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79-394: Sake , saké ( 酒 , sake , / ˈ s ɑː k i , ˈ s æ k eɪ / SAH -kee, SAK -ay ) , or saki , also referred to as Japanese rice wine , is an alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran . Despite the name Japanese rice wine , sake, and indeed any East Asian rice wine (such as huangjiu and cheongju ),

158-431: A bitter taste from the peptides and a strong sour taste from the citric acid, which is sometimes compared to strawberry or red wine . Sake fermentation is a three-step process called sandan shikomi . The first step, called hatsuzoe , involves steamed rice, water, and kōji-kin being added to the yeast starter called shubo : a mixture of steamed rice, water, kōji , and yeast. This mixture becomes known as

237-400: A cage-like device, an insert with holes in its walls that fit into a tank of sake. The sake that leaked through the holes in the center of the insert was then drawn off and bottled. The government determined that as long as the holes in the mesh were no larger than 2 millimeters in diameter, the result of filtration using the cage could legally be considered sake. Hence, nigori was born as

316-452: A ceramic vat at near room temperature. Then, the jiuqu is added and mixed with the rice. The primary functions of jiuqu are to supply enzymes to convert starch to sugar and to supply yeast for ethanol production. After a few days, the liquid formed in the ceramic vat is combined with an additional mix of water and fungi to adjust the rice wine's water content. Southeast Asia Nigorizake Nigori or nigorizake ( 濁り酒; にごり酒 )

395-411: A dark version of nigori sake, the color of which is due to the addition of edible finely powdered charcoal . Nigori sake is generally the sweet sake, with a fruity nose and a mild flavor, making a great drink to complement spicy foods or as a dessert wine. Nigori sake is sometimes unpasteurized namazake , which means that it is still fermenting and has a effervescent quality. Therefore, shaking

474-674: A far cloudier drink. Unfiltered sake is known as doburoku (どぶろく, but also 濁酒) and was originally brewed across Japan by farming families. However, it was banned in the Meiji period , though it has since been revived as a local brewing tradition. The area around Mihara village in southern Shikoku is especially well known for its doburoku breweries. Brewer Tokubee Masuda, of Kyoto-based Tsukino Katsura brewery, which began in 1675, looked to bring back hundred-year-old recipes and traditional production methods available to modernize their products. Beginning in 1964 (or 1966 ), Masuda began lobbying

553-435: A genre of sake. Other breweries later followed suit, using their own contraptions." Gauntner also remarked that currently, most brewers no longer bother filtering out the sake, but will instead dilute the final product with filtered sake. Formerly, only water could be added to sake after fermenting, but current laws state that only water and sake can be added afterward. In 2010, a brewer from Akita Prefecture came up with

632-683: A higher mineral content is known for producing drier-style sake. The first region known for having great water was the Nada-Gogō in Hyōgo Prefecture . A particular water source called Miyamizu was found to produce high-quality sake and attracted many producers to the region. Today Hyōgo has the most sake brewers of any prefecture. Typically breweries obtain water from wells, though surface water can be used. Breweries may use tap water and filter and adjust components. Aspergillus oryzae spores are another important component of sake. A. oryzae

711-411: A new method of making starter mash, and in 1910, a further improvement, sokujō , was developed. Yeast strains specifically selected for their brewing properties were isolated, and enamel-coated steel tanks arrived. The government started hailing the use of enamel tanks as easy to clean, lasting forever, and devoid of bacterial problems. (The government considered wooden tubs to be unhygienic because of

790-725: A small porcelain cup called a sakazuki . As with wine, the recommended serving temperature of sake varies greatly by type. The origin of sake is unclear; however, the method of fermenting rice into alcohol spread to Japan from China around 500BCE. The earliest reference to the use of alcohol in Japan is recorded in the Book of Wei in the Records of the Three Kingdoms . This 3rd-century Chinese text speaks of Japanese drinking and dancing. Alcoholic beverages ( 酒 , sake ) are mentioned several times in

869-486: A world beverage with a few breweries in China, Southeast Asia, South America, North America, and Australia. In addition to Aspergillus oryzae (yellow kōji ), Aspergillus kawachii (white kōji ) and Aspergillus luchuensis (black kōji ), which are used to brew shōchū and awamori , have been used to brew sake since the 21st century. More breweries are also turning to older methods of production. For example, since

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948-403: Is 50% of the rice weight, mainly to increase the volume, while the maximum amount of distilled alcohol added to special-designation sake is 10% of the rice weight, to make the sake more aromatic and light in taste, and to prevent the growth of lactic acid bacteria, which deteriorate the flavor of the sake. It is often misunderstood that the added distilled alcohol is of poor quality, but that is not

1027-442: Is a microorganism used to manufacture food, its safety profile concerning humans and the environment in sake brewing and other food-making processes must be considered. Various health authorities, including Health Canada and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), consider A. oryzae generally safe for use in food fermentation, including sake brewing. When assessing its safety, it is important to note that A. oryzae lacks

1106-416: Is a variety of sake , an alcoholic beverage produced from rice . Its name translates roughly to "cloudy" because of its appearance. It is about 12–17% alcohol by volume , averaging 15% with some as high as 20%. Sake is usually filtered to remove grain solids left behind after the fermentation process. Nigori sake is filtered using a broader mesh, resulting in the permeating of fine rice particles and

1185-414: Is an enzyme-secreting fungus . In Japan, A. oryzae is used to make various fermented foods, including miso (a paste made from soybeans) and shoyu ( soy sauce ). It is also used to make alcoholic beverages, notably sake. During sake brewing, spores of A. oryzae are scattered over steamed rice to produce kōji (rice in which A. oryzae spores are cultivated). Under warm and moist conditions,

1264-454: Is brewed, these conversions occur simultaneously. The alcohol content differs between sake, wine, and beer; while most beer contains 3–9% ABV , wine generally contains 9–16% ABV , and undiluted sake contains 18–20% ABV (although this is often lowered to about 15% by diluting with water before bottling). In Japanese , the character sake ( kanji : 酒 , Japanese pronunciation: [sake] ) can refer to any alcoholic drink , while

1343-446: Is called bodaimoto , which is the origin of kimoto . These innovations made it possible to produce sake with more stable quality than before, even in temperate regions. These things are described in Goshu no nikki , the oldest known technical book on sake brewing written in 1355 or 1489, and Tamonin nikki , a diary written between 1478 and 1618 by monks of Kōfuku-ji Temple in

1422-720: Is involved in almost every major sake brewing process, from washing the rice to diluting the final product before bottling. The mineral content of the water can be important in the final product. Iron will bond with an amino acid produced by the kōji to produce off flavors and a yellowish color. Manganese , when exposed to ultraviolet light, will also contribute to discoloration. Conversely, potassium , magnesium , and phosphoric acid serve as nutrients for yeast during fermentation and are considered desirable. The yeast will use those nutrients to work faster and multiply resulting in more sugar being converted into alcohol. While soft water will typically yield sweeter sake, hard water with

1501-429: Is larger, stronger (if a grain is small or weak, it will break in the process of polishing), and contains less protein and lipid than ordinary table rice. Because of the cost, ordinary table rice, which is cheaper than sake rice, is sometimes used for sake brewing, but because sake rice has been improved and optimized for sake brewing, few people eat it. Premium sake is mostly made from sake rice. However, non-premium sake

1580-564: Is made from glutinous rice , while others (such as the Japanese Sake) is made from non-glutinous rice. However, all systems combine rice with some fungal culture in some ways. The fungal culture is called jiuqu in Chinese and koji in Japanese. In the traditional Chinese rice-wine-making approach, the glutinous rice is soaked for several days before being steamed, and subsequently is left to cool in

1659-456: Is mostly made from table rice. According to the Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association, premium sake makes up 25% of total sake production, and non-premium sake ( futsushu ) makes up 75% of sake production. In 2008, a total of 180,000 tons of polished rice were used in sake brewing, of which sake rice accounted for 44,000 tons (24%), and table rice accounted for 136,000 tons (76%). Sake rice

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1738-403: Is no evidence to indicate A. oryzae is a harmful pathogen to either plants or animals in the scientific literature. Therefore, Health Canada considers A. oryzae "unlikely to be a serious hazard to livestock or to other organisms," including "healthy or debilitated humans." Given its safety record in the scientific literature and extensive history of safe use (spanning several hundred years) in

1817-464: Is not allowed to be added, and under the provisions of the Liquor Tax Act, 50% of the weight of rice is the upper limit for the most inexpensive sake classified as futsū-shu . After the war, the breweries gradually recovered and the quality of sake steadily improved, and there were various innovations in sake brewing. The term ginzō ( 吟造 ), which means carefully brewed sake, first appeared at

1896-464: Is of better quality than sake made with rice milled less. Sake made with highly milled rice has a strong aroma and a light taste without miscellaneous taste. It maximizes the fruity flavor of ginjō . On the other hand, sake made with less milled rice but with attention to various factors tends to have a rich sweetness and flavor derived from rice. Rice polishing ratio , called Seimai-buai 精米歩合 ( せいまいぶあい ) (see Glossary of sake terms ) measures

1975-550: Is often said to be the birthplace of seishu ( 清酒 ). Until then, most sake had been nigorizake with a different process from today's, but after that, clear seishu was established. The main production methods established by Shōryaku-ji are the use of all polished rice ( morohaku zukuri , 諸白造り), three-stage fermentation ( sandan zikomi , 三段仕込み), brewing of starter mash using acidic water produced by lactic acid fermentation ( bodaimoto zukuri , 菩提酛づくり), and pasteurization ( hiire , 火入れ). This method of producing starter mash

2054-507: Is often used for making rice crackers , Japanese sweets (i.e. Dango ), and other food stuffs. If the sake is made with rice with a higher percentage of its husk and the outer portion of the core milled off, then more rice will be required to make that particular sake, which will take longer to produce. Thus, sake made with rice that has been highly milled is usually more expensive than sake that has been made with less-polished rice. This does not always mean that sake made with highly milled rice

2133-451: Is produced by a brewing process more akin to that of beer , where starch is converted into sugars that ferment into alcohol, whereas in wine , alcohol is produced by fermenting sugar that is naturally present in fruit, typically grapes. The brewing process for sake differs from the process for beer, where the conversion from starch to sugar and then from sugar to alcohol occurs in two distinct steps. Like other rice wines , when sake

2212-460: Is recommended that sake with the name ginjō be transported and stored in cold storage. It is also recommended to drink chilled to maximize its fruity flavor. Junmai ( 純米 ) is a term used for the sake that is made of pure rice wine without any additional distilled alcohol. Special-designation sake which is not labeled Junmai has an appropriate amount of distilled alcohol added. The maximum amount of distilled alcohol added to futsū-shu

2291-462: Is slowly fermented for about 30 days at a low temperature of 5 to 10 degrees Celsius (41 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit ). Sake made in ginjō-zukuri is characterized by fruity flavors like apples, bananas, melons, grapes, peaches, pineapples, citrus, etc. In general, the flavor of sake tends to deteriorate when it is affected by ultraviolet rays or high temperatures, especially for sake made in ginjō-zukuri and un pasteurized namazake . Therefore, it

2370-399: Is tax-free, the logic was that by banning the home-brewing of sake, sales would increase, and more tax revenue would be collected. This was the end of home-brewed sake. The Meiji government adopted a system in which taxes were collected when sake was finished, instead of levying taxes on the amount and price of sake at the time of sale to ensure more revenue from liquor taxes. The liquor tax for

2449-596: Is the Sudo Honke in Kasama, Ibaraki , founded in 1141 during the Heian Period (794–1185). Sudō Honke was also the first sake brewery to sell both namazake and hiyaoroshi . Hiyaoroshi refers to sake that is finished in winter, pasteurized once in early spring, stored and aged for a little while during the summer, and shipped in the fall without being pasteurized a second time. In terms of excavated archaeological evidence,

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2528-437: Is the equivalent of table wine and accounts for 57% of sake production as of 2020. Tokutei meishō-shu refers to premium sake distinguished by the degree to which the rice has been polished and the added percentage of brewer's alcohol or the absence of such additives. There are eight varieties of special-designation sake. Ginjō ( 吟醸 ) is sake made using a special method called ginjō-zukuri ( 吟醸造り ), in which rice

2607-550: Is the job title of the sake brewer . There are various theories about the origin of the word, but the most popular is that it is a corruption of the word tōji ( 刀自 ) , which was used for housewives and elderly women who supervised miko (shrine maidens). This is because sake brewing was the work of housewives at home and miko at Shinto shrines . It is a highly respected job in the Japanese society , with tōji being regarded like musicians or painters . The title of tōji

2686-567: Is typically served warm. One panel of taste testers arrived at 60 °C (140 °F) as an optimum serving temperature. Rice wines are drunk as a dining beverage in East Asian, Southeast Asian and South Asian cuisine during formal dinners and banquets , and are also used as cooking wines to add flavors or to neutralize unwanted tastes in certain food items (e.g. seafood such as fish and shellfish ). The production of rice wine has thousands of years of history. In ancient China, rice wine

2765-428: Is unique to it. This distinguishes sake from other brewed alcoholic beverages like beer because it occurs in a single vat, whereas with beer, for instance, starch-to-glucose conversion and glucose-to-alcohol conversion occur in separate vats. The breakdown of starch into glucose is caused by the kōji-kin fungus, while the conversion of glucose into alcohol is caused by yeast. Due to the yeast being available as soon as

2844-429: Is usually polished to a much higher degree than ordinary table rice. The reason for polishing is a result of the composition and structure of the rice grain itself. The core of the rice grain is rich in starch, while the outer layers of the grain contain higher concentrations of fats, vitamins, and proteins. Since a higher concentration of fat and protein in the sake would lead to off-flavors and contribute rough elements to

2923-521: The Kojiki , Japan's first written history, which was compiled in 712. Bamforth (2005) places the probable origin of true sake (which is made from rice, water, and Koji ( 麹 , Aspergillus oryzae )) in the Nara period (710–794). The fermented food fungi traditionally used for making alcoholic beverages in China and Korea for a long time were fungi belonging to Rhizopus and Mucor , whereas in Japan, except in

3002-412: The moromi (the main mash during sake fermentation). The high yeast content of the shubo promotes the fermentation of the moromi . On the second day, the mixture stands for a day to let the yeast multiply. The second step (the third day of the process), called nakazoe , involves the addition of a second batch of kōji , steamed rice, and water to the mixture. On the fourth day of

3081-637: The A. oryzae spores germinate and release amylases (enzymes that convert the rice starches into maltose and glucose). This conversion of starch into simple sugars (e.g., glucose or maltose) is called saccharification . Yeast then ferment the glucose and other sugar into alcohol . Saccharification also occurs in beer brewing, where mashing is used to convert starches from barley into maltose. However, whereas fermentation occurs after saccharification in beer brewing, saccharification (via A. oryzae ) and fermentation (via yeast) occur simultaneously in sake brewing (see "Fermentation" below). As A. oryzae

3160-529: The National Tax Agency 's brewing research institute developed kijōshu ( 貴醸酒 ). New players on the scene—beer, wine, and spirits—became popular in Japan, and in the 1960s, beer consumption surpassed sake for the first time. Sake consumption continued to decrease while the quality of sake steadily improved. While the rest of the world may be drinking more sake and the quality of sake has been increasing, sake production in Japan has been declining since

3239-541: The Onin War (1467–1477). Sake was brewed at Tenryū-ji during the Muromachi Period (1336–1573). The rice used for brewing sake is called sakamai 酒米 ( さかまい ) ('sake rice'), or officially shuzō kōtekimai 酒造好適米 ( しゅぞうこうてきまい ) ('sake-brewing suitable rice'). There are at least 123 types of sake rice in Japan. Among these, Yamada Nishiki , Gohyakumangoku, Miyama Nishiki and Omachi rice are popular. The grain

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3318-530: The Tokugawa shogunate issued sake brewing restrictions 61 times. In the early Edo period, there was a sake brewing technique called shiki jōzō ( 四季醸造 ) that was optimized for each season. In 1667, the technique of kanzukuri ( 寒造り ) for making sake in winter was improved, and in 1673, when the Tokugawa shogunate banned brewing other than kanzukuri because of a shortage of rice, the technique of sake brewing in

3397-510: The 10th century, Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines began to brew sake, and they became the main centers of production for the next 500 years. Before the 1440s in the Muromachi period (1333－1573), the Buddhist temple Shōryaku-ji invented various innovative methods for making sake. Because these production methods are the origin of the basic production methods for sake brewing today, Shoryakuji

3476-504: The 21st century, the use of wooden tubs has increased again due to the development of sanitary techniques. The use of wooden tubs for fermentation has the advantage of allowing various microorganisms living in the wood to affect sake, allowing more complex fermentation and producing sake with different characteristics. It is also known that the antioxidants contained in wood have a positive effect on sake. The oldest sake brewing company still in operation, as confirmed by historical documents,

3555-421: The 21st century. From the 1980s, research was conducted to brew sake using Aspergillus kawachii (white kōji ), which is used to make shōchū , and sake made with Aspergillus kawachii became popular when Aramasa Co, Ltd. released "Amaneko" using Aspergillus kawachii in 2009. Aspergillus kawachii produces about 10 times more citric acid than Aspergillus oryzae , and thus has a strong ability to suppress

3634-509: The Great's expedition to India , the Roman Empire had begun importing rice wine by the first century BCE. Despite being called a wine , the rice wine's production process has some similarities to that of brewing beer, reflecting its chief ingredient being a grain rather than a fruit. The specific approaches to making rice wine vary by type. Some rice wine (such as the Chinese rice wine, or Mijiu)

3713-566: The Japanese food industry, the FDA and World Health Organization (WHO) also support the safety of A. oryzae for use in the production of foods like sake. In the US, the FDA classifies A.oryzae as a Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) organism. In addition to Aspergillus oryzae (yellow kōji ), Aspergillus kawachii (white kōji ) and Aspergillus luchuensis (black kōji ), which are used to brew shōchū and awamori , have been used to brew sake since

3792-401: The Japanese government to relax sake production-laws in order to produce an unfiltered sake that would be cloudy and offer a visual component, similar to European wines. The result was a sake that was cloudy, effervescent, unpasteurized, and slightly sweeter. Author John Gauntner, discussing the production process that allowed nigori to be considered as sake, notes: "What they did was create

3871-457: The Muromachi period. A large tub with a capacity of 10 koku (1,800 liters) was invented at the end of the Muromachi period, making it possible to mass-produce sake more efficiently than before. Until then, sake had been made in jars with a capacity of 1, 2, or 3 koku at the most, and some sake brewers used to make sake by arranging 100 jars. In the 16th century, the technique of distillation

3950-791: The Nada-Gogō area on the coast, where the weather and water quality were perfect for brewing sake and convenient for shipping it to Edo. In the Genroku era, when the culture of the chōnin class, the common people, prospered, the consumption of sake increased rapidly, and large quantities of taruzake (樽酒) were shipped to Edo. 80% of the sake drunk in Edo during this period was from Nada-Gogō. Many of today's major sake producers, including Hakutsuru, Ōzeki, Nihonsakari, Kikumasamune, Kenbishi and Sawanotsuru , are breweries in Nada-Gogō. During this period, frequent natural disasters and bad weather caused rice shortages, and

4029-428: The ability to produce toxins, unlike the closely related Aspergillus flavus . To date, there have been several reported cases of animals (e.g. parrots , a horse ) being infected with A. oryzae . In these cases the animals infected with A. oryzae were already weakened due to predisposing conditions such as recent injury, illness or stress, hence were susceptible to infections in general. Aside from these cases, there

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4108-494: The beverage called sake in English is usually termed nihonshu ( 日本酒 ; meaning 'Japanese alcoholic drink'). Under Japanese liquor laws , sake is labeled with the word seishu ( 清酒 ; 'refined alcohol'), a synonym not commonly used in conversation. In Japan, where it is the national beverage, sake is often served with special ceremony , where it is gently warmed in a small earthenware or porcelain bottle and sipped from

4187-431: The bottle or exposing it to high temperatures may cause the sake to spurt out of the bottle, so care should be taken when opening the bottle. When first opening the bottle, the cap should be slightly opened and then closed repeatedly to release the gas that has filled the bottle little by little. To maximize the flavor of nigori sake, there are some tips on how to drink it. First drink only the clear supernatant, then close

4266-401: The cap and slowly turn the bottle upside down to mix the sediment with the clear sake to enjoy the change in flavor. It is advised that it be served well-chilled, storing it in an ice bucket to keep it from warming up between servings. It is recommended, as with most sake, to consume the entire bottle once opened before it begins to oxidize, altering its flavor. Nigori sake is more popular in

4345-536: The case with the addition of distilled alcohol to special-designation sake. Specifically, 78.3% of the sake entered in the Zenkoku shinshu kanpyōkai (全国新酒鑑評会, National New Sake Appraisal), the largest sake contest, had distilled alcohol added, and 91.1% of the winning sake had it added. However, the most important aspect of the contest is the brewing technique, not whether it tastes good or not. Rice wine Rice wine typically has an alcohol content of 10–25% ABV , and

4424-435: The degree of rice polishing. For example, a rice polishing ratio of 70% means that 70% of the original rice grain remains and 30% has been polished away. As of 2023, the most polished sake will have a polishing ratio of 0.85% or less, with at least 99.15% of its rice grains polished away. This sake will be Reikyo Crystal 0 ( 零響 Crystal 0 ) , released by Niizawa Brewery Co. (新澤醸造店), priced at 1,375,000 yen for 720 ml. Water

4503-507: The earliest representative varieties. In 1923, Yamada Nishiki , later called the "king of sake rice," was produced. Among more than 123 varieties of sake rice as of 2019, Yamada Nishiki ranks first in production and Omachi fourth. The government opened the sake-brewing research institute in 1904, and in 1907 the first government-run sake-tasting competition was held. In 1904, the National Brewing Laboratory developed yamahai ,

4582-448: The early days, the fermented food fungus used for sake brewing was Aspergillus oryzae . Some scholars believe the Japanese domesticated the mutated, detoxified Aspergillus flavus to give rise to Aspergillus oryzae . In the Heian period (794–1185), sake was used for religious ceremonies, court festivals, and drinking games. Sake production was a government monopoly for a long time, but in

4661-431: The end of the Edo period, and the term ginjō ( 吟醸 ), which has the same meaning, first appeared in 1894. However, ginjō-shu ( 吟醸酒 ), which is popular in the world today, was created by the development of various sake production techniques from the 1930s to around 1975. From 1930 to 1931, a new type of rice milling machine was invented, which made it possible to make rice with a polishing ratio of about 50%, removing

4740-468: The fermentation alone can take two weeks. On the other hand, ginjō-shu takes about 30 days for fermentation alone. Like other brewed beverages, sake tends to benefit from a period of storage. Nine to twelve months are required for the sake to mature. Maturation is caused by physical and chemical factors such as oxygen supply, the broad application of external heat, nitrogen oxides, aldehydes, and amino acids, among other unknown factors. Tōji ( 杜氏 )

4819-417: The fermentation, the third step of the process, called tomezoe , takes place. Here, the third and final batch of kōji, steamed rice, and water is added to the mixture, followed by up to ten days or so of additional fermentation to complete the three-step process. The multiple parallel fermentation process of sake brewing, where starch is converted into glucose followed by immediate conversion into alcohol,

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4898-441: The four seasons ceased, and it became common to make sake only in winter until industrial technology began to develop in the 20th century. During this period, aged for three, five, or nine years, koshu ( 古酒 ) was a luxury, but its deliciousness was known to the common people. In the 18th century, Engelbert Kaempfer and Isaac Titsingh published accounts identifying sake as a popular alcoholic beverage in Japan, but Titsingh

4977-508: The glucose is produced, the conversion of glucose to alcohol is very efficient in sake brewing. This results in sake having a generally higher alcohol content than other types of beer or wine. After the fermentation process is complete, the fermented moromi is pressed to remove the sake lees and then pasteurized and filtered for color. The sake is then stored in bottles under cold conditions (see "Maturation" below). The process of making sake can range from 60 to 90 days (2–3 months), while

5056-795: The growth of bacteria that damage the flavor of sake. It also imparts a sour, citrus-like flavor to sake. Because it produces so much citric acid, older sake-making methods such as kimoto or yamahai can produce a starter mash as quickly as modern sokujō . Kimoto and yamahai do not add artificial lactic acid, which allows them to be labeled "additive-free," giving them a marketing advantage when exporting. As of 2022, sake made with Aspergillus luchuensis (black kōji , ) will not be as popular as sake made with Aspergillus kawachii . It produces more citric acid than Aspergillus kawachii . However, it produces less amino acids , which produce complex flavors such as umami , bitterness, and sweetness, and more peptides , which produce bitterness, resulting in

5135-555: The mid-1970s. The number of sake breweries is also declining. While there were 3,229 breweries nationwide in fiscal 1975, the number had fallen to 1,845 in 2007. In recent years, exports have rapidly increased due to the growing popularity of sake worldwide. The value of sake exports in 2022 was more than six times that of 2009. As of 2022, the value of Japan's alcoholic beverage exports was approximately 139.2 billion yen, with Japanese whisky in first place at 56.1 billion yen and sake in second place at 47.5 billion yen. Today, sake has become

5214-518: The miscellaneous taste derived from the surface part of the rice grain to make sake with a more aromatic and refreshing taste than before. In 1936, Yamada Nishiki , the most suitable sake rice for brewing ginjō-shu , became the recommended variety of Hyogo Prefecture . Around 1953, the "Kyokai yeast No. 9" ( kyokai kyu-gō kōbo , 協会9号酵母 ) was invented, which produced fruit-like aromas like apples and bananas but also excelled in fermentation. From around 1965, more and more manufacturers began to work on

5293-528: The national government. In 1878, the liquor tax accounted for 12.3% of the national tax revenue, excluding local taxes, and in 1888 it was 26.4%, and in 1899 it was 38.8%, finally surpassing the land tax of 35.6%. In 1899, the government banned home brewing in anticipation of financial pressure from the First Sino-Japanese War and in preparation for the Russo-Japanese War . Since home-brewed sake

5372-479: The oldest known sake brewery is from the 15th century near an area that was owned by Tenryū-ji , in Ukyō-ku, Kyoto . Unrefined sake was squeezed out at the brewery, and there are about 180 holes (60 cm wide, 20 cm deep) for holding storage jars. A hollow (1.8 meter wide, 1 meter deep) for a pot to collect drops of pressed sake and 14th-century Bizen ware jars were also found. It is estimated to be utilized until

5451-436: The potential bacteria living in the wood.) Although these things are true, the government also wanted more tax money from breweries, as using wooden tubs means a significant amount of sake is lost to evaporation (approximately 3%), which could have otherwise been taxed. This was the temporary end of the wooden-tubs age of sake, and the use of wooden tubs in brewing was temporarily eliminated. In Japan, sake has long been taxed by

5530-503: The research and development of ginjō-shu , and by about 1968, the Kyokai yeast No. 9 began to be used throughout Japan. In the 1970s, temperature control technology in the mash production process improved dramatically. And by slowly fermenting rice at low temperatures using high-milled rice and a newly developed yeast, ginjō-shu with a fruity flavor was created. At that time, ginjō-shu was a special sake exhibited at competitive exhibitions and

5609-400: The sake produced in a given year had to be paid to the government during that fiscal year, so the breweries tried to make money by selling the sake as soon as possible. This destroyed the market for aged koshu , which had been popular until then, and it was only in 1955 that sake breweries began to make koshu again. When World War II brought rice shortages, the sake-brewing industry

5688-450: The sake, the outer layers of the sake rice grain is milled away in a polishing process, leaving only the starchy part of the grain (some sake brewers remove over 60% of the rice grain in the polishing process). That desirable pocket of starch in the center of the grain is called the shinpaku ( 心白 , しんぱく ). It usually takes two to three days to polish rice down to less than half its original size. The rice powder by-product of polishing

5767-419: The same preventing deterioration in quality. This originates from the distilled alcohol addition used in modern sake brewing. The Nada-Gogō area in Hyōgo Prefecture , the largest producer of modern sake, was formed during this period. When the population of Edo , modern-day Tokyo , began to grow rapidly in the early 1600s, brewers who made sake in inland areas such as Fushimi , Itami , and Ikeda moved to

5846-589: Was hampered as the government discouraged the use of rice for brewing. As early as the late 17th century, it had been discovered that small amounts of distilled alcohol could be added to sake before pressing to extract aromas and flavors from the rice solids. During the war, large amounts of distilled alcohol and glucose were added to small quantities of rice mash, increasing the yield by as much as four times. A few breweries were producing "sake" that contained no rice. The quality of sake during this time varied considerably. Incidentally, as of 2022, so much distilled alcohol

5925-620: Was historically passed from father to son. Today new tōji are either veteran brewery workers or are trained at universities. While modern breweries with cooling tanks operate year-round, most old-fashioned sake breweries are seasonal, operating only in the cool winter months. During the summer and fall, most tōji work elsewhere, commonly on farms, only periodically returning to the brewery to supervise storage conditions or bottling operations. There are two basic types of sake: Futsū-shu ( 普通酒 , ordinary sake) and Tokutei meishō-shu ( 特定名称酒 , special-designation sake) . Futsū-shu

6004-608: Was introduced into the Kyushu district from Ryukyu. The brewing of shōchū , called "Imo–sake" started and was sold at the central market in Kyoto . By the Genroku era (1688–1704) of the Edo period (1603–1867), a brewing method called hashira jōchū ( 柱焼酎 ) was developed in which a small amount of distilled alcohol ( shōchū ) was added to the mash to make it more aromatic and lighter in taste, while at

6083-401: Was not on the market. From around 1975, ginjō-shu began to be marketed and was widely distributed in the 1980s, and in 1990, with the definition of what can be labeled as ginjō-shu , more and more brewers began to sell ginjō-shu . The growing popularity of ginjō-shu has prompted research into yeast, and many yeasts with various aromas optimized for ginjō-shu have been developed. In 1973,

6162-507: Was the first to try to explain and describe the process of sake brewing. The work of both writers was widely disseminated throughout Europe at the beginning of the 19th century. Starting around the beginning of the Meiji era (1868－1912), the technique for making sake began to develop rapidly. Breeding was actively carried out in various parts of Japan to produce sake rice optimized for sake brewing. Ise Nishiki developed in 1860, Omachi developed in 1866 and Shinriki developed in 1877 are

6241-474: Was the primary alcoholic drink . The first known fermented beverage in the world was a wine made from rice and honey about 9,000 years ago in central China. In the Shang Dynasty (1750-1100 BCE), funerary objects routinely featured wine vessels. The production of rice wine in Japan is believed to have started around third century BCE, after the introduction of wet rice cultivation. As a result of Alexander

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