While in Japan do taste the great variety of wonderful sake brewed here in Japan, from down south to up north to the Niigata prefecture. Light bodied or full, with great aroma, slightly chilled, very cold or hot whichever way you have it, you will like the taste. On a hot summer night, drinking out of a thin sake glass is such a welcoming drink. Some prefer to drink the cold sake out of a Masu （ wood box made from cedar ）or on ice. On the other hand, drinking hot sake from an Ochoko （ made from pottery ）little by little is a nice way to drink and eat the night away with good friends. New fashionable way to drink sake is with a crystal white wine glass.
With over 2,000 years of history behind sake making, there is such diversity, it will be hard to choose which one to taste first.
One of the most important processes is the ” rice polishing ratio “, 60% is said to be on the high side. Rice grains are milled to remove the outer husk which has an abundant amount of protein and fats, which is not good for brewing high quality sake. Selection of the ingredients are important from the type of yeast, aging technique, fermentation, and the special KOJI in which each brewery has their own mixture. Depending on the brand of rice and the pure water the brewers use, becomes key to the aroma and mildness.
JUNMAI on a label, states that it is made solely from rice, water, yeast and koji （ rice inoculated with mold to break down the starches in the rice）. If you don’t see JUNMAI on the label, it means they have added alcohol to fix the aroma. A pure JUNMAI has a full body and a forceful personality. If you like a full bodied red wine or whiskey, you will most likely like the JUNMAI.
If the label has GINJO, this means premium. Light bodied and full of fragrance.
DAIGINJO, means aromatic, big flavor but light bodied.
The rice growing region of Akita and Niigata are both very well known for their Sake Brewery.
To name a few of them are the following:
ABE
HAKKAISAN
KUBOTA
KIKUSUI
ISHIMOTO
KOKURYU
ARAMASA
Other breweries are:
FUKUCHIYO from SAGA
ISOJIMAN from SHIZUOKA
HIROKI from FUKUSHIMA
DASSAI （ASAHI SHUZO）from Yamaguchi
HAKUTSURU from KOBE
ICHINOKURA from MIYAGI （Known for their special sparkling sake ）
Other breweries in the Tokyo area are:
TAMURA
ISHIKAWA
SAWANOI-OZAWA
TOKYO PORT
KONOHANANO
Enjoy the wonderful sake brewed in Japan, you just might fall in love with one or even many of them. Have just written a few samples of the brewery, there are many many more, just explore the endless types from each of the breweries.
Of course you can also make your homemade UMESHU（ plum wine）made from fresh plums, rock sugar and alcohol, fermented in a large jar, a refreshing drink made into a spritzer either with water or soda on ice, or on its own.