Another Special Sake Only Available in Winter Brewery Season
The taste of sake is not defined by only rice and water. Methods, skill, and technology which brewers take are also very important to refine its quality and differentiate the taste.
Specially produced sake usually have what’s special in its name. It’s a little deep agenda; however, it also helps you to understand the brewing method of Sake more.
“Jikagumi” is the topic for this article.
Winter is the most exciting season in the Sake world. There are various types of freshly produced sake nouveau. As you may know, unpasteurized Sake is unpasteurized and unfiltered very fresh sake. However, there is a further unprocessed super natural and fresh type of Sake. Usually, those Sake has this word in its name.
“Jikagumi”（直汲み）or “Funazake（ふな酒）”
直汲み means “Bottle directly”. In the very last step of the brewing process, sake bags filled with Moromi is pressed and extract sake liquid out. The Sake is gathered in Sake barrel for the moment. This sake cask is called “槽（Fune）”.
After this step, Sake is transferred to sake barrel and blended with another batch of the same freshly produced Sake to adjust its taste. Sake rests in the barrel for a while and waits for the sediment like Sake lees go down.
Then, it’s bottled and shipped to customers.
For some of you have a good intuition, what “Jikagumi”（直汲み）or “Funazake（ふな酒）” mean might ring a bell.
Yes, those are the Sake that is bottled directly from the sake cask. It’s the Sake in which minimum adjustment of taste is even skipped. That is why I said super natural and fresh Sake.
In the brewery season, the brewery is covered with a very unique aroma that comes from the Moromi tank. It’s a very comfortable fermentation aroma, which is very fruity. Its special aroma is also confined in the bottle.
Its texture is also very interesting. Natural gas produced in the process of fermentation contains in the liquid since it’s just bottled right after pressing. It’s like little sparkling Sake.
Please don’t miss the chance to enjoy limited sake only for this season!