Tag Archives: Sake Breweries

Japanese Gastronomy, sake, Sake Brewery, Shimada City, Shizuoka, Shizuoka agricultural products

Shizuoka Sake Tasting: Oumuraya Brewery-Jyuube Junmai/Shimada City Gohyakumangoku Rice

March 29, 2011 dragonlife 2 Comments

Oumuraya Brewery in Shimada City has encouraged local farmers for a long time.
They have been recently brewing sake with sakamai/酒米/sake rice by local farmers.

I’ve just found this bottle called Jyuube/重兵衛 at (Farmers Market) Japan Bazaar in Shimada City.
The rice grown is of the Hyakumangoku variety.
They went as far as decorating the bottle with pictures of the very farmers!
How about that for traceability!

Rice: Hyakumangoku (100%)
Alcohol: 15~16 degrees

Clarity: Very clear
Color: Transparent
Aroma: Strong and fruity: custard, vanilla
Body: Fluid
Taste: Strong and drier than expected attack.
Fruity: Custard, bananas. Junmai petillant.
Disappears quickly with dry almonds.
Light and dry, almost discreet with food.
Dry pineapple appearing later.

Overall: A straightforward sake.
Very pleasant, fruity with a dry note.
Accompanies food well.
Very pleasurable on its own or with food.
A sake for all seasons!

Must-see tasting websites:
-Sake: Tokyo Through The Drinking Glass, Tokyo Foodcast, Urban Sake, Sake World
-Wine: Palate To Pen, Warren Bobrow, Cellar Tours, Ancient Fire Wines Blog
-Beer: Good Beer & Country Boys, Another Pint, Please!
-Japanese Pottery to enjoy your favourite drinks: Yellin Yakimono Gallery
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花の舞酒造, Hamamatsu City, Hana no Mai Brwery, Japanese Gastronomy, sake, Sake Brewery, 浜松市

Shizuoka Sake Tasting: Hana No Mai Brewery-Junmai Shiboritate Genshu

March 7, 2011 dragonlife Leave a comment

Hana no Mai Brewery in Hamamatsu City ‘ the largest Sake Brewery in Shizuoka Prefecture and export a sizeabkle amount abroad.
For quit some time they have been breweing their sake with their own ingredients. They grow their own Yamada Nishiki rice in the same city, uses Shizuoka yeats and the local water!

They produce also many limited brews such this nicely warpped “shiboritate/newly pressed” Junmai (no alcohol added) Genshu (no water added!

Rice: Shizuoka-grown Yamada Nishiki
Rice milled down to 60%
Dryness: +3
Acidity: 1.8
Alcohol: 16~17 degrees
Bottled in October 2010

Clarity: Very clear
Color: Very faint golden hue
Aroma: Fruity and asserive. banana, pineapple, custard
Body: Fluid
Taste: Strong fruity alcohol attack.
Warms back of the palate.
Dryish and strong junmai petillant.
Lingers for a short while with lots of almonds and coffee beans. Oranges, Macadamia nuts, hints of dark chocolate.
Drinks well with food with more Macadamia nuts.

Overall: Unusually strong sake for Hana No Mai Brewery.
Straightforward and fruity.
Tends to vary with food.
Best appreciated with strong taste food, although the latter might influence the taste.
A good sake for Izakayas!

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Fuji-Takasago Brewery, Fujinomiya City, Japanese Gastronomy, sake, Sake Brewery, Shizuoka, 富士高砂酒造

Shizuoka Sake Tasting: Fuji-Takasago Brewery-Tokubetsu Junmai Diamond Fuji

March 7, 2011 dragonlife Leave a comment

Although the Fuji-Takasago Brewery in Fujinomiya City is part of a larger conglomerate, all the staff is from Shizuoka Prefecture and the sake there are made exclusively according to methods prevalent in the Prefecture.

Moreover, they are active in promoting sake rice grown in Shizuoka Prefecture.
In this particular case half of the rice used for this brew is Homare Fuji, a Yamada Nishii hybrid developed in Shizuoka Prefecture.

Rice: Yamada Nishiki and Shizuoka-grownHomare Fuji
Rice milled down to 60%
Dyness: +6
Alcohol: 15~16 degrees
Bottlled in November 2010

Clarity: Very clear
Color: Transparent
Aroma: Fruity: pineapple, custard. almonds
Body: Fluid
Taste: Very dry attack backed up by Junmai petillant.
Fruity: dry almonds, custard.
Quickly disappears with a soft custard note.
Very soft and easy to drink in spite of its softness.
Turns dry with food.
Goes very well with fish and sashimi.
As nurukan/lukewarm: Turns sweeter with a short strong junmai pang with a quick comeback on the drier side.
Oranges and custard.
very pleasant as a warm sake.

Overall: Very pleasant and easy to drink sake.
Goes well with any food, raw or cooked.
A sake to please everyone!
A great sake for a great party!

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Japanese Gastronomy, sake, Sake Brewery, Shidaizumi Brewery, 志田泉酒造

Shizuoka Sake Tasting: Shidaizumi Brewery/Organic Sake-Junmai Ginjo

March 7, 2011 dragonlife Leave a comment

Shidaizumi Brewery in Fujieda City has been conducting some very interesting experiments with organic ake rice for some time.
With Aoshima Brewery in the same city, a new movement has been started for a new and growing trend: Organic sake.

Shidaizumi Brewery hence received the Ecofarmer License from the Shizuoka Prefectureas a member of the JA Oigawa Yaizu Sake Rice Research Committee.

The Brewery used organic rice of the Yamada Nishiki strain cultivated by 11 farmers in Yaizu City:
Kohji Ohata, Toshiyuki Umehara, Masamitsu Masuda, Tatsuo Muramatsu, Teruo Matsumura, Toshiyuki Sone, Hirao Noda, Masashi Suzuki, Naomi Yamamoto, Riji Yagi and Kazuyuki Ishikawa.

Rice: Organic Yamada Nishiki all grown in Shizuoka Prefecture
Rice milled to: 55%
Yeast: NEW-5 (Shizuoka)
Dryness: +5.0
Acidity: 1.2
Alcohol: 15~16 degrees
Bottled in December 2010

Clarity: Very clear
Color: Transparent
Aroma: Bananas
Body: Fluid
Taste: Dry attack with junmai petillant.
Soft but complex.
Warms up back of the palate and ends on a dry note.
Banana, almond, apricot, memories of coffee beans and dark chocolate.
Dry melon appears with food with more nuts and dark chocolate.
Elegant, easy to drink.

Overall: Ever talked of a “feminine drink”?
A sake not easy to discern.
Ladies would be screaming for it?

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Suruga Brewery: The Newest Brewery In Shizuoka Prefecture!

January 25, 2011 dragonlife 2 Comments

Takahiro Nagashima/長島隆弘 of Nagashima Sake Shop and Daigo Hagiwara/萩原大吾 of Suruga Brewery

I finally found the occasion to pay a long delayed visit to the newest Sake Brewery In Shizuoka Prefecture (and probably in Japan!): Suruga Brewery/駿河酒造!

Tenkou/天虹/”Heaven’s Rainbow”, Suruga Brewery’s representative brand!

My good friend Takahiro Nagashima of Saketen was on hand as he had wanted to visit and deal with Suruga Brewery the very moment they arrived in Shizuoka City!

Delivery truck formerly owned by Yoshiya Brewery.

Suruga Brewery may have a short history but it has been a pretty eventful one!

Haginishiki Brewery of old times!

It all started in 2006 when some members of the family owning the Haginishiki Brewery in Shizuoka City decided to separate themselves form the old brewery to create the new one.

Chumasa sake casks from the defunct Yoshiya Brewery

So they first moved to Kakegawa City where they started brewing their own brands at the former Sogatsuru Brewery which had laid dormant for 10 years.

Hagi No Kura Brand flag

They produced brands such as Hagi nO kura, Sogatsuru and Sogatsuru-Hagi No Kura. Sogatsuru-Hagi No Kura was the official name of the “new” brewery then.

Equipment from the defunct Yoshiya Brewery

One cannot start a new sake brewery with a new license in Japan.
The only way you produce your own brand of sake is either to obtain the collaboration of another brewery or to buy the license of a brewery.

More equipment from the defunct Yoshiya Brewery

They brewed their sake under the name of Sogatsuru-Hagi No Kura Brewery until 2009.
Then in 2010, Yoshiya Brewery in Shizuoka City decided to stop their activities.

Press from Yoshiya Brewery

They then were able to buy Yoshiya Brewery’s license and call themselves Suruga Brewery.
Not only did they buy the license but also all the unsold sake and equipment from Yoshiya Brewery!

Tanks from Yoshiya Brewery

Sake brewery equipment is hard to make and obtain, and terribly expensive, so buying a defunct brewery’s equipment is quite common in Japan.

Another view from the outside

But they moved to their present address in Shizuoka City only last year.

Chumasa brand

I was personally extremely happy to learn and verify that they kept the names Yoshiya Brewery’s sake brands, Chumasa, Onigoroshi and Abekaido in their own range of labels headed by their representative brand name, Tenkou.

Entrance to the koji muro/麹室

Now, the family branch who decided to go alone also possessed land and a supermarket in Nishiwaki, Suruga Ku (hence the new name of the brewery) in Shizuoka City.
They just transformed the supermarket into a very efficient, cost-saving brewery!

Inside the koji muro

They had their own well dug 50 meters deep into the Abe River subterranean bed. This water is top-class for sake even that deep inside a city!

Modern temperature regulator

The brewmaster/杜氏 at Suruga Brewery is Mr. Kazumo Kobayashi/小林一雲 (39) of NaganoPrefecture and of the Nanbu Brewmasters School who brew the sake with his team of three “kurabito/helpers”.

New tanks/oke/桶

The present yearly production is of 350 goku/石/about 63,000 liters.

Having a peak at premium sake ready to be pressed!

The shikomi/actual brewing is done in two stages, in November~December, and then again in March~April.

Modern tanks where fermenting is being conducted

Apart of the brewing personnel who reside in the brewery only during the brewing, Suruga Brewery, Daigo Hagiwara, who represents the 3rd generation, employs 4 full staff and 2 part-timers.

It’s brewing!

One cannot escape the manual work, however modern a brewery might be!

They still keep reminding themselves of their new name!

The Abekaido Brand!

Mr. Hirai, the accountant and jack of all trades!

A treasure trove of old and very old sake!

Their best and most expensive sake!

Don’t worry, I’ll start tasting reports soon!

Suruga Brewery
422-8044 Shizuoka City, Aoi Ku, Suruga Ku, Nishiwaki, 923
Tel.: 054-281-1331
Fax: 054-251-1475

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Shizuoka Sake Tasting: Morimoto Brewery-Sayogoromo Tokubetsu Junmai Homare Fuji

December 19, 2010 dragonlife Leave a comment

The great thing about Morimoto Brewery is the unpredictability of its sake!
All are worth tasting again and again every year as they show different characters and idyosincrasies.

This sake made with Shizuoka-grown Homare Fuji sake rice is another proof of their originality!

Morimoto Brewery: Sayogoromo Tokubetsu Junmai Homare
Fuji

Rice: Homare Fuji (Shizuoka-grown)
Rice milled down to 60%
Alcohol: 15~16 degrees
Bottled in October 2010

Clarity: very clear
Color: transparent
Aroma: Fruity, alcohol, custard, macadamia nuts. Sweetish and pleasurable
Taste: Very dry attack backed with a little pleasant alcohol and junmai petillant.
Fruity: custard, almond nuts, greens.
Disappears quickly with notes of coffee beans and dry almonds.
Sharpish, straightforward. Devised to accompany and complement food.
Changes little with food, turns only a little drier.

Overall: A very good sake for food, especially winter heavy food.
Contribute a dry note to balance heavy food.
A fine sake on its own, too!

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Shizuoka Sake Tasting: Yamanaka Brewery-Aoitenka Junmai Hyakumangoku Rice

November 4, 2010 dragonlife Leave a comment

Yamanaka Brewery is a small, ancient and traditional brewery lost a long way south of Kakegawa Station and it is not easy to find their brews even in Shizuoka City. Luckily enough I happened to find this sake made with Hyakumangoku rice grown in Shizuoka Prefecture!

Rice: Hyakumangoku (Shizuoka-grown)
Milled down to: 65%
Dryness: +2.0
Acidity: 1.4
Yeast: Association No 1001
Alcohol: 15~16 degrees
Bottled in June 2010

Clarity: very clear
Color: transparent
Aroma: fruity, light, banana, chocolate, vanilla, hints of pineapple
Body: fluid
Taste: Dry soft attack with junmai petillant.
Complex and fruity: chocolate, coffee beans, banana.
Quickly disappears with notes of almonds.
Gets drier with food.
Easy to drink.

Overall: A sake for all seasons.
Very fruity, dry and soft.
Actually quite complex and showing more facets than expected.
A sure value!

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Shizuoka Sake Tasting: Senju Brewery-Junmai Ginjo Homare Fuji

October 19, 2010 dragonlife Leave a comment

Senju Brewery is the sole sake brewery in Iwata city famous for the Yamaha Company.
It’s a bit off the beaten track and their sake are not always easy to find!

Sake made with Shizuoka-grown Homare Fuji sake rice usually (if the space is available) bear a sticker with Homare Fuji written on it Japanese characters.
The label was actually designed a couple years ago by a local university student!

Senju Brewery-Junmai Ginjo Homare Fuji

Rice: Homare Fuji: 100%
Rice milled down to 55%
Alcohol: 15~16 degrees
Botteld in August 2010

Clarity: very clear
Colour: light golden
Aroma: Discreet, fruity and elegant: Pineapple, vanilla
Body: fluid
Taste: Dryish attack. Fruity. Light and complex. Dry nuts, almonds, Macadamia nuts. Disappears quickly.
Very easy to drink.
“Fleety” when chilled.
More almonds and turns sweetish on second and third cups, although drier almonds make a comeback later.
Changes little with food, although turns a little drier.

Comments: My best Junmai Ginjo with Homare Fuji Rice so far!
Complex and surprising.
Can be appreciated either chilled or at room temperature.
Will open up with more facets at the latter including memories of coffee beans typical of Shizuoka sake.
Definitely recommended to light sake lovers!

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Shizuoka Sake Tasting: Hamamatsu-Tenjingura Brewery/Shusseijyo Aki Agari Tokubetsu Honjozo

October 18, 2010 dragonlife 2 Comments

Hamamatsu-Tenjigura was the oldest Sake Brewery in Hamamatsu City until it started absorbing all the neighbouring cities.
It stands in Shizuoka Prefecture for having the only “Brewmistress”!

Their sake come into two distinct varieties, the ones designed for food, the others for separate tasting.
This particular sake was great with food prepared by the Missus!
It also has the merit to made with Shizuoka-grown Homare Fuji Sake Rice!
And it certainly makes for a long title!

Hamamatsu-Tenjigura Brewery: Shusseijyo Aki Agari (Autumn’s First) Tokubetsu Honjozo Homare Fuji

Rice: Homare Fuji 100%
Rice milled down to 60%
Alcohol: 15~16 degrees
Bottled in August 2010

Clarity: Very clear
Colour: Transparent
Aroma: Dry and fruity: bananas, coffee beans and coconuts
Body: Fluid
Taste: Very dry attack. Fruity: Coconuts, almonds.
Disappears quickly with a drier note with more almonds and nuts/coffee beans.
Changes little with food with an even drier note.

Overall: An eminently drinkable sake for dry sake fans.
At 60% millage simply an extravagant Tokubetsu Honjozo!
Great accompaninent to food.
Could be enjoyed in any way, chilled, room temperature or lukewarm!

It was certainly perfect with the Missus’ food: Deep-fried lotus roots chips and cheese gyoza!

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THE JOY OF SAKE in TOKYO, November 2nd

October 15, 2010 dragonlife Leave a comment

For more details check: http://www.joyofsake.com

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Shizuoka Sake Tasting: Bandai Brewery-Junmai Ginjo Genshu Homare Fuji

October 10, 2010 dragonlife Leave a comment

Bandai Brewery is located in one of the most scenic cities of Shizuoka Prefecture, Izu Peninsula formerly called Shuzenji. The city has recently been included into a larger city called Izu City, but people and tourists certainly don’t mix the two when they say they are going to Shuzenji!
One can reach this city also famous for its hotsprings and Japanese inns by taking a local train from Mishima City.
When you go down at Shuzenji Station, don’t forget to visit the souvenir shop where you will find all the products of Bandai Brewery, including real wasabi shochu!

Bandai Brewery is one of the oldest breweries in the Prefecture and its history under other names can be traced back to the 16th Century!
Like most of the other sake breweries in Shizuoka Prefecture, it has started to use locally grown sake rice to ensure a stable output.

Rice: Homare Fuji 100% (grown in Shizuoka Prefecture)
Rice milled down to 60%
Dryness: +3
Alcohol: 16~17 degrees (genshu: no water added)
Bottled in July 2010

Clarity: very clear
Colour: faint golden hue
Aroma: Strong and fruity: banana, vanilla, hints of pineapple
Body: fluid
Taste: Strongish attack with junmai petillant and a lot of fruit. Warms back of the palate. Well-rounded backed up by pleasant alcohol.
Complex: banana, gum-candy, almonds with memories of coffee beans later.
Softens with food to turn dry again on its own.
Almonds and banana tend to follow each other alternatively.

Overall: A sake you might as well drink chilled as it is quite sweet in spite of a +3 dryness level (quite dry by Shizuoka standards).
One of those sake you can pour over an ice-cream!
Very pleasant. Tends to get drier with food.
Would very well accompany blue cheese like a Port wine, or being drunk as a digestif!

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Shizuoka Sake Tasting: Yamanaka Brewery-Aoitenka Toubinkoi Muroka Junmai Ginjo

October 4, 2010 dragonlife Leave a comment

Yamanaka Brewery i not easy to access as it is far away from Kakegawa Station near the sea and one can reach only by bus, car and bicycle (not from Shizuoka City for the latter!)!
It is a fairly small establishement, although very well known, the more for it that its neighbour is the famous soy sauce brewery, Sakae!

This particular bottle was extravagant for many reasons.
The decoration was very original in the sense that the label on the bottle is actually made of cloth!
Coming into a great box with plenty of explanations, both the bottle and box are worth a collector’s attention.

The contents were also absolutely extravagant:
The real title is Yamanaka Shuzo/Yamanak Brewery, Aointenka (sake name), Tobinkoi (sake extracted drop by drop by being left hanging into sacke inside the tank and into a large glass jar), Muroka (unfiltered), Junami Ginjo (high premium with no alcohol added), Genshu (no pure water added), the whole meaning a completely untouched sake brew!

Now for the details:
Rice: Yamada Nishiki from Hyogo Prefecture
Rice milled down to 48% (high dai ginjo level!)
Yeast: 1401
Dryness: +2
Acidity: 1.7
Alcohol: 16~17 gegrees
Bottled in July 2010

Clarity: very clear
Colour: transparent
Aroma: Slghtly dry and very fruity. Almonds, coconuts with notes of pineapple. Extremely pleasant
Body: fluid
Taste: Very complex and fruity. Extremely pleasant and sophisticated.
Dry and fruity. Junmai petillant spreading over the back of the palate. Lingers on only a little.
Dry almonds, pineapple with hints of banana and vanilla.
Finishes on a very dry almond note, but turns a little sweetish with food. Later on reveals faint notes of dark chocolate and cofee beans.

Overall: Simply extravagant, although its pricetag is ridiculously cheap (that is for that quality!). The rice millage would be of another plane elsewhere!
Sophisticated, lmost “feminine” in spite of high alcohol content.
Best appreciated lightly chilled or at room temperature.
Personally the best aperitif one can come across!

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Japanese Gastronomic BBQ in Mariko

September 30, 2010 dragonlife 4 Comments

Suruga Beef!

BBQ’s are probably the most common way of enjoying great company with great food and great drinks in the whole world even if you are a teetoller or vegan!

And Japan is no exception!
Now, BBQ’s in Shizuoka can turn into extravagant affairs if they organised by local chefs, sake brewmasters and farmers using only local ingredients!

To make a long story shorter, we found about 30 of us last Sunday noon in Mariko, a site famed as one of the stages along the old Tokaido Road used by travellers in the Edo Era.
Being organized by Japanese, it was all very precise and delightful.
For 60 US $ (including drinks) per adult a BBQ site (20 US $ included in the total fee) was rented just beside Sanko/山幸 restaurant up in the nearby mountain.

Sanko Restaurant entrance. Very Japanese!

Beautiful flower arrangement/Ikebana/活花 at the entrance!

Side entrance to the inner garden and facilities (important with all those drinks!)

The event had been organised under the auspices of Nagashima Sake Store in Shizuoka and its owner, Takahiro Nagashima/長島隆博 (far right).

All the sake had been brewed by Brewmaster Takashima San/高島さん of Takashima Brewery in Numazu City. Incidentally that gentleman ,even with a glass in hand, would not be easily overwhelmed as he holds a 5th dan (Black Belt) in judo!

All the sake served was clearly advertized!

The Japanese, even during a BBQ, once they are seated, move only to get their food or drinks (unless a willing lady or subaltern is on hand!), but being an uncouth foreigner, I kept moving around! LOL

Kenya Yoshimura/吉村健哉, owner/chef at Uzu Restaurant, Shizuoka City, needed a baseball horn to make himself heard when announcing the festivities!

Now for the vegetarians and vegans: all these vegetables had been prepared beforehand by Kenya Yoshimura with organic vegetables coming from Matsuki Biofarm in Shibakawa Cho at the foot of Mount Fuji!

Other carefully chosen vegetables had been provided by Takeo Shimura/志村剛生, chef/owner of Narusei Tempura Restaurant in Shizuoka City!

Now for the beef!
All Suruga Beef/駿河牛, carefully chosen and provided by Shigeharu Sano/佐野茂治, chef/owner at Kamoshibito Restaurant in Shizuoka City.
This particular beef, as good as Kobe beef, comes from from animals exclusively bred in Shizuoka Prefecture!

Da the Men! Shigeharu Sano and Kenya Yoshimura!

Shigeharu Sano at work!

Don’t you want to board the next bullet train to Shizuoka City!

Or the next plane? LOL

This being Japan, all is cut beforehand for you!

Now, whatever the occasion, the Japanese will go not without their soup!
This very soup was extravagant as prepared (with other things, pork liver in particular!) by Yuusuke Toozaki/登崎雄介, chef/owner at Hana Oto Restaurant in Shizuoka City.
It was made with miso, vegetables and mangenton/万言豚 pork, exclusively raised in Shizuoka Prefecture!

Now, this gentleman, Toshiaki Horie/堀江利彰 came all the way from the Amagi Mountains/天城山 in Izu Peninsula/伊豆半島 to bring Shamo Chicken/軍鶏 he bred himself until 4-month old with the best feed and environment available in his farm.
Enormous chicken! Look at that neck!

Not only he brought them, but went through the cutting demonstration no less than 3 times!

Although revellers kept at the safe distance lots of questions were asked and most amiably answered!

That knife was flying, I can tell you!

Et voila! All cut and ready. All in less than 3 minutes!

Oh, I forgot to tell you:
All the meat, beef, pork, chicken and some vegetables were exclusively grilled over charcoal!

Now, are you convinced than a mere BBQ can be called gastronomic?

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Shizuoka Sake Tasting: Fuji-Takasago Brewery/Takasago Yamahai Junmai Hiyaoroshi

September 20, 2010 dragonlife Leave a comment

It’s been some time since I tasted a sake from Fuji-Takasago Brewery in Fujinomiya City.
Since September is the time to taste the Hiyaoroshi sake/sake taht has been sterelized only once, it is such an embarrssment of choices, but I opted for this brewery as it is slightly unusual in Shizuoka refecture.

The real title for this particular sake is “Takasago Yamahai Shikomi Junmai Shu Hiyaoroshi Namatsume”!
Meaning: Takasago (main name) Yamahai Shikomi (old style brewing) Junmai Shu (Junmai=no alcohol added) Hitaoroshi Namatsume (bottled without a second sterilization.
On top of this it is a genshu/no water added!

Fuji-Takasago Brewery/Takasago Yamahai Junmai Hiyaoroshi

Rice: Yamada Nishiki 100% (Hyogo Prefecture)
Riced milled down to 55% (extravagant!)
Alcohol: 16~17 degrees (genshu)
Dryness: -3 (sweet for Shizuoka)
Bottled in September 2010

Clarity: very clear
Colour: Faint golden hue
Aroma: Strong, very fruity: bananas, vanilla, sweet ornages
Body: Fluid
Taste: Strong attack with a lot of junmai “petillant”, sweetish.
Complex: Macadamia nuts, bananas, oranges, vanilla.
Warms back of the palate for some time. Lingers for a while with very dry almonds backed up by oranges and vanilla.
Sweet by Shizuoka standards at first approach but dries up quickly.

Overall: A sake that can be greatly enjoyed chilled or at room temperature.
Great as a sweetish aperitif or in lieu of a port wine.
Strikes a great marriage with choclate or blue cheese.
Chilled, can be drunk as a dessert drink! Would do excellently poured over ice-cream!

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Shizuoka Sake Rice: “Azekura Ishin” by Sugii Brewery

July 30, 2010 dragonlife 4 Comments

“Sakamai/酒米”, or sake rice in Japanese is a variety of riice only exclusively in the making of Japanese sake. You will never find it on your table at a meal.
Sakamai has been traditionally grown only in some regions of Japan.
Shizuoka, for all being arguably the best when coming to Japanese sake, had to “import” its sakamai from other regions.
The problem is that such rice production is not only declining but also unpredictable when it comes to quality.
For example, if the grains of rice are split or broken one cannot make good-quality Japanese sake. The quality of rice will be assessed only upon receipt with the consequent problems if unsatisfactory.
Accordingly, Shizuoka Breweries have gradually come to encourage and rely on Shizuoka-grown sakamai with various success, especially their own brand of Yamanishiki rice or a local hybrid called Homare Fuji.

Sugii Brewery in Fujieda City who has always been willing to experiment, especially in old-style (forgotten) methods, came up with an original (limited) brand.
This sake is made with sakamai exclusively grown by Fujieda farmers.
But since the various batches of rice came in grains of different size, Mr Sugii could not really define his sake. It would qualify as a junmai if the grains were of similar size.
The process, dating back to the Meiji Area is the equivalent of “Yamahai” method, a way avoided by many breweries for its difficulty.

Sugii Brewery: Azekura Ishin

Rice milled down to 70%
Alcohol: 15.5 degrees
Dryness: +2
Acidity: 2.1 (high for Shizuoka!)
All rice being harvested in Fujieda in 2009

Clarity: Very clear
Colour: Golden hue
Aroma: Fruity backed by alcohol. Nuts.Custard, Memories of banana and vanilla
Body: Fluid
Taste: Strongish attack, warming back of the palate. Lingers for a short while with a welcome acidity.
Complex: Custard and macadamia nuts. memories of coffee beans/dry grapes/dry cherries.
Stay lighter than expected on its own or with food.

Overal: Very difficult to define. hence a very intriguing and inteesting sake. Completely “out of range” as a Shizuoka sake.
Deserves a second, third and more glasses. Strong ut pleasurable sake. Probably best appreciated as “nurukan/lukewarm”, although it would become drier.
Great with any food, although can be truly appreciated on its own.
definitely a sake deserving plenty of interest!