Sake Education Council

Newsletter for the CSP & ASP Community

Volume 3, Newsletter 3 April 2013

Greetings to the CSP/ASP community,

It has come to my attention...
...that most of the people that take the CSP courses come to me through references from others that have taken the courses, in other words, you all. Thank you for that! I have figured this out through simply asking everyone. A few come via my newsletter, almost no one via social media (curiously enough), but most say they heard about it from other graduates. So again, thank you all!

There are about 10 or so seats open for the course in New York, May 8-10. By all means, should you know anyone interested in sake, feel free to send them my way.

Also, on the evening of Friday, May 10, there will be a gathering of course graduates - both the just-finished NYC course and graduates of past courses that are in the NYC area - at the sake establishment  Sakamai. If you are anywhere near New York City on May 10, by all means check it out. If you are Interested in attending just send me an email to that purport.

Important note: in time, a system will be set up to register and reserve spaces for those interested in attending these type of events. But as of today the details have not been totally finalized. So please send me an email stating your interest.  

Hope to see you in New York.

Warm regards,

John

INDUSTRY NEWS
Severe Kakouyoumai Shortage
Kakouyoumai is a big word, eh? And one that has not come up in Level 1 or Level 2, eh?

What is it? Well, as you may recall, -mai is rice. Kakouyoumai refers to rice that is distributed through a special channel to the brewers. It is significantly less expensive, and for some reason that I do not understand, I think the government gets a piece of the action, too.

The legal definition of Kakouyoumai, or rather of what lets a rice be sold as such, dictates that it must be used for making sake or shochu or miso, and not to be eaten. The rice itself is not special. It is not sake rice. In fact, when brewers order it, they cannot specify the variety, or even the region - so it could be anything, from anywhere. Note, they can make a request for rice from a given region, but there is no assurance that they can get what they requested.

The rice distribution system is very complicated in Japan, and I do not pretend to understand very much about it yet. (Then again, neither do the brewers, it seems; but I digress.) But Kakouyoumai is important to the industry as it is a source of very cheap rice for inexpensive sake. Of course, to brewers that make only or mostly tokutei meishoshu (premium sake), this is not an issue. But for the industry overall, it is. In short, the brewers' association (shuzo kumiai) of each prefecture orders it on behalf of the brewers in that prefecture, placing that order directly to the agricultural coop. It is not clear to me where or how the government types get involved, but it happens somehwere along the line.But the main point is that it is a source of cheap but decent rice for the industry. 

The government provides subsidies for things like fertilizers and such to farmers, and those vary depending on what kind of rice is being grown. There will be one amount for table rice, another for sake rice, another for kakouyoumai, and yet another for rice grown for animal feed et al.

Because of these changes that put more money in farmers' pockets if they grew rice for animal feed, less and less kakouyoumai is being grown. And this has led to a huge shortage of kakouyoumai that is becoming a problem in the sake industry. Like, this past year, only 20% of the amount ordered could be filled!
You read that right: an eighty-percent shortage!

Apparently the ministry in charge is going to find some rice somewhere to fill those orders, but that is just a temporary solution that is sure to take money out of someone's pockets somewhere and the problem still looms large in the industry background.

Sake Drops 10% in February

Sake sold (or rather, the amount of taxes paid on sake) dropped ten percent in February compared to the same month last year. After two full years of gains! But there are some hidden reasons.

For one, there were two less business days. Considering we generally have about 20 a month, two less is ten percent less. So, maybe it ain’t that bad… Also, folks drank sake in February, but brewers paid ten percent less taxes, i.e. sent ten percent less out into the market. This is partly because – due to high expectations – they had too much stock in their warehouses ready to ship, upon which taxes had already been paid.

So, while a ten percent drop seems scary, there are a couple of things that dampen the blow. Let us not give up on sake’s just-begun recovery quite yet!


(Note, the below appeared in my Sake World Email Newsletter. For those of you that do not subscribe to that, I have included it here.)

What is happening in the brewing world itself...

Changing Sake Flavor Profiles

A survey by the Ministry of Taxation on sake flavor profiles for last year showed a couple of interesting trends.
 
In short, the trend for junmai-shu to be both drier and richer continued. For better or for worse, more intense junmai has become more popular. Also, in ginjo-shu, the alcohol content and amount of a compound called ethyl caproate (think “apples” in your ginjo) also increased. So brewers are taking the sake of those grades further into their archetypal manifestations. Overall acidity of premium sake stayed pretty much the sake, but the umami-yielding amino acid content dropped a bit. The sweet/dry and richness of non-junmai premium sake (basically ginjo-shu) also stayed the same.

While this may not be so useful in our everyday sake sipping endeavors, it is interesting to hover over and observe the changes and trends.

IN THIS ISSUE

INDUSTRY NEWS

FUTURE COURSES

 

FUTURE COURSES


CSP Course in New York City, May 8-10, 2013

From Wednesday, May 8 to Friday, May 10 I will run the 2013 New York Sake Professional Course with SEC-backed CSP testing a private venue in the Murray Hill neighborhood of Manhattan. More information can be found here:
http://www.sake-world.com/html/spcny.html

Should anyone you know or work with be interested, by all means, feel free to email me at sakeguy@gol.com.


CSP Course in Dallas, TX,
August 8-10,  2013


From Thursday, August 8 to Saturday, August 10, I will run the a Sake Professional Course with SEC-backed CSP testing in conjunction with TEXSOM 2013 at the Four Seasons Resort and Club Dallas at Las Colinas in Irving, Texas. More information can be found here:
http://www.sake-world.com/html/spc_texsom_2013.html

Should anyone you know or work with be interested, by all means, feel free to email me at sakeguy@gol.com.

Other CSP Courses

There remains a possibility of another course in the fall, as well as one in Europe if enough interest exists and if enough support can be mobilized. We will indeed keep you posted!

In Closing,

Enjoy the coming spring, and continued good luck in all things sake!

By all means, all CSP and ASP readers are encouraged to submit content for the SEC newsletter. Don’t be shy!

If you are no longer involved with sake, God forbid, or for any other reason you prefer to not receive this email, then please let us know.

Sake Education Council

CONTACT DETAILS

Sake Education Council

johngauntner@sakeeducationcouncil.org

paultanguay@sakeeducationcouncil.org

sallymohr@sakeeducationcouncil.org

jonathandriver@sakeeducationcouncil.org

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