Pure Artistry, Pure Flavor

HOW ARTISANAL CRAFT SAKE IS CHANGING THE GLOBAL MARKET

- Keef Wong

Japanese Sake is often seen in a mysterious light, shrouded in culture where entry is only through copious amounts of immersion, merriment, and drinking – and not necessarily in that order. To a certain extent that is true. Even among many modern Japanese today, sake is a unique national drink, but still merely a drink – a disappointing note when Japanese sake leads the charge for an artisanal product that is painstakingly handcrafted using largely unchanged techniques passed down through generations.

To brew sake, rice is polished (the greater the polish, the higher the grade of sake produced), soaked and steamed. After steaming, a portion of rice is sprinkled with koji spores, to break down the starch into sugars. The koji rice is combined with the rest of the steamed rice, water and yeast to form the moto, or starter mash. This process is repeated thrice to create the final moromi, or fermenting mash, which is then left to ferment for up to 40 days, filtered, pasteurized and bottled. I have just summarized over a thousand years of brewing techniques into three sentences, but in essence, these are the main steps.

Mastering Premium Sake

Sake is legally produced with only four ingredients: rice, water, koji (aspergillus oryzae) and yeast, which leave an extremely restricted ability to the inclusion of new flavors. The magic is in the skill of the master brewers, the Toji, who have developed heightened senses to detect minute variations at each step of the process.