tasting notes:

On the nose: Light, clean, With sweet fruity notes.

On the palate: Very clean and crisp. Very full bodied with lots of meaty rice flavors, and a nice lingering finish.

Other notes:

Oonuma Shuzo-ten is a very small brewery with limited production. This one might be a little hard to find, but well worth the search if you can.
The Kenkonichi label, is a line of sake containing: Junmai, Junmai Ginjo, Junmai Daiginjo, and Daiginjo. The main focus even up to the Daiginjo level is on flavor rather than smell, so don't expect an award winning bouquet. Instead look forward to a Full bodied sake that will match a wide range of foods.
My drinking suggestions for Kenkonichi's Junmai Daiginjo are: slightly chilled or room temp.

Cheers,

Meishu no Yutaka staff

Carlin

NEW: Gorin Junmai Daiginjo Nama!

2009-03-12T14:02:00.051+09:00

This time we are going to take a little trip down to Ishikawa Prefecture in Southern Japan.

Our destination, Shata Shuzo, makers of Tengumai and Gorin!

I will be introducing one of their newest sakes, as well as a little bit of fun they call Honey sake.

Then we will take a look inside the brewery to see how they're made!

Gorin (go-rin) / 五凜

Junmai Daiginjo Nama / 純米大吟醸生

Alcohol: 16% / Polish: 45%

SMV: +4

Brewery: Shata Shuzo / Ishikawa Prefecture

Tasting notes:

On the nose: Slightly fruity, with lots of sweet rice fragrances. Very fresh and clean, with a bit of yeast, a good Nama-zake smell. Not as fragrant as your average Daiginjo.

On the palate: Very fresh, and slightly fruity. Sweetness from the rice comes first, followed by a slight bite towards the end. Full bodied, with a mouth watering finish that leaves nothing desired.

Other notes:

The main goal with the Gorin series (Containing Junmai, and Junmai Dai-ginjo, in both Nama, and once pasteurized varieties), was to create sake that focuses mainly on taste rather than fragrance, and is a perfect match to a wide range of food.
Shata Shuzo's main variety of sake is Yamahai, so this is a completely different direction for them, however they do have a Yamahai version of Gorin in the works as we speak.
Gorin is made from one of the most popular varieties of rice in Japan: Yamada-nishiki. Widely recognized as one of the best, if not the best, sake rice in use today. It is very easy to brew with, giving the brewers a lot of flexibility, as well as adding a layered fruitiness to the sake itself.
Comes in 720ml and 1.8L bottles.

Tenshi no Mitsu (Angel's Honey) / 天使のみつ

Honey sake / みつのお酒

Alcohol: 14%

Brewery: Shata Shuzo Ishikawa Prefecture

Tasting notes:

On the nose: Sweet molasses.

On the palate: Sweet lightly fruity, reminiscent of plum and honey.

Other notes:

What makes this Honey sake different from just a normal mead, is that not only honey is used for the fermenting sugar. The main ingredients are: Honey and Koji molded rice. The addition of the Koji gives this a little extra boost of fruitiness and depth.
Comes in one size: 300ml.

Shata Shuzo Brewery

This is a trip that I made about a month ago. I was waiting for the arrival of Gorin's Junmai Daiginjou in order to give you the full experience.

Shata Shuzo, located on the outskirts of Kanazawa City, is a relatively small brewery. Shata Shuzo's number one policy is quality first. This can be seen in every step of the brewing process.

The first factor, and most likely the oldest, is water. As was explained to me, the water comes from the peaks of Mount Haku, one of Japan's three "holy mountains." The water travels underground for almost 100 years before it reaches the wells at Shata Shuzo. This creates an exceptionally clean and pristine water that is, most importantly, almost completely free of iron (a vital factor in sake making).

The second factor, is the rice. The rice used in most all of Shata Shuzo's sake is a variety of Sake rice (rice that has been specially bred for sake making, and is generally higher in starch and lower in fats and acids than normal table rice), Called Yamada-Nishiki. As I explained briefly above (in the other notes section of the Gorin tasting), Yamada-Nishiki is heralded as perhaps the greatest sake rice in use today. It provides a fruity liveliness to the sake, and because it is relatively easy to make sake out of (as compared to other strains of sake rice, it is still very hard to make sake), It gives the brewers a lot more freedom to refine the sake, than they would otherwise have.

the third factor is polishing. 100% of the rice used in Shata Shuzo's sake is polished on site. This is becoming a rarity in the sake world, mainly due to the enormous price of the polishing machines (there are only two breweries in Ishikawa prefecture that polish 100% of their own rice). This allows them to ensure the quality of their rice polish.

2.

3.

4.

Next we move on to Koji mold cultivation. As was explained to me by Shata Shuzo's master brewer, or Toji as they say in Japanese, about 70% of sake depends on Koji. It seems a little silly that so much can ride on one little mold spore, but after going to the brewery, eating the freshly made koji rice, and the n drinking the sake made from it, there is no doubt to the amount of the flavor and smell, that directly stems from this powerful little fungi.

(1) Shatta Shuzo's hot room, the temperature in this room is kept uncomfortably warm (Temp varies from Brewery to brewery) with high humidity. The rice is held within long trays, and the temperature, in this case, is controlled by opening and closing the sliding doors beneath the trays. The whole apparatus was hand made by brewery staff.

(2) Koji cooling room, and master brewer Mr. Tokuda. Here the finished koji rice is cooled and readied to be added to the mash.

(3) Close up of the finished Koji molded rice. At this point it is of a hard marshmallow consistency and puts off a very distinctive sweet smell. Personally, I wish they packaged this stuff like potato chips, because it is delicious.

(4) Here is a peek inside the bag of Koji (let go to spore), that is used to seed the new Koji rice. I can't tell you what strain of Koji it is, as it is restricted information that they do not openly share.

Next I will explain a bit about the steps leading into the main mash, or "moromi" in Japanese.
This process happens in several steps over a period of 4 days, and is called "san-dan Shikomi."

Day 1

Step 1: The Shubo, or yeast starter mash, is added to the main fermentation tank.

Step 2 (Soe): Water, rice, and Koji rice are added to the shubo, roughly enough to double the volume. (writing on sign says "Soe")

Day 2
Step 3 (Odori): The Mash is left to sit for an entire day, in order to let the yeast re propagate. The name odori is thought to have come from two sources: 1. the large stair in the middle of a staircase in which you stop to take a rest is called odori. 2. odori can also mean to dance, which is what the mash appears to be doing as it bubbles away.

Day 3
Step 4 (Naka): Water, rice and Koji rice are again added to the mix, roughly doubling the volume again.

Day 4
Step 5 (tome): The last step, water, rice, and koji rice are added for the final time, doubling the volume again.

After step 5, the process is over, and the result is called "Moromi." At this point the main fermentation begins. Fermentation lasts anywhere from a couple of weeks, to over a month, depending on the grade of sake being produced.

Next is the pressing stage which I have explained in a previous post, so I will just breeze over it.
Shata Shuzo has 2 Fune presses, and a large accordion press. most of the press work is done in the accordion press, save for the daiginjo class sake.

Freshly pressed Tengumai Yamahai Junmai. I was lucky enough to get a first hand taste, Delicious!

Lastly we had a tasting of this years sake. going from left to right we have: Tengumai Daiginjo, Tengumai Junmai Daiginjo, Gorin Yamahai Junmai, and a taste of Gorin Junmai Daiginjo's moromi.

Whether it is Tengumai or Gorin, I highly recommend any of the lineup of sake from Shata Shuzo.

Cheers

Meishu no Yutaka staff
Carlin

Aragoshi Mikan!

2009-03-11T15:40:00.021+09:00

Aragoshi "Mikan" is here!This time I will be introducing another Liqueur.This little beauty is from the fine people over at Ume no Yado shuzo (Recent article posted on Urban Sake

HERE).

Aragoshi "Mikan" (mandarin orange)

あらごし　みかん

Alcohol: 7%

Brewery: Ume no Yado Shuzo / Nara Prefecture

Sake and distilled alcohol base

Tasteing notes:

On the nose: Mikan Juice.

On the palate: Tastes just like mikan juice, save the slight warming feel from the alcohol. The alcohol comes through a little bit on the tongue with a slight bite on the finish, but doesn't get in the way. Lots of pulp.

Other notes:

The key point with this drink is it has a LOT of pulp, which creates a really fun and interesting taste. As you drink, and chew, each kernel of mikan explodes with a burst of sweet juice. Definitely a must try!
Unlike a lot of Liqueurs these days, "Mikan" is not overly sweet or concentrated, so you can drink this one straight or on the rocks.
"Mikan" is just one of a long list of liqueurs put out by Ume no Yado, so look forward to more in future posts!
"Mikan" is an unpasteurized liqueur, so keep this one in the fridge.
Comes in one size: 720ml.

Cheers,

Meishu no Yutaka staff

Carlin

Tsuru-Ume "Lemon" is here!

2009-03-07T14:46:00.009+09:00

The newest addition to our store's line up is a liqueur with a sake base! A great match!

Tsuruume / 鶴梅
Lemon / れもん
Alcohol: 7% / Sake base
Brewery: Heiwa shuzo / Wakayama prefecture

Tasting notes:
On the nose: Very strong sweet lemon, almost a candy lemon, fragrences, Crisp.

On the palate: Great balance of both sweet and sour, like a good lemonade. Very refreshing, but concentrated.

Other notes:

The Tsuru-Ume series has a whole line up of Plum wines, Yuzu-shu, Strawberry liqueur, and Lemon. More to come on the rest of the seiries in future posts!
The label is something you don't find on many bottles in Japan too. In an attempt to reach a younger croud, Heiwa shuzo's future owner is trying out a series of hip lables.
Be careful with this one, because you can't taste the alcohol at all, don't over drink!
My suggesting for drinking this one is on the rocks, although I am currently looking into sorbet and popsicles!
Comes in 2 sizes: 720ml and 1.8L.

Cheers!
Meishu no Yutaka staff
Carlin

This years Shizukudori, and the Brewery that makes it!

2009-03-06T11:18:00.051+09:00

In this installment, I want to highlight one of Hokkaido's premier breweries.
Hokkaido doesn't have a strong reputation for good sake,
however there are breweries making some pretty good stuff.

Today's introduction is a private label sake that Meishu no Yutaka and about 10 other sake stores have put out called: Hokutozuisou Shizukudori.
It is only available in and around Sapporo in a select few shops, so you will have to come up here to get it.

Hokutozuisou Shizukudori / 北斗随想しずくどり
Junmai Ginjo Nama Genshu / 純米吟醸生原酒
Polish rate: 45% / Alcohol: 16~17%
SMV: +5
Brewery: Kobayashi Shuzo / Hokkaido

Tasting notes:
On the nose: Light, slightly fruity, with hints of rice. The alcohol comes through on the nose, but doesn't over power it. The nose is a little light for the average Ginjo class sake but very clean.

On the palate: Smooth with sweetness from the rice coming up first, followed by the Genshu spiciness, and finally the bite from the high alcohol content. Medium bodied, a little light bodied for a Genshu, but won't let you down.

Other notes:

Shizukudori is classified as a Ginjo, however it is more than qualified to be a Daiginjo. This is by choice of the sake stores (actually by the president of our store).

This is a Genshu so once again I will remind you to be careful of the high alcohol content.

Because this is a private label sake, we the Sake stores have the privilege of having a hand in the production process. We tell the brewery what kind of sake we want them to make, and they brew it. We do how ever Help in the bottling phase each year. Usually we help in the pasteurization phase, although this year we helped by hand bottling the entire batch (well over hundred cases). I was lucky to participate this year, and it really gives me a new appreciation for all of the work that goes into a single bottle of sake.

Kobayashi Brewery:

We were lucky enough to get a full tour of the brewing facilities after helping to label the new batch of Shizukudori. Kobayashi shuzo has one of the longest histories for breweries in Hokkaido, with over 130 years under it's belt. It is run within a series of old brick buildings, which I forgot to take any pictures of (I apologize), which are truly a sight to see. The facilities include the brewing room, several warehouses, an office, a Soba restaurant, and a museum / sake store.

First things first, bottling. Unfortunately most of the pictures I have of this have too many people in them to post to the web, however I did manage to get a couple I could use.

Above are (top) the advanced piece of technology that we used to put the labels on straight, and (bottom) a palate of finished cases going off to the warehouse.

Next was a tour of the brewing facilities starting from the unbottled sake storage area, and the pasteurizing area.

Above: (top) brewery staff regulates the temperature of the Pasteurization tank, (bottom) Huge 1,000+ liter storage tanks full of sake awaiting bottling.

The next stop was the Koji cultivation area (I love the smell of fresh Koji). We were not able to go inside the cultivation area, because of potential contamination, but i did snap a picture of the Koji cooling area.

It was quite an interesting setup, as the cooling room was just a tarped in area at the doorway to the hot room.

Next is one of my favorite areas, The brewing room!

(top) The brewing tanks as seen from the upper platform, used when brewing and caring for the sake. (bottom) A look into one of the tanks, this one has been brewing for a while and has settled a bit.

Kobayashi Shuzo uses closed tanks instead of the open topped tanks you see most used these days. There are no real changes made to the sake it's self, however open tanks are easier to clean, where as closed tanks keep things from falling into the tank better and are safer.

Next we took a look at a couple of Shubo tanks (yeast starter mash, written as 酒母, literally translated it means "sake mother").

(top) this batch had just been started the day before, but was already starting to go at it. It was really warm, and already starting to put out some CO2 gas. (bottom) This batch was about 4 days old by the time we saw it and it had a nice foam on the top with enough CO2 gas build up you couldn't stick your face into it. The temperature had dropped by this time, and It was really starting to smell like sake.

The final stop on the tour was the pressing room. The main pressing is done by a series of large accordion presses, but they also have about 10 Fune presses as well (see picture), that unfortunately they are not using at present.

(top) This is your standard accordion press used in just about every brewery in Japan. It consists of a series of fabric balloons into which they pump the unfiltered sake. They then slowly apply pressure to the balloons, lightly squeezing the liquid sake out, leaving behind the Kasu (leavings). This process takes a great deal of time as too much pressure can damage the sake.
(bottom) This is the series of Fune presses I mentioned above. it is an older styled press which is much more labor intensive, and is still used in many breweries today, mainly for Daiginjo sakes. It requires the unfiltered sake to be poured into fabric bags by hand or by pump, and then loaded into the press tub by hand. Most of the pressing is done by gravity, only at the end is pressure from the press applied.

The final product is Shiboritate, or Fresh pressed sake! Not much tastes better than the sake scooped from the nozzle of the press.

Well that's it for today. I hope that you have found this interesting and informative. Please feel free to give me feedback and suggestions!

Meishu no Yutaka Staff
Carlin

English blog Launched!

2009-03-02T23:01:00.038+09:00

Welcome all to the newly launched English weblog for Meishu no Yutaka. My name is Carlin, and I am creating this blog in the hopes that I can share a little bit of the knowledge I accumulate in my sake studies with other sake enthusiasts.

I find myself a long way from my former home of California, as I start my new life in Japan as an employee and future part owner of the biggest specialty sake store in Hokkaido. I have been working in Meishu no Yutaka off and on for the last 2 years and became a full time employee in Dec of 2008. I am in no way a sake expert, however having the privilege of being in a position so close to the heart of the sake world, I thought that it would be fun to share some of my experiences with those who may not have the chance to see the sake world first hand.

Well that's enough of the formal stuff for me. Lets move on to the fun stuff.
As a staff member of a sake shop it is part of my Job to taste all new sake that comes into the store (all work and no play make Carlin a dull boy). Together with the sake that I drink out-side of the shop, I get to taste a fair amount of sake. My intention with this blog is to post Tasting notes on as much of the sake as I can (although unfortunately there are some brands of sake that I am not allowed to post to the Internet), Any and all trips that I make to sake breweries, and as much insider info as possible about the inner workings of the sake world.

That being said, what better way to kick off a new sake blog than to post tasting notes on one of my favorite sakes, from one of the most sought after Breweries in Japan: DENSHU!

Denshu 田酒
Tokubetsu Junmai Shiboritate Nama Genshu
特別純米搾りたて生原酒
Polish rate: 55% / Alcohol: 18%
SMV: ＋２
Brewery: Nishida Shuzou / Aomori Prefecture

Tasting notes:
On the nose: Sweet, fresh, clean, with a lot of Koji and rice fragrances. Not a lot of the yeasty unpasteurized characteristics that you get from a normal nama-zake.

On the palate: Dry with good acid balance, strong bite on the finish coming from the high alcohol content. Full bodied with a lot of sweetness from the rice carried through on a nice bed of spiciness you get from a good Genshu.

Other notes:
Denshu tokubetsu Junmai Shiboritatte Nama Genshu comes in one size: 180ml.
Because it is a Genshu it has a relatively high alcohol content, so be careful not to drink too much.
Nishida Shuzou is a small brewery so their production is quite limited.
This sake is very hard to find in Japan, let alone the rest of the world, so if you find it else-where, I take my hat off to you my friends.
If you can find it, I highly recommend drinking this little beauty, or any other sake under the Denshu label.

This is a new endevour for me so please feel free to give me feedback and suggestions on the Blog. I want to make this as fun and informitive as possible! Also please excuse my long windedness this time around, I promise the posts to come will be a little shorter.

Cheers,

Meishu no Yutaka staff
Carlin