Sake - GuildSomm Extended Flashcards
How long has sake been produced for?
Over 2000 years
What are Jizake?
Microbreweries
In sake, what is multiple parallel fermentation?
Sake is entirely unique: in a single tank, starch converts to sugar and yeast consumes sugar to produce alcohol (and CO2) simultaneously in what is called multiple parallel fermentation.
How many sake producers were there during the Meiji era (1868-1912)?
Around 30,000
How many sake producers were there after WWII?
Around 4,000
How many sake producers are there today?
There are 1500 breweries with licenses but only 3/4 of those are in production today.
Which is the only prefecture to have a dedicated GI (geographical indication)?
Yamagata in the north (Yamagata GI)
Outside of Yamagata, in which prefecture and which city are the other breweries with GI designation? What are the names of the breweries?
Prefecture: Ishikawa
City: Hakusan
GI Name: Hakusan Kikusake GI
Breweries:
Tengumai Kikuhime Tedorigawa Manzairaku Takasago
How many breweries are in the Yamagata GI?
What are the rules for materials used in production?
51
The Yamagata GI rules state that the 51 breweries of the prefecture must use rice and koji grown in Japan, use only Yamagata water, and bottle and store their sake in Yamagata.
The sake must pass a panel judgment from the Yamagata Prefecture Sake Brewery Association, which will test the product and ensure it has an identifying “Silky and Clear Texture.”
What is doburoku?
A rustic, unrefined homebrew sake made in millennia past
What does the Japanese word for sake (酒) refer to?
What words are used to specify Japanese sake?
All alcohol (Beer, sake, wine, etc)
Nihonshu (日本酒), meaning “Japanese alcohol”
Seishu (清酒), or “clear alcohol,” is often used for legal and taxation purposes.
In Nara, Japan, in 689 AD the first imperial sake brewing department was established. Who consumed the sake?
At that time, production was usually reserved for the budding nation’s imperial court, its temples, and its shrines—not unlike how churches in Europe were managing winemaking
What is Arukouru Tenka or Aruten? What are the styles produced from this type of sake?
Sake with spirit added, so it contains five ingredients instead of 4: rice, water, yeast, koji mold, and brewer’s spirit (distilled alcohol)
Styles: Honjozo, Ginjo, and Daiginjo
What does Junmai translate to?
Pure rice
What are the styles of Junmai sake?
Junmai, Junmai Ginjo, Junmai Daginjo,
The brewer’s spirit was once used to dilute sake while fortifying it and masking impurities, what does it add today?
Today it is added for minerality and texture. Known as jozo-alcohol, it is normally made from distilled rice or sugar beet and is unaged, colorless, and often flavorless
How many types of sakamai (sake rice) are recognized for sake production in Japan?
Over 80
How is sakamai (sake rice) different from table rice?
Sakamai varieties tend to be heavier and about a quarter taller than table rice, or kakomai. With a spongier texture, sakamai has a unique ratio of fat and protein on the outside, with a particularly starchy center concentrated on the inside. This white heart, or shinpaku, is key to sake production.
What is shinpaku
The heart of the rice grain.
What ABV does sake generally ferment to?
Sake ferments to about 8 to 20% natural alcohol. However, to avoid additional taxes, the final product is often diluted to around 15%
On a sake label, will you ever see, “ ichiban and daihyo, “number one” and “leading”?
No. A sake label can never have a vague indication of high quality. For example, ichiban and daihyo, “number one” and “leading,” respectively, are not permitted on labels.
Is sake rice or table rice more expensive?
Sake rice.
Cultivating sake rice is more challenging than growing table rice due to wind and top-heavy crops. Table rice tends to be less top heavy, less prone to wind damage, and easier to work with throughout the growing process. As a result, sake rice is more expensive than table rice.
A sake producer will place high value on a variety of sake rice that can absorb the right amount of moisture, cooperate with and be penetrated by koji mold, and interact with various types of yeast. These traits are generally more important than the actual flavor of the rice. It’s not uncommon for producers to pay upwards of three times the price of table rice on high quality sake rice.
Do sake producers generally grow their own rice?
While some producers grow their own rice, they usually don’t grow enough to sustain their entire sake production, so they work with farmers and cooperatives. Producers typically contract a rice paddy and have it managed by experienced farmers.
For sake to be certified organic, what are the requirements for the rice paddy?
Certification for organically produced sake is tied to agriculture, not methods employed inside the brewery. Certified organic sake must come from a rice paddy that has been free from synthetic products for a minimum of three years.
What effect do strong diurnal shifts have on sake rice?
Sake rice likes strong diurnal shifts, with hot days and cold nights. These temperature changes cause starch from the outside of a grain of rice to be collected into its center to make a good shinpaku with a high concentration of starch. Rice also loves sunlight. In years with lower average temperatures and less sunlight, the grains are smaller and more soluble, resulting in a rounder, more definitive rice flavor. This will also result in a lower kasubuai, a term referring to the percentage ratio of sake kasu (pomacebo left over after production) to the original volume of polished rice used to create the sake. In hot years with more sunlight, the starch becomes less soluble at its shinpaku. The resulting sake will be leaner, with a higher kasubuai.
When is rice harvested in Japan?
In the north of Japan, rice is harvested starting in early September; harvest is significantly later in the south. On the southern island of Kyushu, it begins as late as mid-October. These varying temperatures and harvest dates contribute to the typically leaner northern styles versus the richer and mellower styles of the south.
What are concerns during the growing season?
Weeds, over nourished stalks that are heavy and buckle under the weight and tall stalks prone to wind damage.
Weeds are a primary concern throughout the growing season. They can sprout at any time, including during the draining of the rice paddy and at harvest. Steps are taken to minimize damage of the paddies, but weeds can also be taken in by the harvest machine. As a result, in potentially troublesome areas of the paddy, hand harvesting may be necessary.
In which season does the sake making process begin?
The production cycle of sake takes roughly a year. Rice is planted in the spring and ready for sale by the end of autumn. In winter, the sake-making process begins.
What are the five grades of size for classifying rice?
Santoh (Grade 3) Nittoh (Grade 2) Ittoh (Grade 1) Tokuto (Special Grade) Tokujo (Higher Special Grade)
Tokutei meisho-shu, meaning “special designation” or “premium” sake, must be made from rice that has been given one of these five grades. This is the high quality sake typically seen in restaurants; it makes up about 26% of all sake produced in Japan. Along with following the guidelines for rice size, sake at this level cannot have any preservatives, coloring agents, flavors, or fragrances added during or after production, a regulation enforced by law.
What is a seimaiki?
A mill.
After being harvested, prepared, and sold, sake rice is milled using a machine called a seimaiki. Housed in a large building, it operates 24 hours a day, staffed by three kurabito, or brewery workers, on rotating shifts. Most breweries do not have their own milling machines, so they will use offsite machines. Breweries that do have machines will sometimes provide milling services to smaller breweries.
Describe the milling process.
The milling process, called seimai, begins with brown rice (genmai). Inside the machine, the dry rice grains are slowly milled in a polishing chamber with a roll made from an extremely hard material, then fall vertically through the mill. The machine removes the outer layers, at which point the rice is considered hakumai, or white rice. Further polishing gently removes the fat and protein outer layers of the hakumai, contributors to rustic, fatty, and earthy flavors. Once the polished rice grains leave the chamber, a series of perforated plates separate the resulting flour (nuka) and the adequately polished grains. A calibrated hole will reject rice that is insufficiently polished, moving it back to the top with a bucket conveyer to go through the process again. The nuka will be used for cattle feed, fertilizer, rice crackers, and more.
What does seimaibuai refer to?
The term seimaibuai refers to the amount of rice that remains after polishing. For example, if a sake has a seimaibuai of 68%, 32% of the outer fat and protein has been polished away, with 68% left. The more a grain of rice is polished, the longer the process, the greater the risk of damage, and the more rice that will be required for the final product. It takes 50 hours to polish a grain of rice to 50% of its original size (seimaibuai 50%) and 50 more to remove another 15% (seimaibuai 35%).
What is Hakurakusei’s Super 7 Junmai Daiginjo?
One producer from Miyagi in northern Japan, Hakurakusei, uses a rice polishing machine whose milling roll is made with diamond crystals and purportedly cost three million USD. Using the ultra-hard diamond surface, they released their Super 7 Junmai Daiginjo with a seimaibuai of 7%. This release, with several variations, is the most widely available bottle made with highly polished rice. Yet even this is extremely rare, and bottles are very expensive.
What are the typical attributes of a lower semaibuai and a higher semaibaui sake?
Typically, lower seimaibuai (more fat and protein removed) leads to more elegance, delicate flavors, and vibrant aromatics, while a higher seimaibuai (less fat and protein removed) produces more rustic and savory styles of sake. Later, a producer will decide to add brewer’s alcohol if more texture, body, and minerality are desired; this can also soften any overwhelming aromatic components and flavors.
In Junmai-shu, what does the “shu” refer to.
“shu” translates to alcohol, so Junmai-shu has the same meaning as Junmai.
What is the Futsushu category of sake?
This lower category comprises roughly 75% of all sake produced in Japan. It has no seimaibuai rules, and additives are less prohibited.
What are the seimaibuai requirements for futsushu sake?
There are no seimaibuai requirements for fusushu sake.
What type of sake is honjozo sake?
Honjozo sake includes the addition of brewers alcohol. Historically this addition was used to cover flaws of a lower grade sake. Now the addition of alcohol doesn’t necessarily lessen sake’s quality; rather, it changes sake’s characteristics and often creates a more mineral-driven, cleaner beverage.
What is Junmai sake?
Junmai is sake without the addition of brewers alcohol (or any other additives) the only ingredients permitted are water, Koji mold, yeast and rice.
What is the seimaibuai requirement for Junmai sake?
Legally, there is not seimaibuai requirement for Junmai sake though it is generally 70% or lower.
What are the characteristic differences between Junmai and Honjozo?
Junmai is generally more robust and flavorful (referred to as “aji”). It’s more robust, structured, and umami driven than Honjozo which has a cleaner, more mineral-driven palate.
When spirit is added to Junmai Ginjo, what is the name classification of the sake?
Ginjo
What does Junmai Ginjo indicate on a label.
A seimaibuai of 60% or less and no spirit added.
What do “kaori” and “aji” mean?
kaori - aromatic, fruity, floral style
aji - textured, savory, taste-driven style
What’s a Kura?
A brewery
What is Junmai Daiginjo?
A sake with a seimaibuai of 50% and no spirit added. The semaibuai can reach levels as low as 9% or so.
Some Daiginjo are polished so much that only 9% of the original rice grain remains—these examples tend to be delicate and vibrant, with many exotic fruit and floral characteristics. They are often referred to as kaori. When spirit is added, the sake loses its Junmai prefix, and the final product gains roundness and texture by way of viscosity from the brewer’s spirit.
What is a Toji?
A Brewmaster
What happens first in sake making? Koji inoculation, steaming or soaking the rice?
Soaking the rice to increase weight by 30%, then steamed for 45-60 minutes to break up the starch molecules in the rice, adding additional 12% moisture to each grain of rice.
After steaming and a cooling period called karashi kikan, batches are separated for their intended purpose. Most will be used for the day’s yeast starter, which is known as moto or shubo, and the rest (ranging from 20 to 40%) will be moved to the koji room, or koji muro.
What is the kakemai?
The non-koji inoculated rice
