THE ONTARIO SPRING WATER SAKE COMPANY
Currently, there are two rice strains used to
produce Izumi: Koshi Hikari and a cultivar
of Calrose rice called S201. Koshi Hikari is a
short grain Japonica rice that was crossed from
two obscure rice strains in the 1950s in Fukui
Prefecture. While it is one of the most popular
eating rices in Japan, it has also been used to
produce some phenomenal sake like the Kikusui
‘Kiramitsu’ junmai daiginjo. Koshi Hikari is
a relatively new addition to the brewery; the
primary rice at Izumi is currently S201. This
cultivar is a medium-grain Japonica rice from
rice growers in California’s Sacramento Valley.
In fact, S201 has a pretty fine pedigree, going
back to the early 1940s and a sake rice called
Wataribune, which was brought over from Japan
to California. S201 is good for sake making
since it has a large shimpaku (starch heart) and
produces nice, clean and consistent flavours.
kura create a fermentation starter (‘moto’)
with liquid yeast. Given the constraints of
space at the brewery, using dry yeast meant
eliminating the moto, where a two-week period
is required to cultivate enough yeast cells to
begin fermentation. Dry yeast enabled Izumi
to accumulate a healthy number of yeast cells
in a matter of minutes and freed up valuable
space and time at the brewery.
The brewery has since moved away from using
kanso kobo and now produces a traditional
moto for all of their sake, with the exception
of their low alcohol ‘Teion Sakura’. According
to Newton, building a moto and using liquid
yeast develops healthier yeast cells which in
turn creates a more robust sake in the end.
SAKE PRODUCTION
When it comes to yeast strains, there are no
shortage of options for brewers in Japan to
choose from, with well over 50 strains currently
available. Izumi uses two yeast strains in the
crafting of their sake, Kyokai 701 and Kyokai
901, two of Japan’s most prominent strains.
The primary yeast for the brewery’s flagship
sake, the Izumi ‘Nama Nama’ junmai, is made
using a non-foaming version of yeast #7, called
#701 (the -01 indicates that it is a non-foaming
version of the preceding number). #701 is
used in the majority of junmai sake made in
Japan, and is widely known to produce clean,
melodious, and fruity flavours. Interestingly,
when Izumi began brewing its first tanks of
moromi, they were made with kanso kobo, a dry
yeast version of #701. Dry yeast is somewhat
rare in the sake world, as the majority of
Like any new undertaking that hopes to be
successful, the Ontario Spring Water Sake
Company has continued to learn and evolve
over the past 5 years. Izumi is brewing more
consistently than in the beginning and their
products can be found in liquor stores and
restaurants all over Ontario and Québec. The
volume of sake produced is approximately
33,000L annually. In terms of koku (an old
form of measurement still used by Japanese
brewers), this is about 180 koku, making
Izumi a microbrewery in the truest sense.
(Comparatively, Gifu’s Nakashima Shuzo,
a small brewery with only 5 brewers, brews
about 600 koku of their Kozaemon brand a
year). Apart from Newton, the brewery employs
only one other full-time brewer.
MUSEUM OF SAKE JOURNAL 39