Melbourne Good Food and Wine Show

Melbourne Good Food and Wine Show is over. Thank you to everyone who visited our booth. Most people may not have expected a Sake booth at the show, but it was great to chat and meet you all.

Sakenet Team

Koikawa-san and Shinkame-san

Koikawa-san and Shinkame-san, Rei and Taka (at front)

We worked so hard.

Lots of people

Shinkame-san is serving Shinkame Sake to a visiter.

"Otsukare-sama deshita!"

Our next event is at Sydney Good Food and Wine Show, 28th - 30th June 2013. Three brewers (Hiokizakura, Takaisami and Umetsu) will come to Sydney for this event.

The show will start tomorrow!

Melbourne Good Food & Wine Show is from this Friday, 6th June.

This year, Sakenet Australia's guest is...

Mr. and Mrs. Ogawahara from Shinkame shuzo

Mr. and Mrs. Sato from Koikawa shuzo

Good Food & Wine Show

We will be part of "Good Food & Wine Show" in Melbourne and Sydney this year.

http://www.goodfoodshow.com.au/

Melbourne: 7th - 10th June 2013
Sydney: 28th - 30th June 2013

For this event, our some of Kuramoto (Sake brewers) will come to Melbourne and Sydney. They will serve Sake to you at our Sakenet's tasting booth. You can try various Sake and also purchase them at the venue.

We will keep updating the information about this event here and our facebook page.

Brewers' Profile #06: Suiryu (Kubo Honke shuzo)

Kubo Honke, a small family brewery in the well-preserved village of Uda, nestled into a mountain valley north of Nara, can be traced back to 1702.
Mr Kubo explains the technical aspects of Kimoto, a natural fermentation process that allows molds to form starch and yeasts to form sugar at the same time.
He also shows off the traditional rake-like poles with which his workers gently mash the rice grains for over two days. This slow mashing is a key part of the Kimoto method, which takes nearly 100days to complete, more than twice as long as modern sake fermentation.

Mr. Kubo holding his "Kimoto-no-Dobu"

Visitors during winter months - traditional brewing season, when cold temperature suppress harmful bacteria - may think they have found a strange cult. Mr Kubo’s rigorous methods have attracted a young master and a team of “craftsmen”, as he calls them, and their dedication to proper factory hygiene extends to the top of their heads, shaved bald. Katsunori Kato, master brewer of Kubo Honke, is one of them.
Katsunori learned the Kimoto method from Mr Katsuji Ito of Daishichi Brewery, Fukushima Pref., one of greatest master brewers of 20th Century. He then worked in several breweries before joining Kubo Honke. His sakes especially Kimoto-no-Dobu and Suiryu Kimoto are regarded as being among the best of their kind.
Each night during winter the brewers sample their brew.
“They all toast to the satisfaction of linking with past generations,” is the way he puts it.

[ Suiryu(Kubo Honke)'s Sake available in Australia ]

Brewers' Profile #05: Hakuinmasamune (Takashima shuzo)

picture from "www.japan-net.ne.jp/~katayama"

Takashima brewery is situated in Numazu city, Shizuoka Pref. Their water is pumped up from a 150m deep water channel, bringing water from Mt. Fuji. This channel is estimated to be 300 years old.
When Kazutaka Takashima succeeded to the brewery 6 years ago, he drastically changed the brewing method, now using Box trays for Koji, natural pressing tools, quick cool down after pasteurization etc.
He uses locally grown Yamadanishiki, Fujihomare and Shizuoka yeast No.5, aiming to produce sake that embodies the flavours and spirit of Shizuoka.

picture from "www.hakuinmasamun.jugem.jp"

Numazu is renowned for its dried fish. Kazutaka wants to produce sake that is a delight to drink with this delicacy.

[ Hakuinmasamune's Sake available in Australia ]

Brewers' Profile #04: Shinkame shuzo

picture from "http://jizake-ya.com"

  Shinkame is a small brewery in Hasuda city, Saitama Pref. less than 1 hour from Tokyo. Established in1848, in 1987 they became the first brewery to change to producing only Junmaishu. This was an epoch-making event. At that time the word Junmaishu was not even in the dictionary. In order to sell Shinkame Junmaishu, Yoshimasa Ogawahara travelled across Japan giving out samples for people to try. People think that Junmaishu means just that there is no added alcohol but it is not that simple. To produce Junmaishu, the brewing process is different from the very beginning. This is why many breweries are still unable to change to producing Junmaishu only.

  During World War II, Kura-san, Yoshimasa’s grandmother worked very hard to protect the brewery’s status against pressure from local government and the army, to merge with larger breweries. After the war pressure from the authorities continued and there was also harassment from the sake industry.

Mr and Mrs Ogawahara,
at "Sake wa Junmai 2012"

  Today Shinkame not only produces 100% Junmaishu but also uses 100% Sake brewers rice and uses small Koji trays for all sake. Use of small Koji trays is more labour intensive but it also ensures more control of and uniformity in the sake-brewing process. Shinkame’s emphasis is on aging the sake before putting it on the market. Shinkame Sake is at its best with food which means that it brings out the flavour of the food without sacrificing any of its own characteristic qualities. I think that Shinkame is the essence of the sake.

[ Shinkame's Sake available in Australia ]

There is a good restaurant near Hasuda station. Mr Ogawahara recommends their "zenzai" (sweet and thick red bean soup) with Shinkame's daiginjo.

"Sasala" http://sasala.info

Brewers' Profile #03: Gunmaizumi (Shimaoka shuzo)

picture from "www.zaku-izakaya.at.webry.info"

  Ohta city, Gunma Pref. where Gunmaizumi is situated dates back to 14^th century. These days Ohta city is the home town of Subaru. This town also has one of the largest populations of Brazilian people in Japan. Most of them are working in the Subaru factory.
Around Ohta city, people like to drink hot Sake to counteract the very cold, windy winters. The result is that at Gunmaizumi they aim produce Sake that has more Umami at warm temperatures. The water is hard, which tends to produce a dry Sake.

  At this brewery, 80% of the rice that is used is the brewers’ rice Wakamizu, which is locally grown. They import some Yamadanishiki for their daiginjo.

  Most of the Gunmaizumi Sake is made using Yamahai method. This brewery’s skill in its use of this method sets it apart from the others. Yamahai offers a complex, dense and earthy set of aromas, some of which are carried on to the finished Sake, which also has higher levels of organic and amino acids.

  Toshinobu Shimaoka, the owner of Gunmaizumi, says that keeping up tradition is important. He likes the traditional Gunmaizumi, however he also tries to experiment with new ideas, in order to match today’s taste. Even then, he only makes Sake that he likes to drink.

[ Gunmaizumi's Sake available in Australia ]