Domaine Senkin defining the ‘New World’ of Japanese sake

June 2016:

I recently had the opportunity to meet Kazuki Usui, the CEO of Senkin Shuzo (or Domaine Senkin, as Usui-san prefers it being known) at a masterclass and dinner hosted at the China Club by the Drinks Business Hong Kong, in collaboration with Jebsen Fine Wines. As the 11th generation running this ancient brewery that dates to 1806, Usui-san believes that it is his duty to sustain the traditions while innovating with new techniques and styles to ensure the brewery’s continuation in a world challenged by evolving palates in both alcoholic beverages and food. With formal training as a wine sommelier, Usui-san never set out to be a traditional brewer of sake, following the standard recipes for sake brewing. He also understands that to a degree, wine selection at restaurants is driven by grape variety with regional style to pair with the food, whereas sake is more likely to be chosen based on the popularity of the brand. Therefore, his priority was to build the brand for Senkin. Putting a stamp on his individuality, he decided to adopt the Burgundian name of ‘domaine’ for Senkin, and to follow the concept of ‘domaine’, that he would only make sake with ingredients under his full control.

 

Kazuki Usui clutching a bottle of Senkin Tsuru-Kame 19

As demonstrated in the first half of the masterclass where we tasted 5 sake examples from 5 different breweries and prefectures, each with their own qualities of water, defined as hardness of water (amount of calcium carbonate and minerals such as potassium, magnesium and phosphates), water seemed a more dominant factor in influencing the style of sake, much more so than the rice variety. This was brought to light by the example of a sake from Hyogo with hard water called miyamizu and Nagano where the water hardness measured the lowest amongst the 5 examples (almost 1/6 the level of the water in Hyogo). Today, Senkin uses the same water to grow the rice and to brew sake. All the rice varieties in his sake portfolio come from fields in the Tochigi prefecture where the brewery is based.

Further, the brewery has eschewed the special designations requirements (Tokutei Meisho). Instead, Usui-san has developed his own range of ‘Classic’ and ‘Modern’ where in the former, the seimaibuai (rice polishing rate) for both kake mai and koji mai is 50%, giving a rich and rounded style, and in the latter, the seimaibuai for koji mai is 35% and for kake mai, 50%, giving a more elegant style. (Typically in sake production, koji mai or koji rice accounts for about 15-20% of total rice requirement. This is rice inoculated with koji mould that serves to split the starch into sugars for fermentation by yeast into alcohol. Kake mai is the remaining steamed rice.) The more the rice is polished, the closer we get to the shinpaku (starch core), the more refined, balanced and pure the style of sake, with pronounced aromatic profile, smoother texture and crisp finish. Within the special designation sake or premium sake which only accounts for 30% of total sake production in Japan, a sake can only qualify as Honjozo with a minimum of 70% seimaibuai, and 60% for Ginjo and 50% for Daiginjo, although 35% seems the norm for high quality Junmai Daiginjo. Rice polishing is laborious and requires time and care. Usui-san has just produced a barrel of sake with just 7% seimaibuai. It took 15 days to achieve this level of polishing rate, which reduced the brown rice grain to just a mere white speck of extreme fragility. This nerve-wrecking process would necessitate meticulous instructions in soaking and steaming, all supervised with extreme care. It was produced in batches of 20 kg and the soaking took exactly 1 minute 30 seconds, no more no less, in water at 6°C. This was followed by steaming for 45 minutes. (Compared with a 50% seimaibuai batch of 200kg, the steaming would normally take 90 minutes.) For 2.5 tonnes (2,500 kg) of rice, this method only produced 400 bottles, instead of the standard 5,000 bottles. Senkin produced one barrel only of this 7% seimaibuai sake, made with Kame-no-O, the signature rice of Tochigi prefecture, that has earthy complexities, dry style and a high degree of acidity. Half of this barrel was exclusively bottled for Jebsen Fine Wines for their own label Kikusaki. It is no surprise that Kikusaki Nana (‘Nana’ is the Japanese word for ‘seven’) comes with a high retail price tag of HK$ 3,200 a bottle. Usui-san recommended service temperature of 8°C.  

 

When asked Usui-san why he went for 7%, he replied that another brewery had produced 8% and he wanted to push the boundary further. While he can continue to experiment with the seimaibuai (ie going lower), he will turn his attention to refinement of other production techniques. We tasted his Nature-un. It was made using the kimoto technique, with natural lactic acid bacteria and natural yeast, and a seimaibuai over 90%, quite the reverse of the 7%. The intensity of umami flavours was astonishing, with such savoury complexities of dried Chinese mushroom, truffle and yeast. From the expressions on the face of a few participants, it might be more of an acquired taste. I kept some behind for the dinner and thought it went extremely well with the fried rice with roasted duck, mushroom, shrimp and conpoy in abalone sauce, scented with black truffle, for that explosion of umami flavours!   According to Usui-san, this can be enjoyed at either 18-20°C or at 45-50°C.

In future, Usui-san will also be experimenting with different types of barrels. He used a Bourbon barrel in the production of the 7% seimaibuai sake.

Contrary to the practice of adding water to dilute sake from the genshu state of 17-20% abv, there is no such practice at Senkin. So technically, they are all genshu.  In addition, there is no fining nor filtration at Senkin.

The hallmark of Senkin sakes is the balance of acidity and sugar, sometimes more than barely noticeable sweetness. The acidity was particularly marked for Senkin Issei, a 35% seimaibuai, based on Yamadanishiki rice.  It would go particularly well with fish and seafood, according to Usui-san. The noticeable sweetness could work very well with lightly spicy food, and I would like to retry the Modern Senkin Yamadanishiki with Thai cuisine for example. In fact, everyone thought this sake went very well with the ginger in the dish of braised pork spareribs with citrus fruit paste and young ginger, but the sweetness of the citrus fruit paste was a bit too overpowering for the sake.

Perhaps the widely acknowledged all-rounder and most wine-like was the Tsuru-Kame 19, with 19% seimaibuai and Kame-no-O as the rice variety. Usui-san recommended serving it at 8-10°C.  I likened it to a Chablis, with energy, tension and balanced freshness. 

Senkin is definitely charting new waters for a traditional beverage of over 1,500 years. The mystique of sake is that unlike wine (a grape variety, married with climate and soil, that would give an expected style), with sake, it is not so obvious, with so many variations that could make a difference, from water quality, soaking time, soaking temperature, rice polishing rates for koji mai and kake mai, kimoto or sokujo, natural yeast or cultured yeast, pasteurization or not, filtration or not, to ageing methods, and so much more! This matrix of variations is not meant to be confusing.  Rather, it opens up new avenues for a traditional beverage to find new amateurs who can enjoy it with different types of cuisine and on different occasions. There should be a sake for everyone and every moment!

The sakes tasted in the masterclass and dinner were:

Masterclass

Flight 1 

1) Manotsuru Junmai Daiginjo (真野鶴純米大吟醸実来): Koshitanrei, 35% RPR, Niigata Prefecture

2) Hakuko Junmai Daiginjo 50 Sarasoju (白鴻純米大吟醸沙羅双樹50): Yamadanishki, 50% RPR, Hiroshima Prefecture

3) Fukuju Junmai Mikagego (福寿純米御影郷): Yamadanishki, 70% RPR, Hyogo Prefecture

4) Takizawa Tokujo Honjozo (瀧澤特撰): Hitogokochi, 59% RPR, Nagano Prefecture

5) Michizakura Junmai Aiyama (三千櫻純米愛山): Aiyama, 60% RPR, Gifu Prefecture

 

Masterclass Flight 1

Flight 2

6) Senkin Tsuru-Kame 19 (仙禽鶴亀19): Kame-no-O, 19% RPR, Tochigi Prefecture

7) Senkin Issei (仙禽一聲): Yamadanishiki, 35% RPR, Tochigi Prefecture

8) Modern Senkin Omachi (モダン仙禽雄町): Omachi, 50% RPR, Tochigi Prefecture

9) Classic Senkin Kame-no-O (クラッシク仙禽亀の尾): Kame-no-O, 50% RPR, Tochigi Prefecture

10) Senkin Nature Un (仙禽ナチュラルアン): Kame-no-O, >90% RPR, Tochigi Prefecture

 

Masterclass Flight 2

Dinner

1) Senkin Issei (仙禽一聲): Yamadanishiki, 35% RPR, Tochigi Prefecture

2) Kikusaki Nana(菊咲 7): Kame-no-O, 7% RPR, Tochigi Prefecture

3) Modern Senkin Yamadanishiki (モダン仙禽山田錦): Yamadanishiki, 50% RPR, Tochigi Prefecture

4) Senkin Tsuru-Kame 19 (仙禽鶴亀19): Kame-no-O, 19% RPR, Tochigi Prefecture

5) Classic Senkin Kame-no-O (クラッシク仙禽亀の尾): Kame-no-O, 50% RPR, Tochigi Prefecture

6) Modern Senkin Omachi (モダン仙禽雄町): Omachi, 50% RPR, Tochigi Prefecture

7) Modern Senkin MUKU (モダン仙禽無垢): Hitogokochi, 50% RPR, Tochigi Prefecture

8) Senkin Ume-jiri (仙禽梅尻)

 

Dinner Selection

Ganpai!

A Little Piece of Kyoto in Bayswater London

30 Jan 2014: A little more than a week ago in London, I was treated to a magnificent Kaiseiki meal at a little gem of a restaurant called The Shiori (45 Moscow Road, Bayswater, London W2  4AH ; Tel: +44 (0)20 7221 9790). 

This is a husband and wife team: the omnipresent Hitomi-san who excels in her role as maître d’ and her husband Takagi-san who prepares such wonderful dishes with such flair and attention. The restaurant sits a total of 16 people, doubling its capacity from its previous self as a sushi bar near Euston Station. The Shiori opened in its current location about a year and a half ago, far away from the hustle and bustle of Queensway. If you’re not paying attention, you could easily have missed the unassuming entrance - it’s a white façade, almost like paper, with the name of The Shiori in Japanese subtly signposted on one side. We went on a Tuesday night and all the tables in the restaurant were filled, except one. 

There are only 2 menu choices at The Shiori: an 8-course menu at GBP 70 per person or a 10-course menu at GBP 85 per person. The menu is printed on a small piece of paper and neatly folded to fit into an envelope for each diner. We took the 8-course menu and as we’re still in the New Year period, the menu had a New Year theme to it (Kaiseiki Hana), starting with traditional New Year black beans, boiled in a light syrup, still retaining some firmness, and festively topped with specks of gold leaf. The sweetness was very delicate – and interestingly made a very good start to our meal.

New Year's Black Beans

The next course was a platter of a few items, including herring roe, eel bo-zushi, crispy baby shrimp and some extremely tiny baby potatoes (from Mount Fuji), that were the tiniest root vegetable I had ever seen….I loved the baby shrimp – the crispy shell was so translucent that you could see through……the flavours were so intense. The eel atop the almost creamy rice was so soft, almost melting in the mouth, contrasting with the way the yellow herring roe popped when chewed into! There’s something wickedly childish about this sensation….almost like those fizzy candies that explode in your mouth! I occasionally took a bite of the chrysanthemum leaf to refresh the palate, when switching from one flavour to the next.

An Array of Textures and Flavours!

The third course was a beautifully prepared miso group. White miso soup that was slightly creamier than the normal miso soup, almost velvety……and it coated the palate beautifully. Again the chef introduced some contrasting texture into the dish, in the form of a yam ball, cooked a point and a thick slice of lightly grilled Awa wheat cake (Awa-fu)….the best way to describe this would be a firm slice of polenta or a piece of Shanghainese New Year cake with a grainy texture! Gorgeous!

White miso soup with Awa-fu

Hitomi-san told us that the miso soup would always be followed by sashimi. Our next course was a delicate platter of sashimi, elegantly presented, with well-sized pieces of raw fish and seafood, including some small pink prawns and a couple of pieces of Cornish mackerel, lightly seared to charcoal the top…..this was heavenly…….with the homemade wasabi.

Beautiful sashim, especially the Cornish mackerel!!

After the cold dish, came a hot dish again. This time it was the nabe (hotpot) of cod and vegetables in a clear and light vegetable broth. This came in a silver-coloured hotpot, with a burner underneath. There were a few shreds of shirataki inside (noodles made with yam). I agreed with my host that it was probably not necessary to keep the burner going for a long time, as it rather overcooked the cod and made the broth a little scalding to the mouth.

Codfish and vegetable nabe

The next course was again a cold dish – Salmon & Seabass Hakata - pickled fish carefully and artistically assembled like a slice of millefeuille, consisting of thinly sliced pickled seabass, alternating with an even more thinly sliced pickled salmon and seaweed. Not your usual pickled herring! It was really refreshing after the nabe!

Salmon and Seabass Hakata

We finished with the kani (crab) rice with pickles and a clear soup with Ao-nori. The pickles and clear soup felt so cleansing after the plethora of flavours that had come our way through the entire meal. The crab rice was cooked to perfection, garnished with a few edamame adding texture to the rice.

Kani rice

We finished with our own choice of ice-cream. I loved my sesame ice-cream….easily the creamiest, richest, most intensely flavoured black sesame ice-cream I’d ever had. My host had the green tea ice-cream, served on red bean puree. This was delicious too, but the sesame ice-cream was the real highlight for me! Hitomi-san told me that this ice-cream was homemade by her husband. I have such a soft spot for good sesame ice-cream that this alone would be enough reason to go back to The Shiori.

For an optional GBP 50 per person, the chef would propose different sake to pair with different dishes, but we just went for 2 different sakes: a Dassai Junmai Daiginjo 50 from Yamaguchi prefecture, served cold and a Yamatoshizuku Yamahai Junmai-shu from Akita prefecture, served hot. The cold sake was aromatic and floral scented, and it served an adequate job pairing with the assorted sashimi and an even better job pairing with the salmon and sea bass hakata. The Yamahai Junmai-shu worked rather well with the kani rice. We were given a complimentary glass of Ninki-Ichi Sparkling Junmai Daiginjo from Fukushima prefecture to finish…..it was refreshing and fruity, with fine bubbles. Just a perfect way to finish this fabulous meal.

The Shiori is a wonderful little restaurant, encompassing an understatedly elegant and cosy ambiance, professional service, attention to detail, highly skilled cuisine and fresh ingredients. I was so engrossed in the entire dining experience: the quality of every course and the way each course was presented like a picture, that the eight courses went by rather rapidly (of course, the company of my host was absolutely essential!). Next time, if you are looking for an alternative venue in London for an intimate dinner or a chic venue to treat someone special (I would say best for 2 – 4 people), consider The Shiori…..the experience will be an unforgettable one for you and your guests!

Getting Up Close and Personal with Sake!

24 Feb 2013: Enjoying my coffee and warm croissant with strawberry jam at Haneda Airport, with almost 2 hours to spare before the flight back to Hong Kong, I can now reflect on the Advanced Sake Sommelier Course organised by the Sake Sommelier Association (www.sakesommelierassociation.com) that I just completed. Our group of 6 students led by founders Xavier Chapelou and Kumiko Ohta (husband and wife team) traipsed around sake breweries across the prefectures of Chiba, Kyoto and Hyogo during an intensive 4-day course. On this course, I learnt a huge amount, most of it was firsthand, directly from toji masters and kurabito (through translations). Despite the newly gained knowledge, it is still rather difficult to pin down a typical style of sake from a brewery or a prefecture. Changes involving a number of parameters such as choice of rice, polishing rate (seimaibuai), quality/type of water, rice washing and soaking time, fermentation temperature and duration, type of shubo (Kimoto, Yamahai or Sokuju), addition of spirit alcohol, use of pasteurization or not, ageing period, etc..etc.....all would have a fundamental influence on the final style of sake. The diversity of sake styles naturally means that there is no one sake style for each style/cooking method of Japanese food: sashimi, tempura, grilling and broiling, amongst other methods, with the numerous possibilities of sauces. We also learnt that sake does not need to be paired with Japanese cuisine. The pairing possibilities are numerous as there are so many different styles of sake, from the basic groups of Junmai, Ginjo, Nama, Honjozo and aged sakes. Honda-san made a very good comment: best sake should be like water: pure, light, elegant and clear, and above all, understated……



A sugidama hanging at entrance of sakagura

Day 1: Our trip began at the JR Travel Office in Tokyo Station where we each got the wonderful 7-day Japan Rail Pass and introduced ourselves to each other. An hour later, after changing trains at Sakura, we arrived at Minamishisui station in the Chiba Prefecture where we were greeted by a friendly old gentleman who took our suitcases in the back of his pick-up truck while we walked for about 15 minutes, up a gentle hill, to the Iinuma Honke brewery. The pure and clean rural air refreshed the mind and removed any remnants of sleepiness. Minamishisui is a small village in the Chiba prefecture, which has the advantage of being close to Tokyo and surrounded by water and forests, is blessed with abundant good quality sea and land produce, and more importantly a good supply of spring water. The sight of the ‘sugidama’ (sugi - Japanese for cedar) at the entrance of the brewery confirmed that we had arrived at a 'kura' - Japanese for sake brewery. Once rid of our outdoor shoes, clad in lab coats, with hair covered, we were greeted by the President, a member of the Iinuma family, who reminded us that the number of breweries in Japan had declined from the height of 20,000 breweries in the Meiji Period to around 1,500 today and his 300-year-old family brewery is amongst those upholding traditional practices as much as possible, while enhancing quality and productivity with technological improvements where necessary. President Iinuma-san believes that sake is made to be enjoyed with food, and this is reflected in the styles of their sakes. Although the brewery is called Iinuma Honke, the brand name (‘meigara’) for their sake is Kino-ene. After the introduction, we were shown around the brewery by Kawaguchi-san, a young-looking toji master (our group had developed this theory for the secret of staying youthful - it's something to do with the rice!). Kawaguchi-san is the first full-time toji master at Iinuma Honke – he started work at the brewery in 1996 and before his arrival, the brewery only retained toji masters from other prefectures during the sake making season. The brewery now employs 5 full-time staff…with more staff in the bottling/labeling and other areas. Given that it's our first visit, we were totally uninhibited with the velocity and abundance of our questions. Kawaguchi-san answered each one of them skilfully and demonstrated his deep knowledge. He was the first to indicate that the most important step of the process relevant to the quality of sake was rice washing and soaking, something which was affirmed by the other toji masters whom we met subsequent to this visit. Of course the quality of the rice and the water also played their important roles.


The very yummy salmon at top left corner of the bento box!

 

Excellent Nama-shu!

The delicious bento lunch served in a traditional tatami setting at the brewery's private dining area was a real treat (more for the stomach than for the legs) - particularly delicious was the sake-kasu marinated salmon - 'oishi'! It went very well with the Junmai Ginjo. The sake making season started in November, after the harvest in October and it would go on till March. So our visit was very well-timed to allow us to taste the freshly made nama-sake which tasted so much fresher at the brewery, just days/weeks after it was made! Lunch was followed by a visit to the shop which sold not just sake, but also food products made by the Kino-ene Farm, such as by-products of sake, including sake kasu (which apart from its great culinary application, is also a wonderful cosmetic product - it can be applied when mixed with water as a facial mask!), Japanese rice crackers (made from the nuka - dust from polishing rice) and pickled vegetables (also using nuka), as well as local cakes made with shoju or sake. Had we lingered longer in the shop, we would have missed our train connection back to Tokyo to catch the Shinkansen to our next stop - historic Kyoto!
In Kyoto, we stayed at the Dormy Inn Premium Kyoto Ekimae Hotel which I highly recommend if you are planning your trip on a modest budget. Each room was compactly designed and equipped, complete with free wifi, coffee (proper filter coffee) and tea making facility, powerful shower, and a bed with an ergonomic pillow. There was even an ‘onsen’ (hot spring) which almost every member of our group benefitted from to get a very good night's sleep. Breakfast was the best part and if you don't have time to grab breakfast, free coffee is served in the lobby!
Noda-san of the International Department of Gekkeikan brewery (a much larger scale brewery than Iinuma Honke) came to the hotel to meet us at the hotel and took us on a walk through a geisha district in historic Kyoto. Unfortunately it was a rather cold night and we did not see any geishas during our walk. Our restaurant is called Kappo Bardoi (http://www.kappobardoi.com/) The restaurant served kaiseki menus and on special evenings, there would be a geisha performance to be enjoyed during the meal.

Great find in Kyoto!

We started with a fantastic tofu dish (Kyoto tofu is really creamy and smooth)! It was creamy and was served with a sesame sauce – so delicious, almost could be described as a rich tofu mousse! This was followed by a number of small dishes, including some really delicious baby squid, extremely fresh sashimi which only just arrived at the restaurant and most delicate tempura. Over dinner, we tried the Junmai Daiginjo of Gekkeikan. Very elegant, fresh and nicely fruity, with banana and citrus overtones on top of the herbal and grainy notes underneath.


Day 2: The next morning, we met with Noda-san at 8:15 in the morning. He took us to a high point at the railway station and showed us how Kyoto was surrounded by mountains, hence the supply of very good spring water. We then took a train to visit a temple near the Gekkeikan brewery and tasted the famous soft water from Fushimi-ku. Gekkeikan (www.gekkeikan.co.jp) started in 1637 by the Okura family during the era of the 3rd Shogun Tokogawa of the Edo Period. The Gekkeikan brand name was registered in 1905 – it means ‘laurel crown’. The year-round Otegura brewery was first built in 1961. Gekkeikan also a brewery in California and this started in 1989. Gekkeikan ranks within top 10 (around 5th?) in total production amongst Japanese sake breweries, but it is one of 4 breweries permitted to supply sake to the Imperial Family – the others are Sakuramasamune, Kikumasamune and Nihonsakari. Gekkeikan was also responsible for the development of Yeast No. 2 registered with the Brewers’ Association of Japan. (Sakuramasamune contributed Yeast No.1). We needed some statistics to get a better grasp of the size of Gekkeikan – imagine this, 20,000 kilograms of rice being steamed every day, 365 days a year! Each kilo of rice would typically produce 1 litre of sake! Here, 60 people work full-time in the brewery, and 100 people in the bottling/labeling department. Automation is used as much as possible to increase productivity and efficiency. For example, the soaking, draining, steaming and cooling down of rice (a process which we later saw to take place in the early hours of the morning in a smaller brewery) would be computer controlled so that the workers all work from 8 am to 5 pm, one shift only. A mad dash back to the hotel after lunch to collect our suitcases – we just about caught the Shinkansen to Himeji, before the local train to our next stop, a little town called Aboshi, in the Hyogo prefecture, where we stayed in a charming seaside hotel called Hotel Seashore Mitsumisaki in Tatsuno – literally by the sea. We arrived just in time to admire the most beautiful sunset.



Local oyster and fish roe in wasabi sauce

 The hotel seems to be a popular location for wedding ceremonies and banquets. The proximity to the sea also meant that we had good access to some local produce – the oyster in the menu came from local waters! This evening we had a very sumptuous meal, all dishes paired with the sakes of Honda Shoten brewery (Brand Name Tatsuriki). Honda Shoten, now run by the 4th generation member of the Honda family, is a smaller scale brewery, employing 30 people. A couple of the sakes were served in white wine glasses and they tasted distinctly differently in smaller sake cups. We asked Honda-san what we should look for in a top quality sake. To which he succinctly replied, “the best sake should be like water: pure, elegant and understated”.


The sakes we tried from Honda Shoten

Day 3: Sake Making Day! We were off to a most brutal early morning start at 4 am when we were loaded into a taxi which took us and our suitcases to Aboshi where Honda Shoten Brewery is located. The crisp early morning air immediately dispelled any lingering thoughts of the nice warm bed we left behind at Hotel Seashore. The cold was particularly felt through the soles of the rubber wellingtons we wore……had we known, we would have put a couple of those wonderful heat pads inside the boots! The first person who greeted us was the Chairman, Senior Honda-san (the uncle of the current President)! Park-san (General Manager) and Yumi-san (Export Manager) were also there to greet us. It was a most educational day, from steaming rice at 6 am, to cooling rice, working in the koji room, transporting the rice to the moromi tanks, and visiting the shubo rooms, rice washing and soaking. We experienced huge temperature differences – someone said it later that it was like going from Alaska to Hawaii in one second! We had firsthand evidence that the amino acids (from the breaking down of protein) in the outer layer of rice was wonderful for the skin – our hands felt really smooth and hydrated after working with the rice for a while. Natural moisturizer! No wonder the koji master has such soft and supple looking skin!

After lunch, we went to watch how rice was washed and soaked, supervised by the toji master. The toji master here was the youngest ever in Japan to qualify as a toji master at the age of 27! He is now 37 (but to most of us, he looked about 17!) Everything worked like clockwork with extreme precision. As we finished slightly ahead of time, we were treated to something rather special at Honda-san’s home – a matcha ceremony. We felt really privileged to be sitting down at his family ceremony hall, served matcha by his wife. We were taught how to make the matcha frothy and how to turn the bowl before sipping the tea. A very elegant tradition! At 4:30 pm, we headed to the rice polishing machine area where we had our Kampai Celebration to celebrate the end of a long and hard day of sake making! Once again we tried different sakes and this time, we tried 4 Namagenshu, made with different rice: Yamada Nishiki (the best), Yamada-ho (the mother of Yamada Nishiki), Omachi (the father) and Shinriki (the oldest). It was fascinating to try them side by side. For me, Shinriki demonstrated a very distinct citrus and floral note, with a lighter texture, whereas Yamada Nishiki was much more pear, banana, with mineral notes, with a fuller body. Omachi contributed the weight and body to Yamada Nishiki’s DNA and Yamada-Ho the perfumed bouquet. We also had the Daiginjo served warm and this went very well with the egg omlette! Despite the language barrier, we were all able to share in Honda-san’s passion for sake and appreciate his hospitality and friendliness! As we were leaving, a group of 60 arrived for more sake tasting at 6 pm! My favourite sake from this brewery is the special edition Junmai Daiginjo Nihon no Sakura (definitely worth getting a bottle if you can find it!), followed by the Junmai Daiginjo Akitsu.

It was a huge relief when we finally checked into the hotel at Kobe! For me, it was lights out!

Day 4: A slightly later start in the morning on our last day of the course…..today we are visiting breweries in the Nada region of Kobe. Nada means seashore and there are 5 districts in Nada (Nada Go Go). Nada is famous for sake making because of its location close to the sea, allowing access to ships to transport sake to imperial capital of Edo, as well as the access to Miya Mizu (the local spring water from Nishinomiya City which is hard and rich in minerals such as potassium, calcium and phosphorus, with a little iron content), abundant supply of rice and the cold winds that blow through the Rokka Mountains, thus lowering temperatures for sake making and suppressing the growth of bacteria.

Our first visit started at 10:30 am at the largest brewery in Japan – Hakutsuru (www.hakutsuru.co.jp). Hakutsuru started in 1743. Production here is around 60 million bottles (1.8 litre) (?). Being the largest, Hakutsuru has invested much into research and development. In 2004, it started developing a new type of rice called Hakutsuru Nishiki which was officially registered in 2007. Hakutsuru has also developed its own cosmetic product line, using by-products of sake making. The moisturizer is particularly popular!

Next we visited Sakuramasamune (since 1625). Despite being the largest before the Kobe earthquake in 1995, it suffered a lot of damage and has done a lot less than its counterparts to revive and regenerate its business since this disaster. As a result, there is a deep sense of tradition here. Production has dropped significantly.

Our final visit was Kobe Shushinkan (www.shushinkan.co.jp) (Brand Name is Fukuju), which dated from 1751. Despite not being a big brewery – production about 15,000 koku (15,000 x 0.18 kilo litre = 1.5 million bottles (1.8 litre)), it seems to have done rather well in marketing – it has won prizes in International Sake Challenges and was even served at the Nobel Prize Awards Dinner in 2010. The brewery has even sold out of the sake that won a gold medal in the International Sake Challenge! We took full advantage of our last chance to shop and just about made it to the train!



View from hotel room in Tokyo!

 The evening concluded in Tokyo with a very stylish celebration dinner, specially catered for us, complete with a whole range of different sakes to sample. This concluded our Sake Sommelier Course. We were very lucky with the weather during the 4 days – most days were clear and we even had a brief brush with snow flakes in Kyoto.  In fact the sunny weather was still there on the day I left and from the plane, I got this perfect view of Mount Fuji!

This was the first ever course of this kind organized by the Sake Sommelier Association and I hope this will be the first of many to come so that other keen sake lovers will be able to gain this valuable firsthand experience to learn about sake making directly from toji masters and try it with different food types, using different glassware.  I highly recommend!

Kampai!