From The Straits Times    |

Sake Matsuri

Although sake is sometimes referred to as ‘rice wine’, its brewing process is actually much closer to beer. Rice is milled or polished to varying degrees, then fermented with yeast and koji-kin, a special mould key to producing sake.

If you’ve enjoyed a cup or two at a kaiten-sushi (conveyor belt sushi) or a standard Japanese chain restaurant, chances are, you’re having table sake or futsu-shu (akin to house wine), the most commonly available grade of sake.

Premium sake, however, is relatively rarer and produced on a much smaller scale, though in recent years, has become one of the fastest growing categories in the market, thanks to a global spike in interest in the artisanal alcohol. Consumers in the United States, interest waning from the recent craft beer and spirit boom, have turned their attention to setting up craft sake breweries. SakeOne, an Oregon-based sake producer was churning out about 80,000 bottles a year in 2015.

Surprisingly, Japan’s own sake consumption has been falling, with domestic sales dropping 30 per cent since 1975. Drinkers tended to gravitate towards beers and whiskies, or in the case of the younger demographic, ready-to-drink cocktails like canned highballs. But the tides are slowly turning in its home country. In April this year, Tokyo will be kicking off its 5th Craft Sake Week, a highly-anticipated event founded by former football superstar Hidetoshi Nakata – his bid to reintroduce the traditional drink back into public consciousness.

Sake Matsuri

But what makes craft sake craft? Well, there isn’t an official definition yet, so we’ll take cues from the Brewers Association in America. Designed to protect independent beer brewers, it states that no more than 25 per cent of the craft brewery should be owned owned or controlled by an alcoholic beverage industry member that is not a craft brewer. Craft sake is perhaps less definitive, but artisanal values and the priority of quality over quantity are non-negotiables.

Decoding sake may seem complicated to novices, but a general rule of thumb is the more highly polished the rice, the higher the grade of the liquid (the percentage is usually indicated on each bottle.) The Daiginjo and Junmai Daiginjo categories contain less than 50 per cent of grain; Ginjo, Junmai Ginjo has less than 60 per cent; while Honjozo, and Junmai have less than 70 per cent – the minumum for a premium sake classification.

At Sake Matsuri at UE Square on Mar 23, revellers will have the opportunity to sample an ‘ultra-premium’ Senki Junmai Daiginjo Urara 17. The 17 denotes the extraordinarily high level of polish, or more specifically that 17 per cent of the grain remains after processing. The elegant sake has the light fresh fragrance of honeydew or melon, with a silky texture and soft, dry finish.

Sake Matsuri

Rarity and limited production are also characteristics of craft sake. Sake made with ancient recipes are growing rarer and rarer as traditional techniques are gradually forgotten.The Shirayuki Edo Genroku Genshu, for example, is a rarer style, made from an old recipe from the Edo Genroku period, year 1688-1704. Genshu is a style of sake that used half the usual water, as well as unpolished rice, creating an atypical flavour profile, more akin to cognac than most sakes, with notes of oak and dark berries.

And on the other spectrum sits the wildly experimental Yamamoto Royal Straight Flush. The Junmai Daiginjo sake combines an unprecedented five rice varietals to properly showcase the sake terroir of Akita Prefecture, known for the sweet, flavourful Akitakomachi rice. In comparison, a traditional sake is brewed with just a single (maybe two on occasion) rice varietals. Owner and cult brewer Tomo Yamamoto also used five different yeast strains with different fermentation rates to achieve a crisp, nuanced sake with sweet notes of pineapple and melons. Only 18 bottles of the unique sake is available for limited testings at the festival, so if I were you, I wouldn’t dawdle.

Date: Saturday, 23 March 2019
Time: 2pm – 8pm
Tickets: $45 (free sampling at every booth)
Venue: Skylight Atrium and Temple Cellars, UE Square, 81 Clemenceau Avenue.
Website: www.sakematsuri.sg ; www.facebook.com/templecellars