AN INTERNSHIP AT NØGNE Ø
HANDCRAFTED SAKE
Nøgne Ø currently has four sakes on the market; above from left to right: a
Junmai, a Junmai Ginjo, a Yamahai Motoshibori and their newest sake which
is a sparkling version. All sakes are 100% handcrafted and made with imported
Ginpu sake rice from Hokkaido with a rice polishing ratio (seimaibuai) of 68%,
except for the Junmai Ginjo which is made on 45% (koji) and 55% seimaibuai.
All sakes furthermore utilise the earlier described Yamahai method. The water
for the sake comes from a nearby lake called Rore that has a very soft water.
The Junmai and Ginjo sakes are made with sake yeast from yeast banks in the
United States while the Yamahai Motoshibori and the sparkling sake is made with
naturally occurring yeast. In the beginning all their sakes were nama (unpasteurised)
but today all their sakes are pasteurised to give a better stability to the product.
The Nøgne Ø sake brewery occupies around 100 m² and is located in a separate
part of the beer brewing facility. Some of the equipment is repurposed beer
brewing equipment from the original beer brewery, while other equipment has
been specially designed and custom made in Norway.
The koshiki (rice steamer) was originally the lauter tun from the beer brewery
while the fune