Sake Tasting at Takara Brewery

I like Japan. I like booze. So sake is pretty much a given. And yet I know little about it, or even what kinds I should buy. It's frustratingly elusive, this rice wine. But why curse the darkness when I can light a candle? Off to Berkeley, CA's Takara Brewery.

Takara, brewer of Sho Chiku Bai sake, has been in Berkeley since 1982 (Ozeki has been in the US the longest, in Hollister, CA since 1979). I've known about Takara for going on 10 years, when a friend told me the free museum and sake tasting made for a great date. I didn't have a date with me when I finally made the trek on BART to Berkeley but I'm happy to report that it's still free.

I had the museum and tasting room to myself, it being 3 in the afternoon on a Wednesday. I perused the museum, which had a nice selection of early-20th-century sake tools and barrels. I still had no idea what any of it was for. Even with the signs (yes, in English) I was having trouble putting it all together. Apparently others had too: one of the motooke barrels had money and expired BART tickets at the bottom.

I was shown a video about sake but found it hard to concentrate as the TV was old and the image kept pulsing. I complained to the attendant and she said it made you feel like you were drunk. True that.

And speaking of drunk, the time had arrived to do a little tasting. We started with a warm junmai Sho Chiku Bai, the standard sushi bar sake. A bit of a bite, but filled me with a nice warmth. Made me want hamachi nigiri. I should mention that the attendant put out a bowl for me to dump out whatever I didn't want to drink. It was still bone dry at the end of the session.

Next up was the Sho Chiku Bai Organic Nama, an unpasteurized junmai (I'll get to all these terms at the end). It was delightfully dry with just the slightest bite to remind you you're drinking alcohol. I bought it.

This was followed by the Sho Chiku Bai Ginjo, smooth with a fruity aftertaste. Categorized as a junmai gingjo, this comes in a pretty, frosted bottle with a colored image on the back inside of the bottle that shows through the front. Bought it.

I had already tried the unfiltered Sho Chiku Bai Nigori, so I was poured a little of the Crème de Sake Nigori, which is less sweet than the regular nigori. Bought it.

Sake cocktails are still pretty popular I guess, so Takara has started a line of flavored sakes. I tried a cupful of the lychee flavor, which was utterly delicious, and utterly dangerous. I could easily drink a whole bottle, not realizing how much I had imbibed, until it was too late. So I passed. But boy would teenage girls like this.

Lastly I was poured a bit of the Koshu Plum, which is plum-flavored sake. The plum flavor was much stronger and more tart than I expected, not nearly as light as the lychee. It was maybe too flavored, but nice nonetheless. I also passed on this.

The types then. The attendant explained to me that all of the sakes Takara brews in America are junmai, which means they are unfortified. Just water, rice and culture. (The local sakes are made with rice grown in California, and water from the Sierra Nevadas is used.) Basic junmai use rice that has been polished down to 70% of its original size.

Junmai ginjo is like junmai, except it has been polished down to 60%.

Ginjo has been polished down to 60% and has added distilled alcohol (fortified).

Junmai dai ginjo is the good stuff, just water, rice and culture, and polished down to 50%. Why is more polish better? Apparently, it's the interior kernel of the rice that gives the best flavor. The outer part, which is good for eating, is not so good for brewing.

The other types are the nama (unpasteurized), nigori (unfiltered, so it's cloudy), and honjozo, which is like a regular junmai expect it has added distilled alcohol. There are other types too, but I'm getting way beyond what I learned today.

My next stop will be the store True Sake in San Francisco. A lot of the info in this piece is from the True Sake site. Check it out.

My next sake brewery visit will be to Gekkeikan in Folsom, CA. Who knows, I may visit the prison too.

Comments

[TigerYogi]

How delish! ;)