DAISHICHI SAKE BREWERY
THE TOJI’S TECHNIQUE:
Daishichi’s Toji, Takanobu Sato is a kimoto specialist
who heads up the team of 12 ‘kurabito’, brewery
workers. Trained in Iwate prefecture, he has been
with Daishichi for 20 years. He’s a member of the
Nanbu toji guild, whose characteristic technique is to
ferment very slowly at a low temperature creating a
distinctive Northern, Tohoku style which would not
work in warmer Southern climes where the higher
temperatures accelerate the fermentation.
RICE, WATER AND YEAST:
Unlike many breweries, Ohta-San explained they
only use two sake-rice varieties: “Yamada Nishiki
and Gohyakumangoku. We focus on these because
both were developed long ago and they are stable,
healthy types. Their DNA is stable. Many new types
are being developed using artificial methods which
are unstable”.
“Gohyakumangoku rice is from Northern Japan and
has a hard, clear taste. Yamada Nishiki is a much
softer type of rice from a warmer area”.. “creating a
rich taste and good flavour.”
For fermentation they use the most commonly used
yeast, number 7. Originally bought from the Sake
Brewers Association, Ohta-San explained how they
have made it unique to Daishichi. Kimoto, unlike
more modern methods, creates a particularly harsh
environment for the yeasts, so only the strongest can
survive “It’s survival of fittest, the weakest yeasts die
off.” They then select the best yeasts from the best
sakes they make, so that the quality of the yeast is
always improving.
The water comes from a pure-water source: a natural
well, the water lying 8 metres under the brewery.
Whilst most water in Japan is relatively soft compared
to Europe, their water is of ‘medium’ hardness.
THE PRESIDENT’S VISION:
President Ohta-San and his team seem to be on
a continual quest to find the best equipment, and
methods to make sake: embracing innovative ways, as
well as holding onto old, labour-intensive traditions
should they produce better quality results. They have
sourced traditional, old-style iron pots because they
create particularly hot steam, steaming the rice so it
is dry on the outside and wet in the middle-perfect
conditions for sake making. They’ve also developed
a modern bottling line using nitrogen to reduce the
possibility of oxidation and ensure their sake stays
particularly fresh. But the source of most pride is
their award-winning ‘super-flat polishing’ technique.
SUPER-FLAT POLISHING:
Premium sake makers have long known that to
produce clean flavoured sake it is important to remove
the outer parts of the rice which contain fats and
proteins which can give off-flavours. The goal is to
proportionately have as much of the ‘shinpaku’, the
opaque white, starch-rich heart of the rice remaining
possible to make the sake with.
The highest grades, and most expensive styles of sake
are generally those which have been polished to the
highest degree. For the most premium style of sake
daiginjo, by law only 50% of the grain remains. Some
of the most expensive commercially available sakes
have taken this to an extreme, polishing further still,
so that as little as 19% of the grain remains.
MUSEUM OF SAKE JOURNAL 56