Tsuji Honten, Gozenshu 1859, Junmai Bodaimoto, Okayama Prefecture, Sake (15%)

Tsuji Honten

Tsuji Honten was founded in Okayama in 1804 by the Tsuji family. Today’s brother & sister team, Soichiro & Maiko Tsuji, are the seventh-generation brewers. Maiko is one of the very few female Toji (master brewers) in Japan.

Tsuji Honten works with the heirloom sake rice Omachi. Alongside this rice strain, they are also pioneers of an ancient brewing technique, bodaimoto. This ancient method was first developed by monks during the Kamakura Period (1185-1333), and was adapted by Tsuji Honten in the 1980s.

The Omachi rice brings rustic and herbaceous notes, whilst soft water from the Asahi River lends a clean and sweet note to the sake. The result is a balanced and rich sake, with an added lactic zing from the bodaimoto technique.

Rice

Alcoholic beverages made from rice, are based on the fermentation of rice starch which converts to natural sugars and alcohol. Unlike the production of beer which utilises mashing to convert starch to sugars, the rice beverage making relies on action of acids or enzymes like amylase.

Rice-based beverages typically have a higher alcohol content, 18%–25% abv, than still wine (9%–15%), and a higher alcohol content than the standard beers (usually 4%–6%).

Sake (a Japanese rice-based brewed alcohol) is misleadingly referred to as Rice Wine, although unlike wine, in which alcohol is produced by fermenting sugar that is naturally present in grapes, sake is produced by means of a brewing process more akin to beer.