104 MAY 2020
OF JAPAN’S KANTO PLAIN, 100 miles north of Tokyo.
It was right after the Lunar New Year, an auspicious
time for ceremonies, and we huddled under umbrellas
as a Shinto priest intoned before a shrine laden with
offerings: carrots, oranges, rice cakes, a whole fish. He
was asking for success in the endeavor ahead here at
Tentaka Brewery. That endeavor was sake making.
Of Japan’s approximately 1,200 sake breweries,
Tentaka is one of less than five that produces sake
that is certified organic by the USDA, the European
Union, and Japan. Munenori Ozaki, its third-generation
president, puts great care into the rice, which is milled
on-site. He showed me the machine, inside of which
a whirring stone polished the protein and fat off rice
kernels, leaving translucent pearls of starch that would
be washed, steamed, and fermented to make the mash
that is pressed, filtered, and blended to become sake.
Recently, Ozaki had helped introduce a new rice,
Yumesasara, bred for the climate and soil of the Tochigi
prefecture, where his brewery sits in a river delta fed by
spring runoff from nearby Mount Nasu. Twenty-seven
of the region’s brewers had each made a sake with the
rice. Ozaki poured his. It had a lush, sweet-tart finish
reminiscent of strawberries and cream.
It was entirely unlike the Tentaka sake I had tried
back home in New York. That earthy bottle, named
Hawk in the Heavens, tasted of shiitake mushrooms
and walnuts. The difference between the two reminded
me of the range of beers an American craft brewer
might produce for their adventurous fans.RAIN
SWEPT
ACROSS THE
WINTER-
GOLD RICE
FIELDS
abov e: Sake is
classified in part
by how polished
the rice is: For
junmai sakes,
70% of the grain
remains (bottom
left); for daiginjo
sakes, just 50%
(bot tom r ight).
previous: A
temple in Ono,
the city where
Manaturu
Brewery is
located.PHOTOGRAPHY: TENTAKA BREWERY, TOCHIGI PREFECTURE; (PREVIOUS PAGE) MANATURU BREWERY, FUKUI PREFECTURE
0520_FT_Japan_Sake.indd 104 FINAL 3/17/20 5:20 PM