JULY 24, Pirates, Petitions, Natsuzake and Nomikiri: Oh My! The story of Summer Sake and the Start of a new Brewing Year.
SUNFLOWER SAKE CLUB: JULY 2024
PIRATES, NATSUZAKE, NOMIKIRI & BY
Natsuzake, Summer sake, has begun to arrive in the US. In Japan, these seasonal bottles hit the shelves by early May (we tried several during our mid-May visit) and sell out quickly– in fact, both of these are likely sold out or winding down in Japan! So in a way, it’s particularly nice that we get them a little late…because our arrival lands, truly, in the heart of Summer. July is a chill month for sake producers (except those hustling for sales), but there are a few interesting things that take place.
First is the arrival of a new sake Brewing Year (BY). For the purpose of sake production, the BY starts on July 1st and ends on June 31st. When you see a production date on your bottle (lets say, BY 2023 or BY 6) that encompasses the period from July 1, 2023 (Reiwa 6) to June 31, 2024 (Reiwa 7). This was an appropriate time to turn over the year, because traditionally, brewery workers were back in their hometowns tending their farms and fields at this time, with only the brewery owner (kuramoto) and his family holding down the fort. Sake production from June to October was prohibited, which meant that brewery activities were really limited to sales and maintenance. With no production taking place, it was a good time to turn the clock.
However, there is a traditional task for the kuramoto, toji, and a few insiders that takes place around this time. Called hatsu-nomikiri, it refers to the breaking open of the storage tanks: the first tasting of the (brewing) year. The toji opens a valve on each tank, starting with the oldest. The kuramoto evaluates each and every one (aroma, visual, taste) followed by the toji, then others in declining seniority. Historically, the toji has traveled a long distance for this task, pulling away from his farm and family. But the sake in storage is their responsibility, and in the heat of Summer before refrigeration it was imperative to monitor its condition and progress, determining if any batches had gone south, needed attention, or were particularly good. Participants also evaluated maturity: which should be shipped first, and which still tasted young and rough, needing more time to soften? Early blending considerations were also made: perhaps the roughness of one tank would be softened by the roundness of another. Today nomikiri is less decisive, but it still takes place in the same capacity during the Summer months. Participants include the kuramoto and toji, but can also include professional tasters from the prefectural research center, distributors and buyers, and the next generation kuramoto in training.
For our purposes though, natsuzake is the most exciting part of July. Natsuzake carries the most creativity of all the seasonal styles because it’s a modern invention. Other seasonal styles: Winter shiboritate (fresh pressed, astringent in its freshness, unpasteurized), Spring sake (young, unpasteurized, a little softer), and fall Hiyaoroshi (aged over Summer) are natural consequences of the Winter brewing tradition that started ~350 years ago. But natsuzake, a marketing term coined in 2007, arose by design. Natsuzake is whatever the brewer makes of it: dry and crisp, low ABV, effervescent, concentrated for serving with soda or ice, fruity and juicy, water-like and refreshing… it’s a prompt for each brewery to ask themselves: what sounds good in the middle of July? …With a few grilled nibbles and a dutiful oscillating fan, blowing in your general direction?
Which, of course, brings us to this month’s selections. Two natsuzake from highly regarded
producers: both unpasteurized, both on the dry side, refreshing, leaning more toward cucumber than sweet melon. Truly excellent with Summer vegetables, fresh fish, crisp salads and cold noodles. The first, Narutotai, takes us on a ride through the Matsuura family’s utterly fascinating backstory, which can be traced to the 1200s (at least). It’s a nigori technically, but the silky-smooth fineness of the sediment and the fact that there’s so very little of it, makes me confident that even the most ardent nigori-haters will enjoy it (plus, you can always let the rice settle and just drink the clear stuff!) The second, KID, is a long-time favorite. Their seasonal releases usually land in the seasonal club, but this year I wanted to switch gears and share their seasonal releases a bit more with the monthly club. They’re such fan favorites, it’s a lost opportunity to not share them with you guys too.
Finally, in honor of the changing BY, this month I’m also including a print of my “Sake Seasonality” painting. Usually when I do work-related art, I save myself the grief of arrangement and design errors by painting each component separately and not adding any text to the original art. This gives me more freedom later, when I edit in photoshop. But for the seasonality piece, I wanted to challenge myself this time to do it in one go– even if it meant a few mistakes. That way, I could share the finished original with people, maybe even frame it one day. I love using art to educate, and there’s something really special about a finished, composed arrangement. I hope you find a spot on your fridge for this little guy, and use it to keep track of sake’s comings and goings throughout the year.
The Naruto Whilrlpools of Tokushima, Japan Rail & Travel
HONKE MATSUURA SHUZO, NARUTOTAI “SILKY WAVE” JUNMAI NIGORI NAMA GENSHU
Narutotai “Silky Wave” is a sparkling usunigori (that hole in the cap is designed to release CO2 so that it doesn’t explode!) which was limited to only 700 bottles for export. Despite being a touch pricey, I couldn’t resist– it’s such a great chance to try a rare, new expression from this famous brewery. You may recognize Narutotai from the ubiquitous aluminum “Red Snapper” can: an undiluted, powerhouse of a fruity ginjo sake that seems to give so many folks their first “a-ha!” moment. Silky Wave is quite different, a bit more subtle, but it still has the salty, seaside freshness and bite you’d expect from Narutotai.
Narutotai is the primary brand for Matsuura Honke, a brewery located in Tokushima prefecture on the east side of Shikoku Island, facing Wakayama. Tokushima is an hour-ish drive from the city of Kobe across formidable bridges and the famous Naruto strait. From the Naruto bridge connecting Tokushima to Awaji Island, you can see incredible whirlpools form and dissipate spontaneously as the tides navigate a sudden drop in the seafloor. (Hence the name naruto maki for the pink swirl fish cakes.) The “tai” of narutotai refers to the bright red, white-fleshed fish tai (aka madai, red snapper or sea bream) that populate the Seto Inland Sea and fill locals’ plates. The surrounding neighborhood is dotted with ancient shrines and temples, having been a sacred place of faith for many generations. This is also an important site for indigo dye: so much so that the local pottery, Otani Yaki, is best known for its human-size amphora, originally used to ferment and store indigo dye. In fact, the original size of the brewery site is listed in historic records in units of tsubo (jars): an area of 10,000 tsubo, or appx. 33,000 square meters!!
Matsuura Honke has a fascinating history, being founded in 1804 by a member of the Matsuura clan. The Matsuura clan is an ancient Japanese family that can trace its lineage over 1000 years, and over the course of that time, has played a significant role in Japan’s history as one of its strongest naval forces. The Matsuura clan exists in a gray area between regional lordship (the clan leader was elevated to daimyo status in the Warring States Period), independent navy, and pirates. The clan maintained bases in Nagasaki, Hirado Island and Goto, together comprising the Hirado Domain, within the modern Nagasaki prefecture of Kyushu. To this day, Matsuura City in Nagasaki is named for the family.
In the course of maintaining control of their trade routes, producing ships and staffing a naval militia, the Matsuura clan were ultimately responsible for defending the Southern island of Kyushu from forces approaching via China and Korea. In coalition with the Matsura Naval Faction, the Mongol Invasions of ~1270 AD led by Kublai Khan were driven off over the course of decades, preventing a shift in power that could have changed the course of Japanese history. Members of the clan attacked and pillaged Korean people many times over the course of centuries, beginning in the 1220s when they developed their reputation as pirates, and again under official orders to invade Korea in the 1590s. But they also experienced extended periods of peace and trade with both nations. The clan’s relationship with Korea and China waxed and waned, always serving as the bridge to the mainland. When the Meiji restoration began and the feudal system was abolished, the 37th and final daimyo, Matsuura Akita, ended the clan’s 750-year control of the Hirado domain.
Mongols defeated in the West Sea by Divine Winds ©The Met
In the late 1700s a branch of the family broke off from their stronghold in Kyushu and settled in Tokushima. As merchants, they quickly captured market share within the indigo, fertilizer, rice and shipping trades. By 1804, the second son, Naozou, decided to start a new sake brewery: a common path for families already working as merchants and dealing in rice, which was more profitable– and longer lasting– when brewed into sake.
Today, Matsuura wants to make the sake brewery an indispensable part of their local community. To this end, they restructured the brewery to accommodate tours and even partnered with the 200 year old shoyu brewery across the street to design a fermentation tour. Every month the brewery hosts a music and food gathering for the community. This has grown into a major event with ~100 attendees: neighbors becoming friends with brewery staff, the tofu shop owner swapping drinks and stories with the salaryman.
“Brewing staff now get to experience customers saying, ‘it’s delicious!’ right in front of them. One customer told us, ‘this is the first time I’ve ever been welcomed by a brewer personally.’ Matsuura smiles as she describes the change in the kurabito’s attitudes. ‘The sake being born in our home, Tokushima, is being sent out to the whole country and even the world.”
“I used to drink sake only a few times a year. But now, when I eat a delicious meal, I can’t help but want to match it with delicious sake too. Sake enriches food. If your food is rich, your life will be even richer… Deliciousness really does make you feel happy."
If you want to lean into Matsuura’s message and Tokushima locality, one of the most popular Shikoku preparations of red snapper is Tai Meshi (literally tai rice dish– my favorite version so far is the one from Ms. Donabe’s blog, use mitsuba to garnish if you can find it!) and is, unsurprisingly, a fantastic pairing for Silky Wave.
Brewing information
- Honke Matsuura Shuzo, 本家松浦酒造
- Location: Tokushima, Shikoku
- Grade: Junmai Ginjo Nama Nigori
- Rice: Yamadanishiki (Awaichiba, Tokushima)
- Polishing: 58%
- Yeast: N/A
- SMV: +4
- Acidity: 1.5
- ABV: 13%
Tasting Notes & Serving Advice
Lemon-lime, white grapefruit peel and a little bit of the pith, mineral, green grape and plantain, with a very salty-seaside finish. The touch of lees (rice solids) are so fine and delicate they barely come across on the palate, mostly serving to generate natural effervescence and a little softness. In a word: a salty pirate’s sparkler, absolutely perfect for cooling down the body and stimulating the appetite on a too-hot day, for pairing with raw vegetables, raw fish, sweet pea-lemon-goat cheese salad, oysters, chilled poached shrimp, hiyayakko with gobs of green onion-ginger relish, or thinly sliced, poached chicken breast topped with ume paste & shiso or yuzu kosho.
Serve chilled in a wine glass, knowing that the first day will have the most effervescence and it will mellow to a light prickle around day 3. Store upright in the fridge, and enjoy within the next 1-2 months.
HEIWA SHUZO, KID “NATSU NO SHIPPOU” JUNMAI GINJO NAMA
“Sake is a living thing, and people are a bridge”
Heiwa Shuzo was established in 1927 in the outskirts of Kainan City, Wakayama Prefecture, just south of Nara and about an hour from Osaka station. Mizonokuchi, the district of Kainan City where Heiwa is located, is a picturesque river basin surrounded by mountains. High precipitation, temperate days and cold nights, and soft spring water from Mt. Koya create the ideal environment for brewing sake. The Mizunokuchi ruins for which the district is named show evidence of rice cultivation going back to the late Jomon period, when rice agriculture was first spreading throughout Japan. It’s a deeply important, historic area, recognized even in ancient times for its agricultural riches.
For 500 years the brewery site was a Buddhist temple by the name of Muryozan Chogan-ji. To this day, “Choganji” is an affectionate nickname for the brewery and their Muryozan brand is their highest-tier line of products. The current president, Norimasa Yamamoto, is deeply cognizant of their historic duty and position.
“Japan is starting to lose important parts of its culture. People are eating less rice due to a shift to more western diets. Since demand for rice is lower, some rice paddies are left to fallow. So with respect to protecting local traditions and the local environment, I think sake is an extremely ethical drink. To put it even more simply, I think our brewery is what protects the local rice paddies, and contributes to the preservation of our history and culture.”
The Plenary Hall of the National Diet, image source: alamy
Were it not for a very personal and high profile appeal to the National Diet (Japanese congress) after the war however, Heiwa Shuzo would not exist. The brewery had been requisitioned during WW2 to house evacuated schoolchildren, but even in the aftermath of the war, the government would not reactivate their brewing license. So the second generation president, Yasumasa Yamamoto, made a passionate plea to the Diet in 1957. Trembling, he spoke of the regret of being forced to close and his hope to brew sake in the peaceful post-war era. His speech was met with enthusiastic applause, and being swayed by his passion, the Diet permitted his brewery to reopen. It was this desire to brew sake in a peaceful era that led to the brewery's modern name, which means peace (heiwa).
From 1957 to the 1980s, Heiwa Shuzo brewed small quantities of their local Wakatsuru brand and large quantities on a recipe/contract basis for a major brewery in Kyoto. When their contract was dropped in the late 1980s (a defining challenge for so many of the breweries we sell here at Sunflower) the owner at the time was forced to redefine their house brand and to start focusing on quality: “sake we want to make.” With this came their first gold from the National New Sake Awards (1989), followed again in 1993, 2005 and 2006.
However, even this was not enough. The Heiwa Shuzo of 2024, famous for its Kid brand and internationally recognized, can be traced back to 2004 when the current president Norimasa Yamamoto returned home to help run the business (he has been president since 2019).
“Around 2004, when I joined my family business, I noticed it depended on manufacturing low-priced paper-pack sake. Feeling a sense of crisis, I said to our employees, "We need to make better sake." But the reaction I got was, "But we already are.” Surviving in a shrinking industry requires producing high-quality products. In our case, we needed to realize that better sake than ours exists and get an idea of the level of our products. So I decided to start by changing our employees' attitudes. I decided to recruit new university and graduate school graduates, which not many breweries do. My aim of recruiting people with a passion for craft was to change the atmosphere of our entire company. [In turn, we needed to] give meaning to the work performed by the brewers. Visualizing the meaning of their work changed our brewers' attitudes toward it.”
Heiwa’s fourth generation, Norimasa has not only revolutionized brewery management and chain of command by flattening the traditional hierarchy, he has positioned KID as the stylistic leader of the modern sake movement and deepened the connection between the brewery and its local and international communities. To this effect, his “Tsuru-Ume” series (beautiful, colorful bottles of fruit sake) created a connection to local farmers. The brewery’s rice planting event enlists nearly 500 volunteers (as of 2024), and his hiring program receives between 1000-2000 applications per year from university graduates. Even in the first year at a brewery, recruits are able to perform all functions of sake brewing: from making koji, to washing rice, managing the brew, and so on: an unthinkable level of responsibility for a novice under traditional management. The approach has paid dividends, with new recruits adopting the company culture, sticking around, reporting high levels of satisfaction, and even investing in themselves for the future. As of 2023 there are three kurabito (including the toji) with certification from the Nanbu Toji Guild– one of the most grueling qualifications to get.
Norimasa Yamamoto, source: Tippsysake.com
Norimasa’s plan led to the introduction of a new sake brand, Kido (“Kid”), in 2008. Introducing a new brand is an effective way of circumventing the weight and expectations attached to an old brand, particularly in Japan, where the feedback and expectations of long time local customers– some of whom have been enjoying the taste of your classic brand their entire lives– are valued and respected. “Kido” is a contraction of “Kishu,” the traditional name for their region, and “Fudo,” which means natural environment or topography. “Kido” also has the added feel of being a reference to youth, a new generation, easy to say in many languages, and to remember.
While the basic line of Kid sake (junmai, junmai ginjo, junmai daiginjo, etc) are fantastic and available year-round, the seasonals might be their most popular bottlings, at least here at Sunflower. Always made with Gohyakumangoku polished to 50 (koji rice) /55% (mash rice) with a blend of 4 different kinds of yeast and the sokujo quick fermentation starter method, their changing flavors throughout the seasons are a testament to the fact that ingredients aren’t everything in sake. The Summer release is by far the most clean, crisp and dry, but it has a gentle character too, which is a nice contrast to the salty, vivacious Narutotai. The toji remarked that this year’s rice was the hardest and most brittle they’ve worked with yet (2023 Summer in Japan was extremely hot) which produced a leaner, more cucumber-y and less peachy result than usual, but I think that can be a welcome relief on a hot day.
Brewing information
- Heiwa Shuzo, 平和酒造
- Location: Wakayama Prefecture
- Grade: Junmai Ginjo
- Rice: Gohyakumangoku
- Polishing: 50%/55%
- Yeast: 1801, 901, 14, 10
- Starter: sokujo
- Acidity: 1.8
- Water: Koyasan Nansui (soft)
- SMV: +4
- Alcohol: 15%
Tasting Notes & Serving Advice
A light yet silky sake with notes of just-ripe yellow melon, mint and cucumber, totally channeling a melon-mint-proscuitto snack. A gentle weight on the palate flows in after an initial dry, altoid-like impression, almost like a wave returning to the shore. A very textbook expression of Gohyakumangoku rice, too! Clean and lean. Store in the refrigerator and serve in any serveware of your choosing from light chill to ice cold. Also suited to gentle warming to ~120, particularly with a lime zest infusion.
