Sake Alchemist = Wayne in Japan! [2] =

Another day, another early rise, 30c plus on the thermometer.  I’m Shinkansening through the countryside of Japan and I can tell you one thing honestly. 

Jetlag: I’m not a fan.

Today I’m off to visit the Mioya brewery in Ishikawa.  I’m really looking forward to this one, too.  Mioya makes the Yuho brand, which is a pun mixing the Japanese for ‘UFO’, and ‘Happy Rice’.  They also have a ‘Homare’ range of honjouzo sake.  If you want to taste any of those you’re going to have to be really lucky, or visit Ishikawa yourself, because they only sell it to the locals.

One of the many interesting things about this brewery is that in a male dominated industry, Mioya’s president is a lady.  The brewery has been running for about 70 years, and Ms Miho Fujita moved from Tokyo half a decade ago to start running the show. 

Ms Fujita shows me around, and it’s apparent from the start that they have a very hands-on approach at Mioya.  They’ve even built some of their machinery themselves, so as to be able to create the sakes they’re after.  Everywhere I look I see examples of ingenuity.  The systems used to stabilise the fermentation tanks are homemade, as is the machine that cools the product down after pasteurisation.

This hands-on approach is most apparent when we talk about soaking of rice.  The head brewer (Toji) places such importance on this phase of sake creation that every single batch of rice is divided up into 5kg portions and soaked separately.  This allows him to decide based on the ‘taste and feel’ of the rice in each small tray as to whether it is displaying the specific characteristics he is looking for to make the style Ms Fujita wants.

After the tour we do a tasting, and I have to say, I’m really impressed.  First comes the Kimoto Junmai, which is aged for four years.  It’s big and oily, almost oaky, with a lasting astringency and strong acidic finish.  I’m thinking Wagyu Teriyaki, I’m thinking Tempura, I swear I’m thinking blue cheese. 

When I mention food Ms Fujita nods and says that that is what she’s specifically trying to accommodate.  Even though she realises that her style of sake might not be popular with the younger drinkers in Tokyo, she feels it’s what she should be making and intends to stick to her guns.  Ms Fujita loves her sherry, so she has worked hard to create sake that shows similar characteristics.  This means that the majority of the Yuho range are aged upwards of two years before release.  The aging allows the crisper notes to soften, caramel and toffee flavours to develop, and the natural Umami of the sake comes to the fore. 

The Kimoto Namazake is made for summer drinking, and with this in mind the alcohol content has deliberately been kept lower.  This is a fresh, smooth, and lively sake that finishes with a pleasant hint of caramel, and I can easily picture myself with a bottle of this, a blaring ipod, and a balmy Sydney evening.

My favourite overall is probably the Yuho 55 Junmai Ginjo.  Again it’s big on the acidity, but with a strong Umami hit and a super-long finish of black pepper and red capsicum.  I’m thinking this is a sake that would appeal to drinkers of light bodied cabernet sauvignon.

Though aging softens and rounds the drink, the resulting product can be quite intense on a clean palate.  This is because Ms Fujita wants the aromas and flavours to linger, which she achieves by producing sake with a relatively high acidity.  But it is this intensity that allows Yuho’s sake to match so well with food, in particular the heavier flavours you would expect towards the middle or end of a meal.  Of the breweries that Saké   Restaurant & Bar  specialises in , Mioya has been my least understood.  I’m so glad to have been able to get a better understanding of what really is an amazing sake company.  I’ve been invited back to work in February, and I seriously can’t wait.

Now, where’s my Shinkansen…

T.S.A

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Wayne Shennen Bar Manager, Saké Restaurant & Bar, Sydney According to Wayne Shennen, good bartending is all about balancing flavours. “The subtlety of each ingredient should shine through,” explains the passionate New Zealander, a trained sake sommelier and one of Sydney’s most respected bartenders at award-winning Saké Restaurant & Bar. “If you can taste what you’re drinking, you tend to treat alcohol with more respect.”a Having earned his stripes behind bars in Sydney and the UK, Wayne is now gaining a following of fans who appreciate his original cocktail mixes and extensive knowledge of sake and shochu. “At Saké Sydney I’m given free reign to play – our bar staff all have a great knowledge of classic cocktails and we use this as the basis for getting innovative. We also have access to the world’s finest sake and shochu varieties,” says Wayne. “My goal is to make Saké famous for its drinks!”

Saké Restaurant & Bar
12 Argyle Street
The Rocks, Sydney
t. 02 9259 5656

The Sake Alchemist #3
The Sake Alchemist #2
The Sake Alchemist #1
Tasting Business at Saké Restaurant & Bar