You might wonder whether sake can be aged like wine and to what extent it benefits from ageing. Sake is traditionally brewed to be consumed young. So it wouldn't be wise to store a bottle of your favourite sake in your cellar for several years to mature. There...
Boston Sour with “Hakutake Shiro” Rice shochu This is a “Boston Sour” cocktail arranged with “Hakutake Shiro” rice shochu. It has a fluffy mouthfeel from an egg white, dryness from rice shochu, and a good balance between sourness and sweetness: Recommend alongside dried fruit or cheese. ・”Hakutake Shiro” rice shochu...
Yukimuro (literally, snow cellar in Japanese) were natural refrigerators found in the "snow country" of Niigata Prefecture, where fresh foods were stored all year round. A brewery in the same prefecture uses snow refrigeration to produce "uniquely mellow and rich" sake today. One of Niigata Prefecture's heaviest snowfall...
Cool sake cups, carafes, and service vessels illuminate the sake experience. More and more types and styles become apparent as one's sake discovery journey evolves. We've put together this quick guide to help you find your new favourite cup. The Sakazuki Cup Sakazuki Sake Cup Literature...
Dear Sake Lovers, We're excited to share with you a wonderful video interview of Mr To Kikuchi, the Toji at our beloved Kikuchi sake brewerry in Okayama. The interview was conducted by the team at "Quality Okayama". You can find more articles from them here. Enjoy the interview and kanpai!...
What is Bizen ware? Bizen ware is a form of pottery that has been produced around the city of Bizen in Okayama Prefecture. Bizen ware is one of Japan's six ancient kilns. It is without a doubt that Bizen ware is one of the most outstanding Japanese kilns,...
Despite sake having a long history of more than 1,000 years, the popular, highly polished, wine-like sake we all love is barely 100 years old. In 1868, after the Meiji Restoration (a political and social movement that ended the power of the Tokugawa shogun and brought Japan closer to...
What is Yeast? Yeasts are single-cell organisms, called Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which need food, warmth, and moisture to thrive. It converts its food — sugar and starch — into carbon dioxide and alcohol through fermentation. Over time, people have chosen the yeast that best fits their objective, whether for brewing...
If you ask a Japanese resident what Niigata means to them, they'll most likely answer "snow, rice and sake." Snow Did you know Niigata was the birthplace of skiing in Japan? First introduced to Japan in 1911 by an Austrian major named Theodore Edler von...
What Is Koji? The Japanese food culture owes a lot to a microscopic organism called Aspergillus oryzae, also known as koji-kin. The action of this magical mould, which grows on a variety of grains, is crucial to the production processes that result in soy sauce, rice vinegar, and miso....
A Quick Introduction To Water. Sake is composed of only four natural ingredients: rice, water, yeast, and koji. These ingredients each contribute to the taste of our favourite beverage. But there is one ingredient that stands out above them all: water. In its final stage, sake is approximately...
For thousands of years, Japanese brewers have cultivated, understood and worked with rice to make one of the world's finest nectars: sake. To learn about rice is to understand sake.Despite its long history in Japan, rice was for a long time purely a food for warriors and aristocrats. It only...
During the Edo period, the city of Kanazawa grew to become a town of outstanding cultural achievements, rivalling Edo (Tokyo) and Kyoto. At the time, it was home to the Maeda Clan, the second most powerful feudal clan after the Tokugawa. The city is home to many historical attractions...
Sake bottles from Japan are sometimes compared to pieces of art due to their beautiful and colorful labels. However, beautiful doesn't always mean practical, especially if you can't speak Japanese. Nonetheless, these aesthetically pleasing labels can sometimes make it difficult to understand and choose the bottle we want. Although there...
Japan is an island country comprising a vast archipelago of over 6,000 islands extending across 3,000 kilometres. Stretching from North to South, the country hosts a wide range of climates where temperature differences can reach up to 50°C at locations on either end of the country. The land of the...
The quality that most people seem to remember most about sake is the fact that it can be consumed warm. It is true that not many alcoholic beverages can be consumed above 30°C. However, we have discovered that most consumers think sake should only be consumed warm. Depending on the...
