Making Sake with Daishinshu Day 1

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

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!!!

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!!

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!!!

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!

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!

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)!

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:

1. 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:

the symbol 酉 Can be read as "tori とり" which can mean bird 鳥. Tori or bird is the tenth animal in the chinese zodiac (which Japan uses as well), and when put to the Roman calendar becomes the tenth month of the year, October. Therefore the first day of the month of the bird is Sake Day! And:
2. 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!

"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!!!

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