Sake is an ancient beverage, produced for over 2,000 years in Japan. Despite this long history, the industry's lack of standardization often leads to conflicting definitions and confusion. Yet a focus on regionality, Jizake (microbreweries), and improved regulation are improving sake's worldwide reputation. Today, it is clear that there is a place for sake in a wide variety of beverage programs, well beyond Japanese restaurants.
Although it has a similar alcohol by volume to wine, sake isn’t made from grapes, and the process is not a single-step fermentation from sugar to alcohol, so it is technically incorrect to call it rice wine. Though brewed, sake isn’t like a beer, either. Rice doesn’t get malted the same way as barley, and sake often achieves a much higher potential alcohol by volume. Sake is entirely unique: in a single tank, starch converts to sugar and yeast consumes sugar to produce alcohol (and CO2) simultaneously in what is called multiple parallel fermentation.
Sake production has been passed down over centuries of practical application, blurring the lines of tradition and innovation. Today, technological advances and modernization have changed the industry. With at least one sake brewery (kura or sakagura) in each of Japan’s 47 prefectures, it is becoming harder for brewers to keep their secrets. While sake is often made with minimal intervention, breweries do have their techniques—and some are “cleaner” than others.
The number of sake breweries in Japan is a fraction of what it once was. There were upwards of 30,000 sake producers during the Meiji era (1868-1912), and after World War II, over 4,000 remained. Now, there are only about 1,500 breweries with licenses, with just three-quarters of them
it used to be 70% but got changed to no milling regulations if the % is labelled
I believe the stated storage temps for Namazake are incorrect. Most references I see say that it should be stored below 5 degrees Celsius, and as far as I'm aware you should not be storing your sake below freezing.
Hey William! We recommend -5˚ as it is just above the temperature where sake will freeze. This is to mitigate any biological activity within an unpasteurized sake. This is a technique made popular by the Nizawa kura.
Ah, thank you for the clarification. My error was partly because I didn't realize that most commercial freezers are much colder than that range. Interesting, Niizawa stores all of its bottled sake, not just Namazake, at -5˚C in order to better preserve freshness.