WHAT IS GINJO-KA AND WHERE DOES IT COME FROM?
YEAST TYPE & POTENTIAL
Since 1906, yeast selected for their desirable characteristics have been distributed widely by the Brewing
Society of Japan as Brewing Society Yeast (kyokai-kobo). The Brewing Society manages the breeding and
multiplication of yeast so that mutations are removed. This means they are a trusted source of the yeast
types they supply.
These yeast strains were first isolated by a certain breweries or chosen from the New National Sake Contest
award winning sake held by National Research Institute of Brewing (NRIB), with the aim of improving
brewing techniques and improving the safety of the fermentation process.
Until the early twentieth century, sake was generally made using ambient brewery yeast (yeast attached to
surfaces that live in the brewery). Over the decades, brewing techniques improved and it became more common
to isolate yeast from the foam of one fermentation and use it to innoculate another fermentation, taking
advantage of the more predictable performance of the isolated yeast. These isolated yeasts were particular to
each individual brewery, giving their own aroma and characteristics which other breweries could not imitate.
Yeast name
Character
Number 6 (Aramasa brewery)
Strongly ferment, sharp acidity
Gentle aroma
Number 7 (Masumi brewery)
Strongly ferment, Fruity aroma
(Most commonly used for industry yeast)
Number 9 (Kumamoto Yeast)
Floral and fruity aroma, slightly lower acidity than
no.7 (Most commonly used for ginjo sake)
Number 10
Fruity aroma, lower acidity
Number 11
Strong vitality, high malic acid
Number 13
Character of number 9&10 yeast
Low acidity
Number 1801
Fruity aroma, lower acidity
(Popular ginjo yeast in recent years)
Shizuoka yeast
Fruity aroma, lower acidity
Abelia yeast(flower yeast)
Fruity, sweet aroma
Although the range of sake aromas may not be as wide as that of wine, the purity and elegance of sake stilll
tends to amaze many wine lovers. To create a single melon aroma might be a simple request on the consumer
side, but on the brewers’ side the battle starts from the very beginning with the choice of rice, with the added
complication of Parallel Process Fermentation with microbials. To the novice taster, there might not appear
to be a complexity of aroma on the palate, but there certainly is a great deal of complexity going on behind
the scenes. Cheers and kanpai !
MUSEUM OF SAKE JOURNAL 37