Pre-issue #3 - Kanzake Winners, JETRO labeling for export, Imuraya moves into sake, Fukushima and Ishikawa new local rice strains, Plastic enclosures
Know More. Appreciate More.
Winners announced from the National Kanzake Awards
The winners from the National Kanzake Awards, held in July, have been revealed. The competition, designed to highlight the merits of warmed sake, is now in its tenth year.
This year saw 905 sake from 268 breweries submitted for blind tasting by professionals from the sake industry. In each division the top 30% of sake tasted are awarded a gold medal. The top 5% of those Gold medal winners are then awarded the Saikō (Supreme) Gold medal.
The categories are divided by price and serving temperature:
-Budget Warm Sake Division- sake valued under JPY1,100 for 720ml or under JPY2,200 for 1.8L. Tasted at 45°C.
-Budget Hot Sake Division- sake valued under JPY1,100 for 720ml or under JPY2,200 for 1.8L. Tasted at 45°C.
-Premium Warm Sake Division- sake valued at over JPY1,100 for 720ml or over JPY2,200 for 1.8L. Tasted at 45°C.
-Warm Sake Special Division- sake that falls into the following categories: Aged sake (over 3 years), Taruzake (barrel), sweet sake (with a SMV/ Nihonshudo of minus 10 or lower). Tasted at 45°C.
Of the sake submitted, 19 breweries were awarded the Supreme Gold medal in the Premium Warm Sake Premium Division, 16 in the Budget Warm Sake Division, 15 in the Budget Hot Sake Division and 4 breweries took the top prize in the Warm Sake Special Division.
Winners are listed here (in Japanese).
Source - Kanzake.jp | Image - SIN
N.B. Statistically, most sake is served warmed or hot. Yet as most of us know, most premium sake is better off chilled. But there are plenty of great premium sake of all grades that are enjoyable warmed. But as ginjō style sake has gained popularity since the 80s and 90s, consumers have moved away from even trying warmed sake, relegating it to the “only bad sake is served hot” realm of misunderstanding.
Recently, in the last decade or so, there has been a comeback and premium sake that can be enjoyed warm is slowly but surely gaining ground. Events such as this contest continue to garner attention and significance in the industry. Be sure to broaden your horizons and warm up to kanzake!
John Gauntner
JETRO announces labeling guidelines for export sake
In what is surely welcome news for overseas markets, JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization) has announced a standard guideline for breweries looking to label their sake for the foreign market. The guideline, designed in collaboration with the National Tax Department offers up an easy to follow template that lays out the sake flavor profile (medium/light, sweet/dry), along with an aroma profile and suggested food matches.
The proposed label also includes a small map of Japan to indicate the origin of the sake and space for a brief write-up of the producers and the sake itself. Interestingly, while an explanation for the grade of sake (daiginjō, junmai etc.) is offered, the brewing specs are not included as pertinent information.
JETRO says they hope the template will help the understanding of sake in foreign markets.
Source- Jetro
From popsicles and pork buns to nihonshu; Imuraya enters the sake industry.
Fukui Shuzō in Mie prefecture, maker of Fuku No Koe, has been acquired by food manufacturer Imuraya Confectionary Company. Better know for their azuki (bean paste) flavored popsicles and Chinese-style pork buns, this is the company’s first foray into the alcoholic beverage market.
Plans are already in place to open a flagship store, which will feature both sake and confectionary products, in the Aqua x Agnis Taki resort facility in Mie, scheduled for opening in autumn 2020. They have also expressed interest in exploring the use of fermentation technology in confectionary manufacturing.
Source - Asahi Shimbun | Image - SIN
N.B. The composition of the sake industry is changing greatly and quickly. Until just a few decades ago, almost all sake breweries were family owned. Rarely did companies outside the industry step in and take over operations at sake breweries. But this is rapidly changing, and recently a wide range of companies have stepped in to take the reins in sake breweries all over Japan.
This is one example of such changes in the industry. Provided this company, and others in the same position, do their best to brew decent sake and market it well, these changes are positive; regardless, they are inevitable. Note, however, that not all such cases are undertaken under such good auspices.
John Gauntner
Fukushima and Ishikawa announce birth of local rice strains
It's been 11 years in the making, but Ishikawa breweries will finally be able to use the prefecture's own indigenous rice, “Ishikawa Sake #68”. The project came about as a response from the Ishikawa Agriculture and Forestry Research Center to the desire from local brewers to produce sake (particularly a daiginjō) that uses only Ishikawa grown ingredients to better expresses local terroir, water and the history of Ishikawa.
The new rice strain has been touted as bearing characteristics that could see it rival "the king of sake rice", Yamada Nishiki.
Yasuyuki Yoshida of Yoshida Shuzō in Hakusan-city, brewers of Tedorigawa, described the rice as, "having a strong minerality to the profile." Fellow brewer Tōru Konishidani added, "like wine, (sake made with this rice) will smooth out with maturity."
The Research Center tried several combinations of cross-breeding with Yamada Nishiki to find the perfect rice that can stand up to milling rates beyond 50% without cracking or losing flavor.
Meanwhile, Fukushima Prefecture took 15 years to develop what brewers hope will be the quintessential Fukushima rice. As the prefecture with the highest gold medal tally in the National New Sake Competition, Fukushima sake is held in high regard but the rice used for brewing is often from other prefectures.
As a show of confidence in local agriculture following the fallout from the nuclear plant disaster in 2011, the local government hopes consumers will also embrace the new concept.
Tentatively named "Fukushima Sake #50", the rice has been described as having a larger than usual shinpaku (starchy center) and good water retention, ideal for kōji production. So far, sake produced with the rice has been characterized as "aromatic with a clean sweetness". Similar to the brewers in Ishikawa, Fukushima sake producers hope their new rice will become a worthy rival to Yamada Nishiki.
Source Nikkei | Image SIN
N.B. Prefectures all over Japan are working on developing new sake rice constantly. As described above, doing so can take as long as 15 years or so. Why do they do it? Because good sake rice that can be grown well locally will benefit the local agricultural economy, as well as help the local brewing industry establish a local style and uniqueness. In short, “everyone’s looking for the next big Yamada Nishiki.”
It takes time and effort, but almost always pays off to at least some degree. And, by reading up on such developments, we can learn quite a bit about what makes good sake rice and what the related challenges can be.
John Gauntner
Ibaraki brewery to introduce plastic closures
Sudō Honke, in Ibaraki Prefecture, have announced they will be making the move to seal all of their 720ml and 1.8L sake bottles with plastic closures. The decision comes due to concerns of consumers cutting their hands on the widely used aluminum closures.
Plastic caps on sake, other than sparking sake, are still quite rare and given the global inclination to reduce plastic manufacturing, it remains to be seen whether other breweries will pick up the trend.
Source Nikkei
N.B. Closures are an important part of the packaging, quality control and economics of any beverage, including wine and sake. And tradition dies hard, even if new materials can be shown to be superior. It is interesting to see this brewery, the second oldest in Japan with over 850 years of history, moving forward with such modern changes in closures.
There are still a wide range of closures used for sake bottles, and traditionally those closures used for 1.8 liter bottles are different from those for smaller bottles. Currently, there is a lot of experimentation taking place, and whether or not a consensus of what is best and/or an industry standard of sorts develops remains to be seen.
John Gauntner
Breaking down rice costs
By John Gauntner
There are many folks out there that enjoy sake on a daily basis, including some that sell sake for a living, that are not familiar with how the whole rice supply chain thing works. In truth, there is much to say about this seemingly simple topic. Let’s look at one small facet of that: how much premium sake rice costs.
Even this is a topic with myriad possible ways of assessing it. For now, let’s simplify it to help us arrive at a simple, somewhat useful, somewhat interesting answer. Still, to get there, we need to present a little background information.
First, sake brewers do not grow their own rice; they buy it indirectly or (less commonly) directly from rice farmers. Of course there are some exceptions, but very few. Perhaps 20 to 30 brewers amongst 1200 or so grow some of their own rice. No one (to my knowledge) grows all the rice they need. Most that do grow some probably make about 15% of what they need, but that number too is only for reference!
This is changing slowly, and will continue to change. There is much to say about how and when this came about, why it remains that way, why it is changing and more, but for now, as background for this discussion, let's say that brewers do not grow their own rice - they buy it. How much they pay for it depends partly on the classification and also the inspection grade.
Classification, as I use it here, refers to whether it is official sake rice, table rice, or rice grown for processing. These are legal classifications, and for several reasons the price of each classification is different. For our discussion here, we will speak of shuzōkōteki mai, i.e. proper sake rice. Sake rice is the most expensive of these, not surprisingly, and basically you get what you pay for.
The best sake rice out there is Yamada Nishiki. Is it really that simple? Oh, God no. But in order to narrow our conversation down, we need to generalize a bit. Yamada Nishiki is, in fact, the most widely grown sake rice, and the go-to sake rice for almost all contest sake, and a large share of the daiginjōmarket.
There are, in fact, one or two other rice varieties that are a bit more expensive. But here we will use Yamada Nishiki as a simple reference point that will tell us a lot about rice costs across the board.
Next, we need to understand the grades of rice, and these are assessed by inspection. Soon after harvest, certified government inspectors assess the rice based on things like size, quality of the shinpaku, protein content, ratio of green (unripe) grains and more.
Of course, certain regions, certain rice fields, and certain farmers will grow better rice than others, so the grades that can be expected from a region, plot or producer are somewhat predictable.
There are five grades of rice that are applied to sake rice (table rice has only three). In ascending order, those grades are:
Santō: 3rd grade
Nitō: 2nd grade
Ittō: 1st grade
Tokutō: Special Grade
Tokujō: Special Top Grade
After that long-winded introduction, let us look at prices for Yamada Nishiki for each of the five grades. Note, though, that these prices are for Hyogo Prefecture-grown Yamada, Nishiki which is the best overall region for this particular rice. Actually, 33 of Japan’s 47 prefectures grow some Yamada Nishiki , but Hyogo tends be the most expensive. Also, these prices are approximate and will vary from route to route, and place to place.
Santō: 3rd grade – 18,600 yen
Nitō: 2nd grade – 20,400 yen
Ittō: 1st grade – 24,200 yen
Tokutō: Special Grade – 26,000 yen
Tokujō: Special Top Grade – 27,600 yen
These prices are for a 60kg unit (called a hyō), and currently the exchange rate is about 105 yen to the dollar. I will leave the math to you.
Bear in mind that those numbers are for this year's Hyogo Prefecture-grown Yamada Nishiki, and are typical. But consider them only as a rough reference point.
Quickly, let’s look at how this related to production costs.
A typical size batch for daiginjō would be 1200 kg of dry, milled rice used to start the batch. (Note; this is how sake brewers measure and discuss batch sizes.) That would be 20 60kg hyō, but if we are milling down to, say, 35 percent seimai buai, that means we need (20/0.35=) 57 bags. And 57 bags times 27,600 yen each is about 1.6 million yen, or at 105 to the dollar, almost exactly US$15,000. Just for rice. Just for one tank of sake (admittedly, daiginjō).
That 1,200 kg batch will yield about 3,000 bottles, maybe less, depending on a gazillion factors. But what this all means is that the cost of rice per bottle for our hypothetical yet very realistic sake is $5 - just for the rice. Add to this labor, energy, other materials, and that often-forgotten little thing called profit, and we can see why sake commands the prices it does.
Again, we are talking about top grade Yamada Nishiki, milled to the extreme, brewed using labor-intensive methods, and this is just one example. Lesser rice (be it grade, varietal, or classification), less milling, and economies of sale will all affect these numbers hugely. But if nothing else, we get a much-needed glimpse of the inner workings of the rice-to-sake relationship.
Keep these factors in mind and you may be willing to pay a bit more for your sake!