Senses of Sake

It was a case of seeing is believing this week when I heard that Australia has a Sake Brewery and of all places it is at the foot of the mountains in the cosmopolitan town of Penrith.Ben, Dave and I heading down today.

Through the stretches of deserted car yards and industrial factories, at the end of a col-de-sac, next to an abandoned lot and backing onto a stretch of plum and cherry trees sits the Sun Masamune sake brewery, Australia's only sake brewery.

We were welcomed into a small reception room by a kind Japanese man who turned out to be managing director of the company Allan Noble. With noted passion and experience he describes the sake making process from the growing of the rice in rural Australia to the prestigious final products which were proudly presented for us to sample.

The company has developed a highly sustainable and organic approach to sake making which includes a crop rotation system, saving the need for external fertilisers and an efficient use of all waste in the creation of by-products such as soaps, moisturisers and a yeast product, which is used as animal feed as the remaining alcohol stimulates eating.

And the taste...wonderful. I am by no means a sake expert but the aroma of the sweet alcohol as I raised the cup to my lips brought back memories.

I first tasted the rice wine when I was a 16 year old, sailor dress wearing, bright eyed Australian sized Japanese school student living in a small country town outside Kobe. The shock of tasting my first drop of hard spirits was pleasantly calmed by the intoxicating smell of Japanese incense, smokey tatami mats and the politely smiling faces of my host family and teachers reassuring me that its ok to serve alcohol to a minor....its tradition.

My second memory of sake is a small steaming warm flask of it in a little sushi restaurant with Ben on a snowy night in the Canadian mountains. It was freezing outside and blowing a gale of snow and ice but there we sat tucked in a little red cushion booth drinking this deliciously sweet warm liquid watching mother nature rip itself apart, enjoying a banquet of brightly coloured artistic delights. As we eventually packed on the coats and gloves and braved the raging bitter weather it was the sake that stayed with us like a warm ember in our chest all the way home. 

To conjure up such great memories the Sun Masamune sake was the real deal. Sold under the name Go Shu, Noble san says it is the great Australian rice that makes their sake so good, " [Australian rice] is not the best because of flavour but because of the great starchy quality it produces which is perfect for making sake" With $2.5 million turn over it is hard to argue with the technique and dedication of this company.

However with 90% of the sake being shipped to Japan, the presence of international players in the sake market has not been received well by Japanese sake breweries. Its ironic that the majority of such a sustainable and organic product is being flown overseas when we import most of it from Japan anyway. It seems the organic no waste attitude of the company is contradicted by the exporting air miles produced. 

So if your looking to buy sake in Australia in the near future look for the brand Go Shu and enjoy the sweet smooth pleasure of the sustainably home grown. Otherwise check out the factory at some point. There are loads of other interesting things I learnt there and if you call ahead you can arrange a full tour of the brewery complex.

Until next time 

Kampai!

xlaura