COMING UP DOWN UNDER
It seems only right that the first article of 2021 (sorry for the delay) should be a positive one as we enter a year of hope and optimism, with a sprinkle of can do avant-garde attitude.
A year ago, I was packing my bags for a trip to Australia to discover the island of Tasmania, the burgeoning wine scene, the fascinating albeit grisly penal colony history and to walk the Three Capes Track. Oh, and to stroke as many cute and some less cute island creatures that paid for backstage animal sanctuary access would allow.
To get to Hobart, we’d elected to go via Melbourne. Planning for the two-night layover there was relegated to something we’d do on the plane to while away the hours, in between a couple, OK several, drinks.
In 2020, this year’s isolated grumpy tennis stars were doing their thing on the big screen in Fed(eration) Square, moaning at umpires rather than the Authorities, and I was sipping on a Tokkuri of Fukucho Junmai Ginjo (which made it to my 2020 best of the best article here). Little did I realise I would be watching the brewery’s Owner and Toji, Imada-san, taking us on a Zoom tour of the Akitsu set up as life under Coronavirus kicked in just a month or so later.
But that’s a year ago. As I write this, we have vaccines being administered, in transit and importantly in arms. Spring is around the corner. Although I tuned into Simone Maynard’s 28th Taste with the Toji session this week, the platform where the Imada-san episode was ‘aired’, the continuation of the series underlining the fact that the battle is far from over, life is perhaps slowly turning a corner.
This article is all about Australia then, well Melbourne actually. Taste with the Toji is the inspired lockdown project of Sake Mistress, a big personality on the Sake scene in Melbourne, and now far beyond. I’m reliving my trip there twelve months ago. And importantly, Matt and Quentin at Melbourne Sake are itching to get brewing.
Small batch production practice
Matt is, like me, a Brit abroad. However unlike me, he first discovered Sake and then a while later took himself off to Japan to truly discover it. In my case, I’d ticked off quite a few Prefectures, UNESCOs and shinkansen trips all the while (not literally) glugging beers before a Fukuoka izakaya finally introduced us to Sake.
“Japan” had always been in the plan for Matt, in as much as students have a plan when they leave university, but a job in London beckoned, one he would quickly be lured away from by the exciting prospect of a year abroad in Australia.
For many expats, there are a handful of perks that cement the joy of living abroad, often better weather, better tax breaks, simply more opportunities or a combination of these and others. For Matt he’d managed to get stuck into some serious food and beverage experience, an industry that once you’re in, you’re in for life in some form or other.
On the back of working some vintages in Spain and Portugal, he’d find himself at the iconic Spanish eatery MoVida, a dining institution coming of age in 2021 and turning eighteen this year. Being part of Melbourne’s established eating out scene, it wasn’t long before Matt met Sake and a thirst for more had him and business partner Quentin drunkenly debating the ignominy of not having Sake being brewed closer to home in Australia. They were doing it in New Zealand after all…
“We had the drunk idea to make it ourselves”.
You can see where this is going, so I won’t labour it. With no brewing experience between them save a bash at some homebrew beer making, the pair sought out the skills and learning of Dave Joll and the team at Zenkuro, over in Queenstown, New Zealand (more here).
The Dream Team: Quentin, Dave, Matt
“Without Dave, we wouldn’t have started”.
Matt doesn’t mean that in a bad way of course, there’s no blame here! The time spent at Zenkuro gave a totally different but relevant perspective versus what they had seen of established large scale breweries on YouTube and in fancy textbooks where budgets and space constraints don’t exist.
“Seeing how Dave worked with their DIY equipment moved our thinking from ‘Is this possible?’ to ‘Yes this can be done’. He seemed to have solutions for how to do it”.
The floodgates opened in a quest for more knowledge. Having soberly now agreed to start a Sake brewery, Matt and Quentin made it to Japan, ticking off time at Terada Honke, Tsuji Honten (organised from a well-timed chat with Maiko Tsuji at Melbourne’s Sake Matsuri 2019 event) and Kinoshita Shuzo, securing some time with Tamagawa Sake legend, Philip Harper. Five other breweries would also be visited, notebooks in hand, during the trip.
After New Zealand and before Japan there was also a stint in the US with Sake industry individuals such as Blake Richardson at Minnesota Rice and Milling. The research was a coast to coast affair, from Den Sake and Sequoia Sake on the west to Brooklyn Kura in the east, and much in between. But like all good things, Melbourne Sake’s world tour and induction had to come to an end and the reality of the challenge ahead hit home. But so did Coronavirus, essentially railroading the 2020 plans.
We now find us, well, in the here and now, 2021. Matt and Quentin are planning the brewing season ahead in terms of volumes, schedules, product and logistics. They’re also tinkering with bread making machine sized Koji incubators. You kind of feel like Doc Brown will show up in the DeLorean sometime in March 2021.
Batch one will kick off in April, if things go according to plan, and the first 100kg of rice will start fermentation. Taking as few risks as possible, why would you, Melbourne Sake is using the same Koji as Zenkuro, sent over from Japan’s reliable resources, as well as yeast 701, also from the Motherland.
701 Yeast - great product, lousy packaging
Reliance on Japan’s Koji is just a short-term thing though, as an important element of the Melbourne Sake ethos is spelled out in their mission statement: Our mission is simple, to craft distinctly Australian sake, with Australian ingredients, for Australia.
Kyokai 701 is one of the most popular yeast strains, isolated in Nagano and used for more earthy styles of Sake, not least Junmai, exactly what is going to be coming out of Melbourne Sake in 2021.
This Junmai penchant is driven by two things. One is practicality in that there just aren’t any rice milling options in Australia so by electing to use local rice (this ‘local’ is a big thing for Melbourne Sake), the options are limited. To offer a Ginjo or even Honjozo whereby milling must reach 70% at least just isn’t on the cards.
Secondly, and if there were other rice options on the table, this factor I believe would still dictate the Junmai decision, is that the more honest, traditional and rustic Sakes are what appeal to Matt and Quentin. Whilst respecting the skills in Ginjo making, their palates are hardwired to Junmai. Mine too.
The rice is on the face of it, simply a Sushi Rice. With some digging, Matt has identified it is “Opus”, comprised of 80% Koshi Hikari, that well known table rice, and 20% something else, a something that has made it thrive in Australia’s climate.
The cool thing for me is that it is, like the astonishing Katori 90 from Terada Honke (which I wrote about here), “milled” to 90% only, and that basically means it’s had the husks removed and become a white rice whereas before it was genmai (brown rice).
That leaves water and it seems Melbourne is blessed with a super soft supply not unlike much of Japan, helpfully with a low iron content too. Nice one.
Ingredients are falling into place then. The temporary space for brewing will see Melbourne Sake through a few seasons. Customers can even visit, that’s the plan anyway, although the majority of sales will be direct to restaurants. Given the duo’s industry connections, this seems the most sensible plan and buyers are being teed up already.
“Wholesale to independent retail shops will follow in due course. Online too, for sure, but that needs a different license. We have the corner of a warehouse at the moment; Phase 2 will include a taproom and tasting space”.
Some initial testing and tasting have been carried out, with a positive reception from contacts, friends and family over the Christmas period. Dave Joll’s DIY skills have even inspired the construction of a fune press that is built inside a working chest freezer giving a 700-litre capacity temperature-controlled filtering process.
Homemade kit - Fune press (left), steaming pots (right)
“One thing about brewing is that it is already Covid secure. Hygiene is critical. We are scrupulous about handwashing, it’s the industry norm, and facemasks are always worn when working with Koji”.
It’s exciting news indeed, just what the global industry needs and it feels like the unforced delays of 2020 have made the excitement feel even more overdue. Two thousand litres is the goal for the first commercial batch, that’s just over eleven Koku (the equivalent of 2,750 or so 720ml bottles), and will be bottled in September and October. It’s a bold target, representing half of what Zenkuro is producing, but Matt and Quentin are ready.
“There’s no fine dining in the city now that doesn’t have a Sake on the drinks menu”.
Why shouldn’t there be another? Clearly there’s room for two.
FOOTNOTE:
By way of a somewhat cheesy afterthought, let’s celebrate the Sake community at large:
In many of this article’s paragraphs we see just how unified and supportive not just the Australian Sake community is, but the global one. All those conversations between Melburnians - Matt, Quentin, Simone, Melissa (I haven’t even had time yet to touch on all the good work of Sake Connect), Matt II (that’s Matt Young at Black Market Sake, procurer of really interesting Japanese Sakes for Australian consumption) - New Zealanders, Americans and Japanese brewers, all trying to promote this wonderful drink. It’s pretty cool.
QUICK GLOSSARY:
Tokkuri: A carafe for serving hot or cold Sake. Traditionally made from ceramic or earthenware, it can be partially submerged into a hot water bath to gently warm the Sake. Designed to hold one “go” or ichigo (180ml) of Sake
Junmai: Sakes made with no added alcohol are Junmai, the only ingredients are rice, water and Koji mould
Ginjo 吟醸: Sake made from rice at a polishing ratio below 60%
Toji: Master Brewer with ultimate responsibility for brewing and the leadership of the brewing team
Shinkansen: the famous Bullet Train
Shuzo: Sake brewery. Often added to the company name e.g. Morikawa Shuzo
Kura: Sake brewery
Koji: Rice that has been inoculated with Koji-kin mold
Kyokai: Literally “Association” here referring to yeasts managed and distributed by laboratories or research institutes of the Brewing Society of Japan or local municipalities
Honjozo 本醸造: Sake made from rice at a polishing ratio below 70%
Genmai: Whole grain unmilled brown rice
Fune: Fune is a piece of equipment used for pressing Sake, normally a boat-like (“fune” literally means boat) large rectangular wooden or metal box used to hold and press bags filled with Sake mash. A board placed on top of the bags forces the liquid Sake out filtering and retaining the rice solids
Koku: A unit of measure in the industry that is 180 litres
LINKS:
Quite a lot of name dropping in this piece, but we all need to be thankful for the work these guys are doing to grow our beloved beverage:
Zenkuro - www.zenkuro.co.nz
Sake Mistress - www.sakemistress.com
Black Market Sake - www.blackmarketsake.com
Sake Connect - www.sakeconnect.com
Den Sake - www.densakebrewery.com
Sequoia Sake - www.sequoiasake.com
Brooklyn Kura - www.brooklynkura.com
Minnesota Rice and Milling - www.mnrice.com
Terada Honke - www.teradahonke.co.jp
Tsuji Honten - www.gozenshu.co.jp
Kinoshita Shuzo - www.sake-tamagawa.com/en/
