The History of Sake with 67 Pall Mall

In this hour-long feature for 67 Pall Mall TV our Director, Oliver Hilton-Johnson, talks with industry professional Barry McCaughley about sake’s long and varied history including: early rice cultivation, introduction of Koji, evolution in techniques via the monks & temples, commercialisation, prohibition, Edo Period stability and, finally modern day trends!

A lot is covered, providing an engaging and comprehensive look at sake’s past and present.

Featured sakes in the History of Sake episode

– Gozenshu “Misty Mountain” Junmai Bodaimoto Usu-nigori
– Shirayuki “Genroku Redux” Junmai
– Gozenshu “Mountain Castle” Junmai Bodaimoto Nama Kijoshu (now discontinued and replaced with a pasteurised version).

Watch the full episode over on 67 Pall Mall TV

An Introduction to Sake with 67 Pall Mall

During the COVID lockdown our Director, Oliver, was invited along to the studios in the famous wine establishment of 67 Pall Mall give an Introduction to Sake. Here he talks to industry professional Barry McCaughley.

Featured Sakes in “An Introduction to Sake”:

– Yauemon “Autumn Leaves” Honjozo
– Yauemon “Waning Moon” Junmai
– Konishi Silver Ginjo
– Fukukomachi “Gentle Breeze” Junmai Ginjo
– Fukukomachi “Silent Blossom” Junmai Daiginjo
– Fukukomachi “Hidden Glade” Daiginjo

You can watch this episode for free over on 67 Pall Mall TV and, buy purchasing the sakes, you can taste along too!

Tonight’s Online Tutorial: Sake Basics

Wednesday 18th November – Sake Basics

It’s been a while since I did an absolute basics for sake so, if you’re new to sake and just want to find out more then this is the session for you! You don’t even need to order any sake for this one, just tune in and find out about sake. To join in just click on the Zoom link below on 18th at 7pm!

ABSOLUTELY FREE

Zoom Meeting Details

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83397457797?pwd=M1NFSUI4NVZYbXZWUVNNY0x2R0xLZz09

Meeting ID: 833 9745 7797
Passcode: 395819

If you don’t have Zoom then please click the link well in advance and download!

Online Lecture Series – Namazake

A Delve into Namazake (unpasteurised sake)

The first in our series of online tastings and lectures, led by our Director and Sake Specialist Oliver Hilton-Johnson, all about namazake.

Including:

What is namazake? Why is sake pasteurised? What are the flavours and aromas you can expect from a namazake? How is namazake best stored? How to tell if namazake is ‘off’.

• Other styles of sake
• Namazake available on tengusake.com

Storing Sake

Best conditions for Storing Sake

 

Often I get asked the best way to store sake, this is particularly important during the festive or other gift-giving seasons as sake can often sit around for a while. I guess the first thing to address is how long sake lasts, so please read my How Long Sake Lasts blog post.

Now that’s cleared up it’s very simple, sake has two enemies: heat and light. (more…)

How Long Sake Lasts

Sake will, of course, last longer when it is stored correctly.

The question of how long sake lasts is actually quite difficult to answer and, certainly, there are a few breweries experimenting with ageing and maturing sake longer than what we traditionally consider a ‘safe’ or ‘wise’ period. This process is distinct from koshu (intentionally aged sake for longer than three years) which tends to have rich and deep umami-led flavours, often they are quite sweet too. What I’m talking about here are brewers who are either maturing their sake themselves for prolonged periods of time (but generally less than three years) or designing the sake to be sold ‘fresh’ and then develop over time. Some brewers are even doing this with namazake (unpasteurised sake), some Muroka Nama Genshu (unfiltered, unpasteurised & undiluted) rather suit a bit of maturation! (more…)

Why does sake have added alcohol?

A while back I wrote a post detailing which types of sake you can expect to be gluten free and which might contain some. In that post we learnt that some types of sake have a little added, distilled alcohol (often listed as “brewers’ alcohol” on the bottle). Naturally, this begs the question why? Why does sake have added alcohol? (more…)

Is sake gluten free?

I was recently asked is sake gluten free or not (some of you may have noticed that on some of our bottles gluten is indeed listed as an allergen). The answer, in a word, is complicated.

(more…)

Sake Myths

There are a lot of sake myths and mis-information out there so here are a few facts we hope will clear things up!

• There are tens of thousands of sakes produced in Japan. They all have very different characteristics so if you’ve tried one and didn’t like it then the chances are you might find another one that you do like!
• Sake is not a spirit!  It is a brewed beverage like a beer.
• Most sake is 15-16% alcohol, only marginally stronger than wine.
• You can drink sake however you wish but it was designed to be sipped and savoured like a wine.
• Sake does not have to be drunk hot! The Japanese actually have nine different temperatures at which sake can be enjoyed, starting at 0°C all the way up to 55°C+. Different sake suit different temperatures. See our page on sake & temperature.
• There are only four main ingredients: rice, koji, yeast & water.  It is rarely fortified.
• There is usually no vintage; sake is designed to be drunk within 1-2 years of bottling (although there are some aged sake called koshu).
• Sake has a mild taste with light acidity, bitterness or astringency. No more heart burn!
• Finally, it is free from sulphites & other preservatives; instead, it’s pasteurised. No more fiendish hangover!

In summary the rough, boiling-hot gut-rot of yore is no more! Instead, as interest has grown and technology (both manufacturing and transportation) has improved, the quality of sake available in the UK has improved immeasurably.

We hope that has cleared up some of the sake myths and encouraged you to give it a go!  Pop on over to our shop to see what you can find.

Using the Tengu Sake Master Specs

In our shop we quote a series of ‘Master Specs’ for all our sake. These are not special Tengu Sake Master Specs in so much as we didn’t come up with the system, these are metrics given by most brewers. As the name suggest you kind of have to be an expert to really understand what they mean and how they’ll affect you experience. I can’t fully explain them all here but what I can give you is an insight into what they mean, future blog entries will expand (under master specs tag), and tastings I host will help your understanding so do pop along!

• ABV: alcohol content as a percentage, by volume. Ok, this one isn’t revelatory but it can have an impact on you choices for food pairings.
• Polishing rate: complicated! This is covered on the types of sake page.
• SMV: The Sake Metre Value (or nihonshu-do in Japanese) gives you a very rough indication of the relative dryness of sweetness of a sake. It generally ranges from -6 to about +8 (but most are -2 to +4), with negative numbers being sweet and positive, dry; anything outside of that is considered extreme (but not unpleasant, just unusual). +2 is about neutral for the western palate.
• Acidity-metre: high acidity will make a sake feel drier (which is one of the many reasons the SMV in isolation is a poor indicator of dry/sweet). Acidity also has the affect of spreading flavour around the mouth (both of the sake and the food it is paired with). Temperature affects your perception of acidity, and acidity is important when considering which foods to pair. The scale is arbitrary and generally ranges from  0.7 to 2.5-ish; anything out of these ranges is quite extreme.
• Amino-metre: is a rough measure of the amount of amino acids present in a sake. Certain amino acids give the umami flavour (see the pairing with food page) and so the amino-metre is an indicator of a sake‘s umami. The scale is again arbitrary and generally runs from 0.7 to 1.7, anything above that very full of umami flavour.
• Rice: obviously the rice chosen to make a sake (there are many different varieties) affects the flavour. I will talk about rice types in future posts under the ‘rice’ tag.

The last thing I want is for these specs to be intimidating. Sake is a very involved subject and the rabbit-hole goes very deep! These specs are design for those that already know a lot about sake. However, the more you drink it and the more you learn about it (this blog is a good place to start) the more you’ll begin to understand what these stats mean.