Sake types

Sake types

Of the Japanese words commonly used to describe types of sake, four are official terms in the tax law that define the quality level of the product, and the rest refer to styles of sake that happen to be popular at the moment. Here is an explanation of the types of sake you’ll find in Masumi’s line-up.

Official terms

The official terms classify a sake’s quality grade depending on the amount of rice remaining after polishing (DAIGINJO and GINJO), and whether distilled alcohol is added before filtering (JUNMAI and HONJOZO). Here’s how it works:

Amount of rice remaining after polishing (DAIGINJO, GINJO)

• Less than 50% remaining = DAIGINJO (super premium)
• 60% to 50% remaining = GINJO (premium)
• More than 60% remaining = no official term

The outer layers of the rice contain a lot of protein, fat, and minerals, which can make the sake taste heavy and bitter. Polishing away these layers is generally thought to improve quality by making the sake lighter and cleaner in taste.

Distilled alcohol added or not (JUNMAI, HONJOZO)

• Not added = JUNMAI
• Limited amount added = HONJOZO
• Larger amount added = no official term

Note that the term JUNMAI may be used together with DAIGINJO and GINJO to describe a sake type. For example, a junmai daiginjo sake is one that is polished to less than 50% remaining, AND has no alcohol added to it.

Oddly, the term HONJOZO is never used together with DAIGINJO or GINJO. If the sake is polished to less than 50% remaining, and it has added alcohol, it is simply called a daiginjo sake.

The technique of adding distilled alcohol to the mash before filtering has been used by brewers for the past several centuries to enhance quality, or to stabilize the sake and to lower its cost. Whether the effect on quality is positive or negative is a matter of degree, and so the tax law specifies that to be labeled as HONJOZO, the amount of added alcohol must be limited to less than 10% of the amount of polished rice used in the mash, and that the rice must be polished to less than 70% remaining.

When such limited amounts of alcohol are added to such polished sake, the effect is to accentuate the sake’s natural aromas and to produce a pleasantly dry feeling on the palate. Thus, HONJOZO sake is understood to be “high-quality alcohol-added sake.”

Even today, there is far more alcohol-added sake on the market than junmai sake, although the junmai style is quickly growing in popularity because it is perceived to be purer and inherently of higher quality. For us it’s a matter personal taste, and we leave it up to you to choose one, the other, or both!

Sake styles

Beyond the official terms, there are a few other Japanese words used for sake that is somehow out of the ordinary, either because a special brewing technique was used, or because some regular part of the brewing process was NOT used. They are listed here according to the processes they are associated with.

Pasteurized or not (NAMA)

• Not pasteurized = NAMA
• Pasteurized once at bottling = NAMACHOZO
• Pasteurized once during storage = NAMAZUME
• Pasteurized both during storage and at bottling = no special word

The purpose of pasteurization is to stabilize the sake by eliminating bacteria and by de-activating enzymes that would otherwise change the sake’s character, and to that end, most of the sake out there has been pasteurized twice.

However, the less the sake is pasteurized, the fresher and livelier its character remains, so “nama” sake styles are becoming increasingly popular. Nama sake (pronounced “nama zake”) must be kept refrigerated at all times; otherwise, it will quickly become sweeter, darker in color, and bitter through the action of enzymes. Also, in some cases lactic acid bacteria may grow in the bottle, turning the sake cloudy and giving it an unpleasant, sour taste.

Diluted with water or not (GENSHU)

• Not diluted = GENSHU
• Diluted = no special word

Freshly brewed sake can have a natural alcohol content of 16% to 19%, but the brewing industry has determined that most consumers prefer less alcohol, so they typically add water before bottling to reduce the alcohol content to around 15%.

However, in the past few decades there has been a trend toward “native” sakes that have not been processed after filtering, and so undiluted, full-strength sakes known by the obscure brewer’s word “GENSHU” have become more popular.

Lactic acid produced in yeast starter (YAMAHAI)

• Produced in yeast starter = YAMAHAI
• Added to yeast starter = no special word

Lactic acid is essential at the beginning of yeast fermentation because this organic acid suppresses the growth of other microbes that would compete with the yeast. The difference between the usual “modern” yeast starter method and the older yamahai method is the way that the lactic acid is obtained. In modern yeast starters, lactic acid purchased from a supplier is added to the starter tank and yeast fermentation begins immediately. In yamahai starters, bacteria that produce lactic acid are grown in the tank first, and then yeast fermentation begins when the necessary acid level is reached.

The yamahai style takes twice as much time and effort as a modern starter, but it is coming back into fashion because it results in greater complexity, higher acidity, and cleaner finish.

Note that “yamahai” is an abbreviation of a longer term, “yamaoroshi haishi,” which means to eliminate the step of mashing down steamed rice with wooden poles that was common to sake making before the yamahai method was developed, and continues to be part of the kimoto method even today.