Not so long ago, sake was dying. In Japan, demand had plummeted. But now there’s sake for pizza and picnics. Sake on ice for your next celebration. Sake for pretty much every taste, whether you like to drink it hot or cold, dry or aromatic, alone or with food – and not just Japanese food, either.
So what happened? Well, some rule breakers and revolutionaries got in on the game.
“It’s no longer considered something you would throw back a warm shot of at a cheap Japanese restaurant,” says Matt Young of leading sake importer and one of the people behind the festival. The festival, held in Melbourne earlier in the year and coming up in Sydney on October 20, showcases more than 60 different sakes. And the styles are amazingly varied. Black Market Sake’s tasting range, for example, will include sake made with organically cultivated rice, a sake made from red rice and a sake made using the Bodai-moto method developed by Buddhist monks over 400 years ago.
These days, says owner and sake educator Yukino Ochiai, more and more Australians drink sake at home, or use sake for gifts. “Also, many non-Japanese restaurants are listing Japanese sake in the wine list – sake is a drink of choice now.”
It’s not just because sake’s more widely available – sake itself has changed, and if you haven’t tried it for a while, you might be surprised.
Here’s fall in love with today’s sake.
Start with the light stuff, work your way up
The of sake making involves milling, soaking and steaming rice and adding the koji, a mould that breaks down the starch in the rice, converting it to sugar which can then be fermented. Variations in rice type, the amount the rice is polished before use, pressing techniques, filtering and aging all change the end product. (This by the Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association outlines the styles officially designated by the Japanese government – but there are also futsu-shu sake: drinks that fall outside the official categories).
“The Sake Matsuri Festival is the best place to sample a wide range of styles and really narrow down on what you like as a taste or style. As a suggestion I’d start with the lighter more aromatic styles and work your way towards the more robust and unique sake on offer on the day,” says Young.
Sparkling sake, which is often lower in alcohol than standard sake, can be a good option if you are starting your sake journey. Likewise, ginjo-shu, a sake style made with highly polished rice, has a mild taste and fruity flavours, such as apple and banana.
Sake at the Sake Matsuri Festival in Melbourne earlier this year. Source: Sake Matsuri
Drink it with pizza – or cheese
Ochiai, who became Australia’s first female Sake Samurai last year – a title bestowed by the Japan Sake Brewers Association – loves drinking sake with cheese. In fact, she says, it goes well with all kinds of food, from pizza to barbecue.
Hot or cold?
Forget anything you’ve heard about hot sake being bad – or that you can’t serve it chilled. As Japan’s explains, while warmed is the traditional way to drink sake, fruity sake such as ginjo-shu are best served chilled. They also give the thumbs-up to sake on the rocks! (More details from the NRIB on exactly how warm is ‘warm’ and other drinking temperature tips .)
Temperature does matter when it comes to storing sake – the NRIB says high temperatures and light can cause sake to deteriorate, so bottles should be stored in a cool, dark place; ginjo-shu and unpasteurised sake should be kept in the fridge. One opened, a bottle should be consumed within a month.
Join the revolution
If you like the idea of a drink with a revolutionary spirit (#seewhatwedidthere) sake is for you.
Kampai! For The Love of Sake, a documentary coming up on Food Network on Sunday September 30, then on , offers a glimpse of how the sake revolution has been unfolding, through the eyes of three men, the young gun taking over a century-old sake brewery, an American journalist and a British sake brewer working in Japan.
Sake been made in Japan for thousands of years, but that proud history took a hit after the Great Depressions, when demand for sake plummeted. And as Hiroshi Kondō writes in Sake: A Drinker’s Guide, the worst was yet to come. The outbreak of war in China in 1937 marked the start of “a dark period of direct government control, rationing and shrinking production.” In 1943, production dropped by 35 per cent in a single year. During World War II, shortages of rice saw many of those still brewing take desperate shortcuts. One that endured and became wide spread was the addition of pure alcohol.
Luckily, a new generations of sake business managers and brewers have challenged tradition – or in some cases, revived techniques that had fallen out of favour, creating some truly excellent sake.
“Traditionally, owners of breweries are not supposed to be involved with the actual brewing of sake. Until recently, we would study sake brewing but couldn't put it into practice,” says Kosuke Kuji, in Kampai!, which chronicles how he became the hands-on president of the family’s brewery, and introduced new ideas that have seen the brewery win multiple awards.
"It was absolutely hellish in the beginning," says Kuji, of his early days fighting to gain acceptance in the family business - but his work paid off. Source: Kampai!
Want to learn more?
“As you learn about wine – grape variety, region, producer’s name, etcetera – you can do the same with Japanese sake. Sake has 2000 years of history, there is so much to discover about it,” says Ochiai, who is a Level 3 sake teacher with the internationally recognised (WSET). “For example, Niigata prefecture offers elegant and dry crisp style sake, and Kyoto prefecture offers soft and rounded and rice character sake – [this is] very general comment here!
“My sake journey is still continuing. I study regularly and I go to sake breweries during sake-making season in winter in Japan so I can get more depth of knowledge, and meet more sake related people.” She's passionate about passing on that knowledge. "Australians are getting a very good level of knowledge and experience. I am very happy about it!" (You can use the WSET’s to find Sake education courses in Australia.)
Watch Kampai! For The Love of Sake on food Network Channel 33 Sunday September 30 at 9.30pm then on.
