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The Brewing Process
Sake is often referred to as "Japanese rice wine" for convenience's sake, but in reality it has very little in common with wine. Sake is brewed, not fermented, and its production process has more similarities to that of beer. Production starts with unpolished rice cultivated specifically for brewing. The outer portion of each grain, which contains fats, minerals and proteins, is milled away, which is a difficult and time-consuming process that has been mostly automated in modern times. The rice is then washed then soaked in ultra-pure water meeting rigorous specifications--water quality has a big effect on the final taste. After this, the rice is steamed via high-temperature steam blasting, then cooled. The next step is the creation of koji, which is steamed rice onto which koji-kin mold has been cultivated. This is a pivotal step in the production process, and careful precision and temperature control are required. Many types of koji are used throughout the industry, but most agree handmade koji is the best.
Brewers then move on to making the moto, the yeast starter. This is prepared separately and then mixed in stages with the koji, rice and water. This mixture, or mash, is known as moromi, and it is allowed to ferment with additional koji, rice and water added in over the course of several days. The finished moromi is pressed through a filter to separate out the sake. Following pressing, some brewers filter their sake by adding powdered carbon, which can remove naturally occurring amber coloring and eliminates undesirable flavors. However, with advances in technologies and techniques today, this step is not always necessary, and some brewers prefer to skip filtering to retain certain flavor characteristics. Finally, water is added to lower the alcohol content, which tends to be around 20% after brewing. Most sake is then pasteurized twice: once before aging and once again before final bottling.An old chimney at a sake brewery in Hiroshima (Saijo)
Rice Polishing is Key: Understanding Sake Grades
A majority of sake you will find in the supermarket are low-quality, hangover-inducing concoctions best avoided by any drinker. These are known as futsu-shu (普通酒, lit. "ordinary sake"), and while good futsu-shu does exist, it is uncommon. Nada and Fushimi are famous sake production regions in Japan due to their high output volumes, yet few people realize that much of this is cheap, unpalatable futsu-shu. Junmaishu (純米酒) is pure rice sake made using only rice, water and koji-kin, whose rice grains have been milled down to 70% of their original size or less to remove the flavor-impeding outer layers. Honjozoshu (本醸造酒) is similar to junmaishu (same milling requirement) but with a very small amount of other liquor added to the moromi before pressing, which increases yields and sometimes enhances or lightens the flavor. Tokubetsu-junmaishu (特別純米酒) and tokubetsu-honjozoshu (特別本醸造酒) are usually similar but with rice milled more than the standard junmaishu/honjozoshu requirements.
Small Process Changes, Big Flavor Alterations
In addition to choosing good raw ingredients, producers tweak the brewing process in order to achieve certain flavors. The following terms show these process changes. • Namazake (生酒): Sake that has not been pasteurized. • Namachozo (生貯蔵): Sake that has been pasteurized once (rather than twice) before bottling. • Muroka (無濾過): Unfiltered sake. Refers to sake that is not filtered using carbon powder. • Nigorizake (濁酒): Cloudy sake that has larger particles from the moromi remaining through use of a larger-holed mesh during pressing, or by adding some of the lees back into the sake after pressing. Offers unique tastes and textures. • Genshu (原酒): Sake into which no water has been added to reduce alcohol content, giving it a stronger flavor impact. • Koshu (古酒): Aged sake (usually several years or more), usually featuring a darker color and an unusual taste that many first-time drinkers find to be off-putting. It is popular among long-time sake enthusiasts.Sake Tasting Tips
