Ultimate Japanese Sake Guide: Dassai Brewery 日本酒蔵元 獺祭ツアー ★ ONLY in JAPAN #41

Welcome to Dassai Bar 23, in Kyobashi , Tokyo It's a place you can get a glass of the world famous Dassai 23 Japanese Sake has gained popularity worldwide, and Dassai is the brand most sought after with its fine polish ratio and smooth sophisticated taste. But how do we get to this refined finished product? I traveled to their brewery in Yamaguchi Prefecture an hour from Hiroshima, nestled deep in the country side. Showing me around the brewery is Dassai CEO, Sakura-san, He shared his knowledge and passion for making Sake with me. From Rice to Bottle. But before we begin the tour, It's good to learn a little about the rice. I joined Dassai's rice planting ceremonial event in June. Yamadanishiki is the variety of rce, most widely used to make SAKE. It's grown deep in Hyogo Prefecture. where the conditions are ideal. Rice planting by hand is back breaking work. Historically, nearly every family had their rice paddy. Nowadays, nearly everybody gets their rice at the store. But this tradition has deep roots. These days though, farmers use a rice planting machine. All rice used in SAKE is polished. Polishing the rice removes the impurities. giving it a smoother taste. Here is a natural grain of rice. and Dassai 23. polished down to 23 % Dassai polishes down to 3 sizes. 50 39 and 23. All Nihonshu brewed with rice polished under 50% is called JUNMAI DAI- GINJO The highest quality. and Dassai only makes JUNMAI DAI GINJO sake. So now let's make some. This is the first room the rice travels to in the brewery. The polished rice is taken here to be washed, rinced and soaked. Sakurai-san explains that the process is strictly timed. Staff work in unison as a team. After HOREI, air drying the steamed rice, Most of it is sent through this tube to the upper floor. and loaded into a fermentation tank with water, yeast and Kouji This is the yeast starter called SHUBO The basic mixture that will increase over the next 4 days. as the yeast multiplies. But before we get into the fermentation room, we should learn about an earlier step. The most critical part about brewing SAKE This is where Dassai makes Kouji Kouji is steam rice inoculated with Kouji mold spore. Steamed rice is separated and laid flat on sheets in a very hot and humid room with dead air. About 20% of the total steamed rice makes its way here. The rest into the fermentation tank. If you're wondering how this rice tastes before becoming Koji, Here's your answer. No taste. Yes, no taste. This is the Tsukihaze Kouji-kin mold spores Practice run. The spores must be spread evenly with great precision. Hold your breath and try not to move! We're about to get started. The staff here have a very specific way to apply the mold. They move in unison so the spores spread evenly on the rice. The air is completely dead. As you see, the air vents are covered to prevent contamination. Simply put, Koji is the secret ingredient to make SAKE mixed in the tank to make sugar, with the help of yeast, which over time creates alcohol and CO2 Kouji is made once daily at the Dassai brewery. You can see the polished rice ball surrounded by mold. It's actually growing inside the rice. It has a sweet chestnut aroma to it. To grow strong, Koji needs a warm environment. I'm sweating. How does it taste now, as Koji? Only one way to find out Now we can go back to the fermentation room Dassai has a lot of NIHON-SHU in here. You can't rush making SAKE It just takes time to make magic happen This tank is early in the fermentation process You can see the mash, or MOROMI caked on top Everything happens in this one tank over 35 days. Give it some time! The unique process to make SAKE in one tank is called, multiple parallel fermentation This tank is really bubbling. producing a lot of gas. It nearly has the SAKE aroma and flavor. and the fermentation stage is almost over. Wow. Really fruity. It's alive. It tastes good,though. It's really complex tasting. It's fruity, spicy, it's bubbling.. It's alive! Yes, it's alive. Let's head down to the press. When the MOROMI is ready, it's sent here to be pressed. This is an automatic MOROMI press It uses compressed air to very gently press out a tank of MOROMI to produce SAKE The SAKE produced here is filtered but unpasteurized Presses are great for volume, but SAKURAI-san explains DASSAI has another original way to extract SAKE. centrifuge! After pressing, there is filtering. Aging, pasteurization. And finally, the bottling. The bottles are also pasteurized here The bottles are heated at a temperature of 65 celcius Bacteria is killed at a temperature over 60 degrees. Then it goes through the bottling course to cool off. until it's 20 degrees Celsius. Then it gets labeled and packaged for shipping. These Dassai 39 bottles are ready for the world. This is a prized Junmai Daiginjo bottle of Sake for sure. There is only one step left So we've been to the brewery and back. Filled with an amazing amount of appreciation for the process to make SAKE It's more than just SAKE It's NIHON-SHU, Japanese national drink It's perfect. Sip with food, or on it's own It's a date with nature. Loaded with a good night kiss

Channel: ONLY in JAPAN

Views: 528,025

Rating: 4.9346428 out of 5

Keywords: Sake (Ingredient), Dassai, 獺祭, how to make, The best sake, Rice (Food), Fermentation In Food Processing (Literature Subject), Koji, Japan (Country), all about, guide, Japanese Cuisine (Cuisine), Yamaguchi Prefecture (Japanese Prefecture), Hiroshima (Japanese Designated City), Tokyo (Japanese Prefecture), brand, bar, smooth, 23, daiginjo, where to buy, 大吟醸, 日本酒, Nihonshu, brewery, alcohol, food, 麹, 醪

Id: ay0GLeSH4WM

Length: 15min 26sec (926 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 04 2015

Reddit Comments

[u/Ecips_Dlo]

That was very, very interesting. What little bit of sake I've had, I've enjoyed. It was only from a chain Japanese Hibachi restaurant so I'm sure it was low quality. I would love to try high quality sake. Is Dassai 23 even imported to the US?

[u/CatVet]

This guy is pretty awesome. Polite, knowledgeable, informative and seems very nice. If his art is Japanese documentary, he's an artisan.

[u/clarke1408]

"They move with great precision"

5 guys walking down aisles shaking jars of mold.

Couldn't they use like, I don't know, a machine if they were so worried about precision and equal distribution

[u/lilmookie]

I tried making sake. I followed some guy's instructions. He forgot to mention that you need to alternated temperature b/w 70 and 50 degrees F or you get lactobacillus (the yogurt bacteria).

I ended up making 5 gallons of sour sake. Down the drain.

[u/IWantToBeAProducer]

I had warm sake once and it tasted like rubbing alcohol. like, pure ethanol. But in this video he seems to be drinking it more like wine. Is it very different at room temperature, or perhaps is this a different variety?

[u/badnewsclown]

"it's a date with nature, loaded with a goodnight kiss" ??

[u/carnefarious]

This video was awesome, and the host seemed pretty genuine. But to me, as a Japanese language student, I was cringing whenever he spoke Japanese. It may have been grammatically correct, but by GOD his Japanese accent was horrendous.

[u/jwoffor2]

Is... Is there other kind of sake?

[u/shroomsamba]

I'm sorry, but is it just me, or is that Ralph Macchio?