The Brewing Year
Although the winter brewing season starts in the fall and ends in the spring, the 12-month brewing year starts on July 1 and ends on June 30. The brewing year, denoted by a “BY” on the bottle’s back label, corresponds to the imperial era, which needs to be converted to the common era for Westerners to know the vintage. For example, Reiwa 2 (the second year of Emperor Naruhito’s reign) is 2020. Thus, sake brewed between July 1, 2020, and June 30, 2021, would actually have the brewing year of R2, or 2020. The staggered brewing calendar and the imperial conversions can make the brewing year seem rather opaque. Some breweries have switched over to common-era yearly markings to make their vintages easier for non-Japanese customers to understand.
Is there a best time to buy sake? Nope! However, there are certain seasonal releases to keep in mind. Currently, there are no legal definitions of the seasonal brews listed on the following pages.
Spring
Nama-zake 生酒: Nama means “raw,” and here refers to unpasteurized sake from the just-ended brewing season. While it’s available year round, early spring is when the freshest nama-zake is available. Fresh, lively and even sharp and brash, nama-zake is the perfect spring brew.
Summer
Natsu-zake 夏酒: This designation is often given to nama-zake specially packaged and bottled for summer (natsu in Japanese). There are also unpasteurized and unfiltered versions that pack an extra punch. Usually, natsu-zake is light and fresh, but some are zesty and deep. Often they are best ice cold or chilled. However, there are some exceptions, like Kinoshita Shuzo’s summertime-only Ice Breaker release, which, even though it’s a summer exclusive, is fantastic hot. Stock up on a few bottles for fall and winter.
My co-author Takashi Eguchi trims a sugidama. Even this small one can take over six hours. No glue is used at all.
A browned sugidama outside Imanishi Shuzo brewery in Sakurai, Nara, where the sugidama was born.
Autumn
Aki-agari 秋上がり: This is sake sold in fall (aki in Japanese). It is brewed during the coldest months of the previous season and aged through the summer, resulting in a milder flavor profile with rounder tastes. Aki-agari sake is pasteurized before its six-month storage and gets a second pasteurization before shipping. Aki-agari sake is good hot, eaten with Japanese fall foods like matsutake mushrooms, salted fish and hot pot.
Hiya-oroshi ひやおろし: Like aki-agari, hiyaoroshi is matured through the summer and pasteurized before storage. However, as it is not pasteurized a second time, it keeps some of the freshness and desired sharpness of nama-zake. Chilled storage is necessary and stated in the name “hiya-oroshi”—hiya means “cold” and oroshi means “wholesale,” or “being taken down” (as if off a shelf). Some hiya-oroshi taste best chilled, while others shine at room temperature or hotter.
Within hiya-oroshi, there are three subgenres, which each reflecting different micro-seasons: Nagoshi-zake 夏越し酒: Literally “over the summer sake,” this hiya-oroshi is released in September, when the weather is still warm. It’s often best drunk chilled or at room temperature. Note that modern nagoshi-zake differs from the traditional nagoshi-no-sake, which is used in a purification ceremony at a midsummer Shinto festival called Nagoshi-no-Harai.
Akidashi ichibanzake 秋出し一番酒: Released in October, this hiya-oroshi brew is typically well balanced. Akidashi means “release in fall,” and ichibanzake means “number-one sake.”
Banshu-umazake 夜秋旨酒: Aged the longest of the hiya-oroshi releases, banshu-umazake (literally “late fall good sake”) is mellow, round and ripe, typically with more umami than the other releases. Released in November, this sake is worth the wait. Usually, it’s best heated.
Winter
Shiboritate 搾り立て: “Just pressed.” One of life’s great pleasures is tasting sake right after pressing. Shiboritate is often fresh, full bodied and young, but can be spunky and sharp. As it’s unpasteurized, more of the rice flavors are apparent. It’s not strictly a winter release, but is often at its best late November through February. However, it is available through March.
Shinshu 新酒: Though there is no legal definition, shinshu (new sake) is typically assumed to be made from rice harvested during the current brewing year. Sake shipped by the end of June is technically shinshu. Sake that is then aged over the summer is either aki-agari or hiya-oroshi, depending on the pasteurization.
In years past, when the shinshu was ready, breweries would hang a sugidama (literally “Japanese cedar ball”), also known as a sakabayashi (“sake thicket”) out front. Many breweries now keep a sakabayashi out year-round as a sake-brewing symbol. The Japanese cedar branches are fanned out and painstakingly trimmed to form a perfect sphere. Initially, the needles are green, indicating fresh new sake. Fittingly, the sakabayashi turns brown as the sake ages and mellows over the summer.
The sakabayashi is said to have originated at Ohmiwa Shrine, one of Japan’s oldest, as an offering for the deity. Mount Miwa, home of the shrine, is covered in cedar trees, which traditionally were used to make brewing equipment. It is unclear what the round shape symbolizes.
Sakabayashi are hung wherever sake is made, be it a brewery or the National Research Institute of Brewing in Hiroshima, which makes sake for research purposes. Even bars, restaurants and liquor shops hang a sakabayashi out front as a decoration.
The precincts of Ohmiwa Shrine in Nara. The Japanese cedar in the foreground is sacred, which is denoted by the shimenawa rope tied around it. The shrine sits at the foot of Mt. Miwa, which is also worshipped as a sacred deity.
Shrine maidens carry omiki, which is sake offered to the gods, during the annual Ohmiwa Shrine sake ceremony in November.
Brewers at Nishida Sake Brewery in Aomori Prefecture break up clumps of steamed rice.
CHAPTER 2
THE TEN THOUSAND METHODS: HOW GREAT SAKE IS MADE
SAKE-MAKING STEPS
The steps of sake making appear simple: wash and soak the rice, steam it, inoculate it with the koji-kin fungus, mash the koji with rice and water in multiple stages, press the resulting brew and bottle. But the chemistry is so complex and the skill required is so high that it’s a wonder good sake is made at all. Yet, walk into any liquor store in
