Words can be tricky, with words like "hon" and "shoko" (book), "ishō" (illness) and "yamai" (illness), "kanshō" (appreciation) and "kanshō" (appreciation), "hiking" and "picnic" having different forms and sounds but referring to the same thing, or words that you think have the same connotation but actually mean something different. This time, let's take a look at some sake brewing terms that are often used without really thinking about them!

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This person will explain

Toji shop owner/producer Eri Nakano

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In 1995, he opened the Japanese sake bar "Janapese Refined Sake Bar Tojiya" in Tenjinbashisuji, Osaka. He is active in various fields as a sake critic, seminar lecturer, and lyricist.

●New sake, first pressing, freshly squeezed

The brewing year is divided into one year, from July 1st to June 30th of the following year. For sake, July 1st is New Year's Day. Sake produced within this brewing year is called new sake, but this is a rough explanation. There are sake breweries that produce sake throughout the year using four-season brewing methods, and sake breweries that produce sake from autumn after the rice harvest is over until spring, and although they are all called sake breweries, their operations vary depending on their circumstances.

When a cedar ball (also known as a sake forest) with its deep green leaves and refreshing fragrance is hung from the eaves of a sake brewery, it means that new sake has been made. Some breweries hang it as soon as they start pressing, but it seems that most breweries hang it on the day they ship the pressed sake (or the day it is ready to be shipped).

Among new sake, only the first sake that is brewed and pressed is called "Hatsushibori."
After the first pressing, sake that is shipped immediately after pressing is called "freshly pressed." Both are freshly made sake.

Breweries that do not have a category for first pressing often ship their first pressed sake as "freshly pressed."

"First pressing" and "freshly pressed" are not mandatory labeling items, but are optional items that are left to the discretion of the sake brewery, and can be included or not.

New sake generally refers to sake brewed with new rice harvested that year, and is used until the same sake is released the following year after the brewing year changes.

●Origarami, kasu sake, nigori sake...

As mentioned in episode 16 of this series, "Removing the lees and filtering - crystal clear!", the true nature of lees is undigested rice fragments, yeast, and enzymes that leak out of the sake bag. Both "origarami" and "kasuzake" refer to sake that has lees mixed in or left in, but it seems reasonable to think of these as types under the umbrella of "nigori sake."

Some brewers make their origarami so cloudy that it's almost like a thin haze, some make their kasuzake so that it has more kasu than origarami, and some brewers don't make any particular distinction between origarami and kasuzake, so enjoy the two without trying to establish any rules.

Sake that is cloudy to the point of being hazy is sometimes referred to as "sasanigori" or "usunigori."

"Active Nigori" refers to cloudy sake that has not been pasteurized (heat treated) and continues to ferment in the bottle, and its distinctive and appealing feature is the distinct carbon dioxide.

Sake that contains lees will often lose its flavor more quickly than sake that does not contain them, as yeast and enzymes continue to ferment. We recommend storing it refrigerated, regardless of whether it has been pasteurized (heat-treated).

Hebereke, berobero, gudenguden, the forms and sounds of the words are different but...
This time, we talked about sake brewing terms that we tend to use frequently without realizing it.

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