To k y oKyotoMAY 2020 107
Yokomichi had me taste the mash from the tank, where
it had sat for 22 days. “For contests, this much acidity
isn’t good,” he said. “But for aging it’s good, and we
don’t care about contests.”
It was a sentiment seconded by Keisuke Izumi. The
fifth-generation owner of tiny Manaturu Brewery in
Ono, inland from the central west coast, Izumi brews
one tank a week and bottles it without blending, filter-
ing, or diluting. It’s the sake equivalent of single-barrel
whiskey, of which Izumi is a fan.
“Part of the charm is the variance from tank to tank,”
he says. Like a good whiskey drinker, Izumi has built a
library of aged sakes. A 22-year-old sake was the color
of toasted sesame oil and tasted deliciously of candied
chestnuts and smoke.
With his new releases, Izumi is a restless experi-
menter. He makes sherry-cask sake; strawberry-tart
sake with white koji, rather than the typical yellow;
peachy, chewy sake brewed with malic acid; sake fer-
mented with rose-scented local yeast. And many of
his starters are yamahai to boost umami. Packed with
amino acids, his Mana 1751 True Vision is yogurt-y and
meaty, full of peppery charisma. It has little in common
with those mild daiginjos I had sipped at The Joy of
Sake. For Izumi, that was precisely the point.
“When I started brewing, everyone liked sake that
was fresh and elegant but tasted like water. Those bore
me,” the brewer declared. “I don’t want to be the best
at making sake like everyone else. I want to make sake
like no one else makes.”THE SAKES TO SIP
Unless otherwise noted, prices
are for 720-milliliter bottles.
Order from Tippsy Sake (tippsy
sa ke.co m), or find a retailer near
you through Vine Connections
(vineconnections.com).CHORYO YOSHINOSUGI NO
TARU SAKE ($25)
This cedar-aged beauty offers a
black pepper nose and musky,
woodsy flavor.TENGUMAI YAMAHAI JUNMAI
($28)
Fermentation using a traditional
method called yamahai and two
years of aging yield salted cara-
mel and banded cheddar notes.
Bold but with plenty of acid, it’s
great with grilled fish.YUHO ETERNAL EMBERS
($31)
Subtle notes of enoki mush-
room and a lush texture char-
acterize this junmai from Mioya
Brewery. It’s versatile enough
for every course.MANTENSEI STAR-FILLED
SKY ($34)
When the director’s business
card reads “enjoys fungi inves-
tigation,” you know the sake will
be rich in umami. This one from
Suwa Brewery balances funk
with a clean, dry finish.TENTAKA HAWK IN THE
HEAVENS ($34)
From its pickled mushroom
aroma to its walnutty and
grassy flavors, this junmai from
Tentaka Brewery offers lots of
rootsy charisma.YUHO RHYTHM OF THE
CENTURIES ($35)
Well-beaten and long-aged, this
kimoto junmai delivers yeasty,
vanilla flavors and a grippy,
compelling finish.MANA 1751 TRUE VISION
($40)
Fermented with unusual yeast,
Manaturu Brewery’s super-
lactic sake packs a punch with
sweet-tart yogurt and black
pepper flavors.KANBARA ANCIENT
TREASURE ($90)
Made with 99% koji rice and
aged 12 years, Kaetsu Brewery’s
apricot-hued sake has a cara-
melized allium nose, braised
black mushroom flavor, and a
sherry-like finish.JAPAN BY SAKE
Take JR-East’s Narita
Express from the Narita
airport into Tokyo Station,
where trains depart for
points all over Japan. Plan
a route on hyperdia.com/
en /sp.Before leaving Tokyo,
sample sakes at Ginza Kimi-
jimaya, a sleek glass box of
a bar and liquor store near
the station. (facebook.com/
ginza.kimijimaya)Kyoto has more than one
sake bar serving aged rari-
ties. Asakura (sakebar
asakura.shopinfo.jp) is
hidden upstairs in an alley.
Yoramu (sakebar-yoramu
.co m) opens at night in the
space that’s Teuchi Toru
Soba by day.Schedule a tour at Tentaka
Brewery in Otawara by
emailing shiga@tentaka
.co.jp. Luxuriate overnight at
nearby ryokan Nasu Onsen
Sanraku. (sanraku.premier
hotel-group.com/nasu/en)To visit Mioya Brewery in
Ishikawa, contact mioya@
sky.plala.or.jp, and while
you are in the area, eat at
Kabuna (miraicorp.co.jp/
kabuna), a seafood-driven
izakaya in nearby Kanazawa.For Manaturu Brewery in
Ono and Kaetsu Brewery
in the Niigata town of Aga-
Machi, home also to the
wonderful Fukusen Ryokan
(kanose-biyori.com/en),
book a bespoke trip with
Sake Tours (sa keto u rs .c o m).JAPAN
HAKUI
NASUSHIOBARA
AGA-MACHI
ONO
Sea of JapanPHOTOGRAPHY: GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO. MAP: WINSLOW TAFT
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