Tōhoku: Akita

Question 1

Which two pre-Meiji names are associated with Akita?

Answer 1

Dewa

Mutsu

Question 2

What industry boosted sake production during the Edo period in Akita?

Answer 2

Mining

Question 3

What feature of the environment was important for trade in Akita historically?

Answer 3

Rivers (transportation in both southern and northern Akita)

The Sea of Japan (Kitamae trade route)

Question 4

At what temperatures have Akita brewers historically brewed sake?

Answer 4

Cold!

Used to perform kanzukuri – with fermentation lasting about a month

Question 5

What is the modified version of the traditional method associated with Akita?

Answer 5

Akita-ryu kimoto method

Question 6

What is the Akita-ryu kimoto method?

What does it result in?

Answer 6

Using a hand-operated electric drill with a special bit attached, to replace the wooden poles used in yama-oroshi

It results in a relatively anaerobic environment, minimising oxygen in the tank, thereby encouraging lactic acid bacteria to propagate.

This itself results in an ultra clean kimoto sake

Question 7

Which key producer of kōji-kin and sake yeast is based in Akita?

Answer 7

Akita Konno Moyashi

Question 8

What styles of sake do Akita brewers tend to focus on?

Answer 8

Junmai-shu

Many produce yamahai / kimoto sake too

Question 9

Which brewery in Akita experiments with black and white kōji-kin?

Answer 9

Asamai Shuzō (Amanoto)

Question 10

Which Akita breweries are using cedar keoke moromi tanks?

Answer 10

Yamamoto brewery

Aramasa brewery

Question 11

What is the name of Akita’s only tōji guild?

Answer 11

Sannai Tōji

Question 12

What does the Sannai Tōji guild focus on?

What does this mean specifically?

Answer 12

The guild focuses on natural brewing

This means:

• no mixing of tanks or blending of ingredients
• no addition of water at the end of fermentation
• no charcoal filtration

Question 13

What is NEXT FIVE?

Answer 13

A collective of five younger brewers in Akita

They work together each season to craft a special sake, each overseeing a segment of the brewing process

Question 14

What are the important rivers/river basins for rice cultivation and sake brewing in Akita?

Answer 14

Yoneshiro River (N Akita, forming in Ōu Mountains, water for breweries)

Omono River (C Akita, flowing N from Mt Daisen, water for rice cultivation and breweries)

Yokote Basin (S Akita, water for rice cultivation)

Question 15

What is Akita known for throughout Japan?

Why?

Answer 15

Its high quality rice

Long sunshine hours allow for high quality rice cultivation

Question 16

Which is Akita’s predominant sake rice?

Answer 16

Akita Sake Komachi

Question 17

When was Akita Sake Komachi developed / registered?

Answer 17

1992 / 2003

Question 18

Which rice is Akita Sake Komachi similar to?

What style of sake does this make it good for?

Answer 18

Similar to Yamada Nishiki –> good for ginjō-shus

Question 19

Which yeast is Akita Sake Komachi highly compatible with?

Answer 19

AK-1 Ginjō Yeast

Question 20

How is Akita Sake Komachi similar to Miyama Nishiki?

Answer 20

Cold resistant and therefore suite to Akita’s cold climate

Question 21

What is Akita Sake Komachi’s

• grain size?
• starch content?
• protein content?
• resistance to cracking?

Answer 21

• Large grain
• High starch
• Low protein
• Resistant to cracking

Question 22

Which rice variety originates in Nagano but is widely cultivated in Akita?

Answer 22

Miyama Nishiki

Question 23

What is Miyama Nishiki valued for?

Answer 23

Large plump grains

High ratio of simpaku

Low proteins

Parenting cold climate strains e.g. Dewasansan, Akionosei, Yumenokaori

Question 24

Which Akita variety was developed in the late 1980d, in aneffort to cultivate Akita’s first ginjō rice?

Answer 24

Gin no sei

Question 25

What is distinctive about Gin no Sei’s shinpaku?

Answer 25

It has a small shinpaku, sometimes dubbed the mystery shinpaku since light does not define it as with Yamada Nishiki

–> can be milled to daiginjō levels without cracking

Question 26

What is Gin no Sei’s protein content?

What does this mean for the final sake?

Answer 26

High protein content

Elegant flavours with deep taste but less aroma

Question 27

Is Akita’s water generally soft or hard?

What does this lend to the sake?

Answer 27

Soft

Mellowness

Question 28

Which two association yeasts were isolated in Akita?

Answer 28

Kyōkai Yeast no. 6

AK-1 (Akitaryu Hanakōbo) aka Kyōkai yeast no. 1501

Question 29

Kyōkai Yeast no. 6 is now the ____ yeast distributed by the Brewing Society of Japan.

Answer 29

Kyōkai Yeast no. 6 is now the oldest yeast distributed by the Brewing Society of Japan.

(Isolated 1939 at Aramasa Shuzō, who actively use it today)

Question 30

What are the characteristics of Kyōkai Yeast no. 6?

Answer 30

Promotes a powerful fermentation –> ideal for cold temps

Comparatively low fragrance and mild flavours for a ginjō yeast

Question 31

When was AK-1 isolated?

What was it isolated as?

Answer 31

1990

Ginjō yeast

Question 32

Kyōkai yeast no. 1501 (aka AK-1) is the first kyōkai yeast developed only as a ______ yeast

Answer 32

Kyōkai yeast no. 1501 (aka AK-1) is the first kyōkai yeast developed only as a non-foaming yeast

Question 33

Kyōkai yeast no. 1501 produced pronounced aromatics of refreshing ______ and requires, like Kyōkai no. 6, ____ temperatures during fermentation

Answer 33

Kyōkai yeast no. 1501 produced pronounced aromatics of refreshing melon and requires, like Kyōkai no. 6, low temperatures during fermentation

Question 34

Kuratsuki Kōbo are the _____ yeasts that ______________.

Answer 34

Kuratsuki Kōbo are the natural yeasts that live on the walls of the brewery or are propagated from the brewery’s moromi