Kamoizumi “Shusen - Three Dots” Junmai, Hiroshima Prefecture
In the world of sake, perhaps even more so than the world of wine, just when you think you’ve figured out that things work a certain way, you stumble across an exception that completely destroys whatever sense of predictability you might have been cultivating.
It’s fairly safe to say that most fine sakes should be served chilled, to preserve and highlight their subtleties and delicate qualities. However, there are a specific class of higher end sakes that not only can be served at room temperature, but actually benefit from a little warmth.
These sakes bear no resemblance in style (or price for that matter) to the hot sakes served in most American sushi restaurants. Instead, such sakes represent a relatively unknown segment of the fine sake world known as yamahai sake. Sake continues to gain in popularity every year in America, but the range and variety of sake poured in restaurants and purchased by consumers continues to be somewhat narrowly focused, and most definitely does not tend to include Yamahai sakes like this one, which represent less than 1% of the sakes brewed in the world.
The easiest way to explain yamahai sakes to wine lovers would be to suggest that yamahai sakes are the equivalent of wines fermented with native yeasts. But this analogy doesn’t quite illustrate the full extent to which yamahai sakes differ from more conventionally brewed sakes.
Like in traditional winemaking, sanitary conditions are paramount to the production of high quality sake, but in sake brewing, this is taken to a much greater extreme. Any contamination by outside agents of any kind, be they yeasts, other bacteria, or any other biological elements, can result in a sake that tastes like a burning heap of trash, if you get my meaning. This is the primary reason that sake is traditionally brewed in the dead of winter, when the air and the spring water used for brewing are the most free from living contaminants.
Sake is made from two “fermentations.” The first is the koji mold, which attacks and begins to break down the starches in a small batch of rice kernels mixed with spring water. This small batch of rice, known as the “starter” is later added to a big batch of rice to make the sake. After the koji has had a chance to get started, one of several commercial sake brewing yeasts (sake never really undergoes a full natural yeast fermentation) is added to the starter mash and allowed to grow until this starter is highly concentrated with yeast cells. This is the second fermentation.
So why is Yamahai sake the equivalent of a natural yeast fermentation? Well, for the 99% of the world′s sake that is not yamahai, in between the koji inoculation and the yeast fermentation, the rice mash is treated with a bit of lactic acid to make extra sure that any stray yeasts or other organisms that might be present in the rice are dead. When the commercial yeast is added in traditional sake brewing it is added to a biologically sterile rice mash. Yamahai sake is simply sake that is missing this basic sterilization process. The rice is allowed to ferment with the combination of brewers yeast and whatever natural yeasts and enzymes might be present.
Brewing sake in this fashion is a bit like walking a tightrope without a safety net, or playing Russian roulette. Take your pick of metaphors. There’s a fine line between a sake with character and that burning pile of trash I referenced earlier. The wild yeasts that can and do infect the koji and yeast mixture for the sake starter can add a wide range of flavors and aromas to the final sake. They can also ruin it. For this reason, the brewing of yamahai sake is either a total crapshoot, or a delicate art, depending on your point of view.
Kamoizumi Shuzo, was founded in 1912 in Hiroshima prefecture in Western Japan by Hazime Hitoshi, the first son of a famous rice merchant. For three generations, the family run brewery has been working to perfect its brewing process, including their careful brewing of what is one of the best best yamahai sakes in the world under the name Shusen or “three dots.” It is a testament to the skill of their master brewer Yukio Masuda that they are able to turn out this sake year after year with a consistent flavor profile and personality.
Personality is the reason to drink yamahai sakes like this one, and their particular character traits are no more expressive than when they are served warm. Yamahai sakes tend to be fuller bodied, pungently earthy, and just slightly sweet in character. While not for everyone, especially those who don’t like the smell of mushrooms, these sakes can be fantastic accompaniments to richer foods that would overpower their more floral daiginjo cousins.
Tasting Notes:
Pale blonde in color, this sake smells of shitake mushrooms and wet leaves baking in the sun. In the mouth the sake is smooth and velvety on the tongue with pungent flavors of cooked mushrooms, wet earth, Chinese medicines, and hint of sweet tropical fruit on the finish. This is perhaps a sake for the more adventurous, but those willing to stray from the mainstream may find it richly rewarding. Serve warmed, but not hot, or at room temperature.
Food Pairing:
This sake goes particularly well with meat dishes in my opinion, especially those that have a light sweetness to them, as well as anything that has an earthy element such as potatoes and squash.
Overall Score: between 9 and 9.5
How Much?: $27
This sake is available for purchase on the Internet.
Original post by Alfonso Cevola