05-24-2000, 02:08 PM
Sake World Sake e-Newsletter
Issue #9
May 23, 1999
http://www.sake-world.com
Mail to: sakeguy@gol.com
Learn even more about sake and buy it online (shipping limited to within Japan) at: http://www.esake.com
(This publication may be freely redistributed in its entirety)
*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*
In this issue:
-Namazake: What is it all about?
-End of the brewing season for BY11
-Sake to look for
-Sake-related events
-Subscribe/unsubscribe information
-Publication information
-----------------------------------------------------------
Namazake: What is it, and what's it all about?
Namazake is a term that is commonly seen in Japan, and is becoming more and more common outside of Japan as well, especially in North America. In short, namazake means unpasteurized sake.
Nama is a term in Japanese that has several related meanings, like raw, live (as in live broadcast), in its natural state... things like that. When the term nama is applied to sake, it means that sake has not gone through the pasteurizing process, in which the sake is momentarily heated to about 65C or so to kill off enzymes and stabilize the sake.
Nothing could be more pleasantly refreshing in spring than a glass of nama-zake. It somehow conveys the essence of spring, the newness and youth of all of nature. It is available all year round to some extent. But now, just after the traditional sake brewing season has ended, is when it is most commonly seen.
Namazake is usually quite noticeably different from pasteurized sake. It is young and brash, with contrasting flavors and sharper edges, much like a young wine. Often the fragrance is much more lively and apparent, and there is an unmistakable liveliness and freshness to the sake overall. A half year or so of aging would mellow these edges out, and tie the various flavor components together, but young namazake has its own special appeal.
Naturally, each sake will display these characteristic to a different degree. Not all is so brash. But it is this zingy, fresh lightness that makes chilled namazake so appropriate for the spring. Refreshing and awakening, it seems to blend with both the weather and the seasonal delicacies associated with this season.
After the sake brewing process is completed, there remains in the final product enzymes that could - if activated - alter the flavor significantly. To protect against this and thereby keep the sake from effectively spoiling, the sake is heated momentarily (usually by passing it through a long coiled pipe submerged in hot water) to an empirically determined temperature of about 65C. This permanently deactivates the enzymes, so that the sake will not go through any further drastic changes in flavor.
If sake is not pasteurized, therefore, it must be kept refrigerated. This ensures that the temperature will not rise high enough to allow the enzymes to activate. If namazake is not kept cold (like 5-10C or so), there is a good chance it will "go bad."
Although it cannot hurt you, namazake gone south becomes cloudy, and the flavor can turn cloyingly sweet, acidic and yeast-ridden. This condition is known as "hi-ochi," and is very easy to recognize.
It is interesting to note that the pasteurization process, known as "hi-ire" (very loosely translated as "adding the fire") in sake brewing, has been around in Japan since about 1560. This is a good 300 years before Louis Pasteur produced his findings on the subject in France.
Namazake is always labeled as such. Somewhere on the bottle will be the easily-recognizable character for nama, and a note that it must be kept refrigerated. Most sake is pasteurized twice, once just after brewing and once again before shipping. A variation on the process is to pasteurize it only once; before shipping.
Such sake is known as nama-chozo, or "stored as nama." It retains some of the qualities of flavor and fragrance of fully unpasteurized sake, but has less danger of spoiling. In the end, it is not much more than a marketing ploy, and if you want to try namazake, go with completely unpasteurized namazake.
Namazake is easily available now at any good sake shop or department store. Naturally some brands are more often seen than others. See the "Sake to Look For" section below for some recommended namazake.
Remember that namazake must be kept cold, and it should be consumed soon after opening (more so even than other sake). Also note that whether or not a sake is pasteurized is unrelated to the grade of the sake. This means there is good namazake available in any price range.
Spring in Japan is all too short of a lovely season. Do not let it pass by without complementing it with a glass of namazake.
-----------------------------------------------------------
The End of BY11
We're solidly into the month of May, if not almost through it, and for almost all of the nation's 1700 or so sake brewers, this means brewing activities are over for the season. There are a handful of larger breweries that have climate-controlled factories, and do brew year-round (a practice known as shiki-jozo, or "four season brewing"). But everyone else is limited to the coldest months of the year. With the peripheral work involved, and cleaning up included, most places wrap up about the end of April.
Here are some significant facts, points and occurrences related to this time of the year.
-After the last batch of rice has been steamed for the season, plenty of work still remains. That steamed rice must then be added to the final hungrily-waiting fermenting tanks, the 18-day to month-long fermentation must run its course, and the sake must then be pressed and stored. Indeed, there is still several more weeks of work. But after that last steaming, a light appears at the end of the tunnel. And that is cause for celebration.
That celebration is called koshiki taoshi, and refers to the overturning (taoshi) of the rice-steaming vat (koshiki). Today, many koshiki are large, steel contraptions that do not overturn easily, unlike their ancient, wooden counterparts. But when wooden koshiki were/are used, the large cask is turned on its side for a thorough cleaning and storage for the summer. Regardless of whether anything actually gets flipped over, each kura celebrates the beginning of the end of each season with a ceremony, and perhaps a formal meal with wonderful sake (surprise, surprise).
-Until recent years, sake was brewed by a team of men, usually farmers from the boonies, with nothing else to do in the winter. As such, traditionally, just about this time of the year, the brewers of each kura (brewery) would head back to their families in the countryside, whom they had not seen in six months, since entering the kura the previous fall.
Today, however, things are changing in many ways, albeit slowly. Change is necessary, as modern society won't support things the way they were 100 years ago, for example. Sake brewing work, wonderful craft though it may be, is very hard work, and young people have too many options available to them these days.
This includes options that don't call for 14 hour days, seven days a week, for six months out of the year. People can now put in five eight-hour days in a company, and go drinking on Friday. As such, fewer young people are going into brewing, and so the average age of brewers has risen well over 60 years old. Naturally, the industry won't last for long if this is the case.
One such solution has been to use local people to brew, instead of the craftsmen from afar. Scheduling days off and utilizing labor-saving machines (without compromising the final product; a delicate balance, mind you!) are other areas where the industry is attempting change for survival. Still, progress is slow as tradition dies hard. Fortunately, so do all the experienced brewers.
Note, too, that women are now commonplace in
Issue #9
May 23, 1999
http://www.sake-world.com
Mail to: sakeguy@gol.com
Learn even more about sake and buy it online (shipping limited to within Japan) at: http://www.esake.com
(This publication may be freely redistributed in its entirety)
*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*
In this issue:
-Namazake: What is it all about?
-End of the brewing season for BY11
-Sake to look for
-Sake-related events
-Subscribe/unsubscribe information
-Publication information
-----------------------------------------------------------
Namazake: What is it, and what's it all about?
Namazake is a term that is commonly seen in Japan, and is becoming more and more common outside of Japan as well, especially in North America. In short, namazake means unpasteurized sake.
Nama is a term in Japanese that has several related meanings, like raw, live (as in live broadcast), in its natural state... things like that. When the term nama is applied to sake, it means that sake has not gone through the pasteurizing process, in which the sake is momentarily heated to about 65C or so to kill off enzymes and stabilize the sake.
Nothing could be more pleasantly refreshing in spring than a glass of nama-zake. It somehow conveys the essence of spring, the newness and youth of all of nature. It is available all year round to some extent. But now, just after the traditional sake brewing season has ended, is when it is most commonly seen.
Namazake is usually quite noticeably different from pasteurized sake. It is young and brash, with contrasting flavors and sharper edges, much like a young wine. Often the fragrance is much more lively and apparent, and there is an unmistakable liveliness and freshness to the sake overall. A half year or so of aging would mellow these edges out, and tie the various flavor components together, but young namazake has its own special appeal.
Naturally, each sake will display these characteristic to a different degree. Not all is so brash. But it is this zingy, fresh lightness that makes chilled namazake so appropriate for the spring. Refreshing and awakening, it seems to blend with both the weather and the seasonal delicacies associated with this season.
After the sake brewing process is completed, there remains in the final product enzymes that could - if activated - alter the flavor significantly. To protect against this and thereby keep the sake from effectively spoiling, the sake is heated momentarily (usually by passing it through a long coiled pipe submerged in hot water) to an empirically determined temperature of about 65C. This permanently deactivates the enzymes, so that the sake will not go through any further drastic changes in flavor.
If sake is not pasteurized, therefore, it must be kept refrigerated. This ensures that the temperature will not rise high enough to allow the enzymes to activate. If namazake is not kept cold (like 5-10C or so), there is a good chance it will "go bad."
Although it cannot hurt you, namazake gone south becomes cloudy, and the flavor can turn cloyingly sweet, acidic and yeast-ridden. This condition is known as "hi-ochi," and is very easy to recognize.
It is interesting to note that the pasteurization process, known as "hi-ire" (very loosely translated as "adding the fire") in sake brewing, has been around in Japan since about 1560. This is a good 300 years before Louis Pasteur produced his findings on the subject in France.
Namazake is always labeled as such. Somewhere on the bottle will be the easily-recognizable character for nama, and a note that it must be kept refrigerated. Most sake is pasteurized twice, once just after brewing and once again before shipping. A variation on the process is to pasteurize it only once; before shipping.
Such sake is known as nama-chozo, or "stored as nama." It retains some of the qualities of flavor and fragrance of fully unpasteurized sake, but has less danger of spoiling. In the end, it is not much more than a marketing ploy, and if you want to try namazake, go with completely unpasteurized namazake.
Namazake is easily available now at any good sake shop or department store. Naturally some brands are more often seen than others. See the "Sake to Look For" section below for some recommended namazake.
Remember that namazake must be kept cold, and it should be consumed soon after opening (more so even than other sake). Also note that whether or not a sake is pasteurized is unrelated to the grade of the sake. This means there is good namazake available in any price range.
Spring in Japan is all too short of a lovely season. Do not let it pass by without complementing it with a glass of namazake.
-----------------------------------------------------------
The End of BY11
We're solidly into the month of May, if not almost through it, and for almost all of the nation's 1700 or so sake brewers, this means brewing activities are over for the season. There are a handful of larger breweries that have climate-controlled factories, and do brew year-round (a practice known as shiki-jozo, or "four season brewing"). But everyone else is limited to the coldest months of the year. With the peripheral work involved, and cleaning up included, most places wrap up about the end of April.
Here are some significant facts, points and occurrences related to this time of the year.
-After the last batch of rice has been steamed for the season, plenty of work still remains. That steamed rice must then be added to the final hungrily-waiting fermenting tanks, the 18-day to month-long fermentation must run its course, and the sake must then be pressed and stored. Indeed, there is still several more weeks of work. But after that last steaming, a light appears at the end of the tunnel. And that is cause for celebration.
That celebration is called koshiki taoshi, and refers to the overturning (taoshi) of the rice-steaming vat (koshiki). Today, many koshiki are large, steel contraptions that do not overturn easily, unlike their ancient, wooden counterparts. But when wooden koshiki were/are used, the large cask is turned on its side for a thorough cleaning and storage for the summer. Regardless of whether anything actually gets flipped over, each kura celebrates the beginning of the end of each season with a ceremony, and perhaps a formal meal with wonderful sake (surprise, surprise).
-Until recent years, sake was brewed by a team of men, usually farmers from the boonies, with nothing else to do in the winter. As such, traditionally, just about this time of the year, the brewers of each kura (brewery) would head back to their families in the countryside, whom they had not seen in six months, since entering the kura the previous fall.
Today, however, things are changing in many ways, albeit slowly. Change is necessary, as modern society won't support things the way they were 100 years ago, for example. Sake brewing work, wonderful craft though it may be, is very hard work, and young people have too many options available to them these days.
This includes options that don't call for 14 hour days, seven days a week, for six months out of the year. People can now put in five eight-hour days in a company, and go drinking on Friday. As such, fewer young people are going into brewing, and so the average age of brewers has risen well over 60 years old. Naturally, the industry won't last for long if this is the case.
One such solution has been to use local people to brew, instead of the craftsmen from afar. Scheduling days off and utilizing labor-saving machines (without compromising the final product; a delicate balance, mind you!) are other areas where the industry is attempting change for survival. Still, progress is slow as tradition dies hard. Fortunately, so do all the experienced brewers.
Note, too, that women are now commonplace in