How Sake is Made in Japan

This is how sake is made in Japan Whoa It is snowing. It is so cold out here So today I am in Nagaoka and the great people at Asahi Shuzo have let me go into their factory and show you how sake is made But before I start like always if you want to see what I'm doing on the daily check out my Instagram if you guys want to help the channel then definitely check out my Tokyo Japan merch and if you guys have any questions about Japan or Japan travels then check out my Discord community it's so cold it is so cold all right let me take you on this factory tour so here I am in the middle of a snowstorm bringing you another made in Japan video where I uncover how things are truly crafted in Japan I really don't know how I get myself into these places But I do know that I love taking you along for the ride Today we're at Asahi Shuzo and if you're any kind of sake lover you already know about their world famous signature Japanese sake brand Kubota Dating back to 1830 at Nagaoka Japan where they were originally founded as Kubotaya now with a total of 170 skillful workers crafting the highest quality Japanese sake each day who've all mastered the secret of Japanese sake brewing techniques passed down from generation to generation wow this place is so massive There's just so much stuff going on let's see what's going on over there The entire sake factory sits on about 57,000 square meters of Niigata land consisting of five separate buildings all working together to make it all happen so this is where it all starts the rice gets brought into the factory [Music] after all rice is the main ingredient for making sake They use 3600 tons of rice a year from fall to spring with deliveries 2-3 times a week In fact the Niigata area produces the highest rice crop yield in all of japan [Music] [Music] it's commonly said by Japanese sake producers that quality of sake can never exceed the quality of its ingredients which is probably why the factory uses only rice specifically grown and cultivated for their sake with its own signature fragrance and taste [Music] so I've made it to the entrance it's time to change let's do this looking good let's go now that I'm inside let's see if we can go around and find out what everyone is doing So this is the very first step of the sake brewing process called Seimai The raw brown rice must be polished before it can be used to create sake as the outer surface is made up of mostly fat and protein which creates an odd sake flavor and gets in the way of the intended clear and sharp sake taste apparently some of their sake requires the rice to be so finely polished that less than 50% of each grain is used compared to the rice people normally eat which is 90% The entire process is so delicate it takes the machine two to three days to ensure that the grain doesn't crack during the polishing once polished the rice gets inspected by hand to ensure that it passes the factory strict shape and quality standards Just this attention to detail alone is why it's worth including this in my Made In Japan series but believe me we haven't even begun to scratch the surface on how this all goes down next the polish rice is moved to the Sakagura, main brewing building where all the magic happens the bags of rice arrive in this room where they're opened and the rice is pumped directly to the fourth floor to be washed and soaked and this is where all the rice gets washed even after the polishing the brand still remains on the rice which if used as is would add a strange flavor to the sake so it's critical for it to be washed off [Music] oh look there's some stairs right here let's go see what's up here After it's washed it then goes into a soaking process damn it's starting to sound like the rice is at a day spa let me continue as this part is pretty important timing is everything factors such as the type of rice its condition that year the polish ratio weather humidity all of it must be taken into account when it comes to how long the rice is washed and soaked just to give you an idea on how precise the timing is here rice used to make the popular kabota manju is watch for 17 seconds and soak for 10 minutes [Music] alright some of you watching with kids fair warning the following footage is about to get steamy counting down three two and one okay after draining all night the rice is slowly conveyored through this massive steamer unlike rice eaten at home which is cooked in water this rice is spread onto a conveyor and steamed continuously in extremely high heat for 40 minutes during the peak season the factory steams up to 3 tons of rice every day but once steamed it's quickly cooled down and prepared for the next step Excuse me, What are you doing ? So, What the key to steaming rice ? How long did it take you to master this process ? uh okay out of curiosity do you think all the steam helps moisturize your skin ? at this point the inside core of the rice is soft enough that it mashed together it creates a mochi rice cake consistency [Music] [Music] and we're off to the races as the rice gets air pumped through a 40 meter pipe to the next location while midway through the process koji seeds are added which is a specific Japanese mold used for culinary fermentation Finally the rice ends up on a flat circular bed in the kojimuto a special room set to exactly 30 degrees celsius 86 degrees fahrenheit to grow the koji mold This is amazing The steamed rice is about to get covered now Naturally the rice is covered up to increase the koji mold propagation but a skillful brewer must still open it up and inspect the condition of the rice by touching it regularly all the while making adjustments over the next two days Now that the koji mold has had time to grow The rice koji is moved to another large vat apparently the simple task of mixing the rice koji generates too much heat so the rice is moved to a specialized vat with a built-in fan at the bottom to cool down the rice koji when the rice koji is set back on the kojimura it's important to level the pile as a consistent thickness also helps minimize the surface helping to keep the moisture and heat inside after another two nights the rice koji maturing process is finally complete and by now natural enzymes have formed to build a sake's rich flavor and depth This is why koji is such an essential ingredient in the process any skilled sake brewer will tell you that high quality sage can't be made without high quality koji [Music] Oh Mother of sake what do we have here ? yes we finally made it to the shubo area where the brewers get brewing here water and yeast are added to the matured rice koji to create a sake mash which kicks off the alcohol production you know the very thing that puts a smile on all our faces Well at least my face [Music] oh and he's the Touji a.k.a Master Brewer responsible for the entire sake production in the warehouse In fact the factory has two master brewers each one responsible for their own warehouse and team [Music] back in the day sake brewing was very much a seasonal side job mainly for farmers and fishermen during their off-season But there were also some sake brewer owners They often contract hired their Touji and workers who learn how to craft sake in specialized schools These days larger sake brewers like Asahi Shuzo have their own full-time Touji But many smaller sake makers still follow the traditional system [Music] Hi, Can I bother you for a sec ? What are you doing ? Does it like alcohol at this point ? So, What the most important part ? And what do you like most about all of this ? You sound out of breath Then they add more water steam rice and koji three times over four days The work itself is quite strenuous But must be performed manually by skilled brewers as machines wouldn't be able to notice the slight changes in the condition of the mash and therefore couldn't make the necessary adjustments after this the sake mash is left to ferment for about a month To fully develop the sake's ultimate taste and aroma during this time brewers continue to regularly sample and analyze each tank and make adjustments as needed This is where the generations of brewing come into play as the factory draws on its decades of experience as well as their own historical data to precisely craft a consistent sake each and every time only an experienced and skilled worker could recognize the subtle changes in the condition of the rice and then make the required adjustments ultimately creating the perfect finish Man !! Just walking around this factory I get so lost oh whoa what's that ? The white crumbly sheets being scraped off is called sake kasu aka sake lease but basically it's a rice and yeast that remains after the sake mash has been pressed to remove the sake although not used for sake itself it's nutritious and used for other purposes such as eating cooking pickling even some beauty products So before we continue on I want to give a quick shout out to our sponsor for this video at squarespace if you all don't really know squarespace is the number one way to build your online presence In fact I use squarespace for my website tokyo zebra here's just some of the reasons why I love using squarespace so much whether you're starting your passion project or building a business squarespace has all the tools to get it done while also looking ultra sleek and professional at the same time they support numerous portfolios and gallery designs which you can customize and even password protect so the right people see your work Use its fully integrated blogging tools and commenting features such as threaded comments replies and likes to help engage your community and my personal favorite built-in analytics to see how your visits unique visitors and page views trend over time so there you go go to squarespace.com today for your free trial and when you're ready to launch go to squarespace.com/paolofromtokyo and get 10% off your first domain or website alright let's continue on with this tour Are we going on a tour or what ? let's see what's behind this door now [Music] so after the sake is pressed it's mixed with a fine charcoal powder to absorb unwanted elements such that it would give sake a golden color or even bacteria that can make it unstable The dark liquid though is passed through a heated filtration machine which removes the charcoal and out comes that clean and clear good good Oh I guess this is where they keep all the tanks and this is where all that sake ends up well, at least for now Its one of the three storage buildings helping house 400 tanks in total The sake is stored here from three months to three years until it's perfectly matured Let's go move on to this building over here [Music] and you'd think that this would be the last part of the process before it's bottled but it's not the sake is pumped out of the tanks through a 40 meter pipe to this area where it can be blended into specific sake brands with varying taste profiles while also being tested for consistency and quality before it's bottled and distributed and as expected all performed by one of its master brewers What's going on here ? so what separates good sake from great sake ? Hmm Okay how long have you been working here ? Do you ever get drunk? Okay. So what's your favourite sake ? Other than Kubota? Thank You ! Oh Okay so this is where the bottling process takes place [Music] It's been a long road but we're finally here where they put the magic in the bottle I've been so waiting for this one [Music] During busy times of the year up to 63,500 liters of sake is bottled in one day and this machine washes up to 1000 bottles at one time while also inspecting the tops and bottoms of the bottles [Music] afterwards the bottles are conveyored to a specialized room where the bottles are filled with sake These machines can fill up to 4000 bottles in one hour That's a whole lot of love in a short amount of time makes me smile for some reason after the bottles leave the filling room all are inspected manually one by one let's talk to the lady doing the inspection over there Hi, Can i ask what you're doing so are there any secrets that you can share with me? Oh, Do you always keep that in your pocket? Do you find a lot of defects ? Now all the bottles are labeled by their specific brand and here they use handmade Japanese washi paper for their Kubota Manju and Senjyu labels since each label has its own slightly unique thickness and size The workers must always be ready to make adjustments Hey ! Can I just sit back for a sec and enjoy the bottles going down the line ? [Music] [Music] Finally the bottles are packaged and boxed by automated machines The entire bottling and packaging process taking about 40-50 minutes [Music] and from here the sake bottles get shipped all throughout Japan and even the world for everyone to enjoy well maybe not everyone you obviously gotta be of age So I don't know about you guys but this whole sake tour is getting me a little bit thirsty maybe I can find a place to drink Oh and here we are at Kubota Sake Bar in Shibuya so this bar is located in the basement of Shibuya Parco in Tokyo Here you can enjoy their sake and if you fancy a taste testing they have that here too feels good to be out from the cold and look at here got a perfect glass of Kubota sake Let me just take a drink That is how sake is made in Japan If you guys like this video help me out and hit that like button if you guys want to see more videos like this or anything related to Japan hit that subscribe button and the bell button and I'll catch you guys in the next one

Channel: Paolo fromTOKYO

Views: 1,540,724

Keywords: Paolo, Japan, Japan guide, Japan travel, sake brewery, sake (ingredient), how to make, japanese alcohol, japanese sake making, japanese sake drink, japanese sake documentary, made in japan, japanese sake, how to make sake, how to make japanese alcohol, sake ingredients, japanese factory, japan factory, japan factory tour, japan factory worker, japanese factory worker, japan food tour, how to make japanese sake, sake production, sake factory, kubota, asahi shuzo

Id: u-qm2RowW6E

Length: 17min 14sec (1034 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 09 2022