2PROMOTIONDisowned by his father in a dispute over the
direction of the company, Sakurai returned in
1984 to take over the firm, which was strug-
gling to survive in the local market, after his
father died.
The local agricultural authorities would not
sell him the rice he needed for production for
three straight years, and then, following a failed
venture into beer and a restaurant that almost
ruined the company's fi nances, Sakurai’s chief
brewer quit, taking his team with him.
At this moment of despair, Sakurai had an
epiphany.
He would no longer produce the sake that
his chief brewer wanted to make for an indif-
ferent local market, but instead would create a
sake that he could love.
“The bank had stopped our loans and for
a few months we did not know if we would
sink or swim,” Sakurai says. “Previously, in order
to keep the company above water, I had to
gauge the state of mind of the chief brewer,
and the relationship with local organizations,
and reactions of the local people. But we
decided that from here on in, we would make
only the sake that we wanted to produce, and
that it was enough to have customers who
really understood our product buy it.”
Traditionally, it’s the chief brewer, or toji,
who creates a sake with unique character or
signature. But instead of recruiting a replace-
ment, Sakurai took a diff erent approach and
used technology to shift away from the toji-
concentric system of sake production.
It was an important move.
If the chief brewer had stayed we would
probably still be making the standard sake we
made at that time, Sakurai explains.
Sake making customarily has been a sea-
sonal occupation used to supplement the
income of rice farmers in winter. But left
with three young staff with no knowledge
about sake, one new hire and himself, Sakurai
launched a year-round, data-driven technique
for creating sake using only superior raw mate-
rials and an absolute commitment to quality.
Sakurai abandoned the Asahi Fuji sake
brand that his father had produced and cre-
ated Dassai. Cut off from local rice, he nego-
tiated with farmers in nearby Hyogo pre-
fecture—home to Kobe Port—to purchase
yamadanishiki, a short-grain rice used in pre-
mium sake production. Yama danishik i is an
expensive raw material that increases produc-
tion costs, but Sakurai’s commitment to quality
has resulted in Dassai consuming almost 20%
of yamadanishiki production.
Sakurai’s staff wash approximately eight
tons of yamadanishiki every day. Normally,
machines are used, but at Dassai, this task is
done manually.
“Other companies would only do this with
sake that they submit to competitions, but itis something we decided to pursue one hun-
dred percent,” Sakurai says.
Doing so helps Sakurai and his staff main-
tain a specific water content in the rice that
results in its signature taste.
Visitors to the brewery sometimes com-
ment on the hygiene issue of handling the rice
without gloves or masks, but Sakurai asserts it
is important for his staff to directly confi rm the
feeling and fragrance of the rice during the
production process.
“It is necessary to use all fi ve senses in sake
production,” he says.
Sakurai is no enemy of mechanization,
however, and says if it becomes possible to
produce sake using artificial intelligence in
the future, he would not be opposed to the
idea. But he still believes human involvement
is important at the higher levels.
It is a tribute to Sakurai’s total commitment
that in 2014, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo
Abe, also from Yamaguchi prefecture, selected
a bottle of Dassai 23 to present to then-U.S.
President Barack Obama on his visit to Tokyo.
Globally renowned chef and restaurateur
Joel Robuchon calls Dassai the best sake in
the world, and he and Sakurai have partnered
to open a restaurant in Paris.
Things are looking up for the small-town
sake maker that was forced to leapfrog over
local markets to set up shop in Tokyo to sur-
vive, and whose dream has expanded to take
on markets overseas.At Asahi Shuzo, premium-grade rice and pure water are fermented by the power of yeast and
turned into artisan sake, a delicate process that produces the brand's signature taste.Throughout the year the company collects and
makes use of data during the brewing process,
setting it apart from other traditional sake makers. http://www.asahishuzo.ne.jp/en