BRAVING THE SNOW
IN OUR QUEST FOR
FINE SAKE
Just an hour and half from
Tokyo by train, Yamanashi is
a rustic prefecture with large
fruit gardens, bucolic rice
fields, tranquil streets, and is as
charming as a forest painting.
April is sake harvest time. During
this season, no matter where
you go, you can notice the dry
rounded sheaves hanging in
doorways, an announcement
that they are ready for the fresh
batches of sake.
Most Sake breweries are over
100 years old and passed down
from generation to generation.
The Yamanashi Meijo brewery is
300 years old! To make sake, they
must polish the rice to remove
the bran (the outer protein coat)
to expose the inner starch, the
“soul” of sake. However, it’s not
economical to polish the rice too
much. Therefore, for practical
purposes, only 30% of the outside
coat is removed. Some breweries
remove up to 60% to make
aristocratic-grade sake - daiginjo.
Those who invite you to have a
glass of daiginjo surely appreciate
your company.
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TRAVELLIVE
If you are more into traditional
breweries, the Yamaki Sake
Brewery might resonate best
with you... The owner is quite
enthusiastic about showing us
around the brewery to witness the
stages of making sake. We even
got a close up look at how they
temper the koji rice. After being
polished, the rice is steamed and
fermented with mold (koji). You
might imagine moldy rice to be
quite foul, but actually the subtle
scent of koji is not unpleasant,
and it gives the rice a slightly
sweet flavor. One must be very
careful when working with koji
because it is very sensitive to the
outside environment. A little
sweat, dust, perfume, or make-up
powder can ruin the wine easily.
Breweries rarely allow visitors to
come near the koji room, not to
mention enter and taste the rice!
After the rice is introduced to the
koji mold, yeast and water are
added to begin the fermentation
process. The more “delicious”
the water is, the better the sake
and the best sakes are fermented
at low temperatures. If you want
to know where great sake is, look
up places near mountains and
springs with the purest water.
Grab your backpack and go to the
snowy places. Chances are, you’ll
find what you’re looking for.
While Yamanashi has the great
water source, Ibaraki is famous
for its high-quality rice. Just 1
hour and 50 minutes from Tokyo
by train, Ibaraki is a must-visit
destination for foodies and flower
lovers alike. If you love sake,
then pay a visit Sudohonke Sake
Brewery - one of the 10 oldest
businesses in Japan with a history
of nearly one thousand years.
This place impresses me with
it quality of sake, especially the
Junmai Ginjo Sake - the sato no
homare or pride of the village.
Sato no homare made from
yamada nishiki (60% removed
bran) has a fresh smell like
licorice and mint.
Those who love sake all know
that sake is “young” wine. It
means no one saves sake but
enjoy its original taste right in
the season. Sake is difficult to
store because of the effects of
temperature, space and smell of
surrounding areas. It’s a surprise
that Sudohonke Sake Brewer has
saved some sake to produce aged
sake. Sake is saved for dozens, or
even hundreds of years. Maybe,
few decades later, we can taste
the very first sips of the aged sake
when returning to Ibaraki.