Greetings in the month known as "Shiwasu,"

The busy-ness of this time of the year is reflected in that word, the traditional name for the final month of the year. It’s meaning implies that things are so hectic that even the teacher (presumably of a trade, art, or practice) is running around, as there is so much to do that his or her minions or protégés alone cannot handle it. And so true it seems.

While we have the whole Shiwasu season yet to go before this year closes, it has been a heavy one, to say the least. And it has been a particularly heavy year in Japan. But as the winter begins to chill the weather down, everything else seems to be warming up at least a little. Sake brewing, sake sales, sake love. And so much more outside of the sake world and Japan  as well seem poised to begin moving, albeit slowly, toward resolution.

Let us hope and pray that it continues in that direction for the rest of Shiwasu and through 2012.

Happy Holidays to all readers.

Warm regards, and please enjoy the newsletter,
John Gauntner

Suisen Back Brewing - against all odds

And other Tohoku news

In the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, literally hundreds of breweries were damaged in the northeastern half of Japan. No one knew what would happen; who would recover, and who would not.

But check this fact out: not one single brewery threw in the towel. Not one kura out there quit, gave up, or decided they could not continue. Every single damaged, crushed, shaken or flooded sake brewery somehow, by hook or by crook, through sheer determination and will, has begun to brew sake again this year. How they will fare is of course not known. But the incredible courage to do that is, very sincerely, incredibly inspiring to me.

Perhaps the most amazing example is Suisen, the brewery that was pummeled and destroyed by the tsunami on March 11 on national television.

After the tsunami, in which Suisen lost a handful of employees, the brewery owner, Mr. Kohno, released everyone pending a new start. He made that start by borrowing a brewery owned by Iwate Meijo also of Iwate Prefecture, their Tamanokawa brewery (they have more than one and this one was not currently in use) and got a new license on July 1, after which he hired his staff back. They do intend to return to Rikuzen Takada, where they originally were located, someday.

The began brewing September 12 and wanted to ship product on October 1, but due to shortages and a lack of familiarity on the part of the brewing staff with the equipment, things will be delayed a couple of weeks.  

They are starting with a sparkling genshu Yukikko and will release next month a

new year’s sake called Hassou. “We chose those two to start with as they were the seasonal products we shipped this time every year when we were in the original brewery, with hopes that it will instill the locals with courage.”

A program shown on NHK television last week showed their plight, their path, and the culmination of their efforts in the shipping of Yukikko on October 17.

The spirit of cooperation displayed is amazing to me. A competitor loaned this company facilities so they could survive and continue to compete. The significance was not lost on Mr. Kohno, who added with obvious gratitude, “receiving support from a competitor is powerfully moving to us.” They plan to continue using this brewery until they can rebuild one in Rikuzen Takada.

Such cooperation was also shown back in Kobe in the 1997 earthquake, where brewers in Nada lent their facilities to others that had lost theirs. Inspiring. Amazing.

In other good news, as of this fall, sake shipments were up 3% over last year. While this may not seem much, remember that things have been in decline almost every year for the past two decades, and in fact, sake shipments today are down about two thirds from their peak in 1973. In that light, 3% is huge, and many including myself see this as the turning point. Surely the road ahead is still fraught with hardship. But one step at a time.

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Should you hear talk of concern about the effects of radiation from the nuclear accident in March on sake, here is a bit of recent news.

All rice has been checked multiple  times since it was planted through to harvest. While some rice was found to have high levels of cesium, that small amount was from Fukushima near the Dai-ichi plant, and was not sake rice, but eating rice. No sake rice turned up any high levels of cesium.

On top of that the government has set up a thorough testing system of all alcoholic beverages (among other things) made within 150 km of Dai-chi, and 20% to 40% of products outside of that range, covering all of Japan. The first round of checking, which included 235 products, showed that all of them were safe by a longshot.

More information will be posted on my blog, as it becomes available, at
http://sake-world.com/wordpress/

Would you like to know when new stories are posted? Please follow me on Twitter.

And sounding cool about it

How do you order hot sake, in Japanese? The short answer? Ask for “ O-kan.” That is a polite-ish way to request hot sake in general.

Should the topic be under discussion, when honorifics might not be needed, often it is referred to as kanzake, especially when there is a need to differentiate it from hiya, or cold sake. But o-kan is likely better when ordering it.

Of course, if you want to specify your temperature range (assuming you can do that at the establishment in which you find yourself), atsukan refers to hot-to-very-hot sake. If you prefer it less hot so as to allow subtle flavors to reveal themselves, then nuru-kan, or tepidly warmed sake is the term you need.

Bear in mind, most ginjo, or premium sake, is enjoyed slightly chilled. But there are exceptions, and we don’t need to go premium all the time. Besides - 'tis the season, and will be for another couple of months.

One cannot spend much time around sake, either in Japan or elsewhere, without coming across the iconic sight of the globes of green-then-brown cedar needles. You have likely seen them hanging in front of sake shops, certainly sake breweries, and in pictures in books, magazines, and the interest. What are those puppies? What is their significance?

While more can be read here, in short they are known as sugidama, or alternatively if less commonly sakabayashi. They have evolved into symbols of the sake world, and are found hanging outside and often inside of any sake brewery. Traditionally, they are made in-house and hung out when the first sake of the season is pressed. The green cryptomeria needles eventually turn brown, which takes about as long as it does for the sake to mature, so that when they complete that color change, the sake is deemed ready to drink.

Most sugidama are the size of basketballs. But one brewery in Fukuoka, the maker of Kitaya sake, takes the time and effort to make what it calls “the biggest sugidama in the world.”

See how they make it here. The link at the bottom of each page will take you to the next page of photos; you can see how it is constructed. (Just mentally minimize the process to imagine how a normal sugidama would be made!)

So, the next time someone asks you, "Did You Know?" you can answer, "Why, yes, I did know."