Rice strains in the sake world are like grape varieties in wine. They yield different flavors and aromas, and exhibit different characteristics in the brewing phase, requiring different approaches to their use. Also, the environment in which they are cultivated–the terroir–certainly has an effect on their character leading up to harvest. Naturally, we talk a lot about rice strains in these pages. They are a source of pride for many brewers, not to mention an opportunity for creativity, and a topic of interest among consumers, too.
By chance, this issue features two brewers who use “table rice” as opposed to “sake rice” when brewing. This is uncommon and we didn’t want this to be lost on readers (which is why it’s the topic of this introduction). It generated some internal discussion at Sake Today, which is actually not so uncommon when it comes to things that pop up in articles, but that discussion spilled over to include our friends and colleagues at Origami Sake (see ST39). I spoke with both Ben Bell and Justin Potts and want to share some of that conversation here. But first, let’s take a look at what table rice means in the context of sake brewing history.
As technology and agricultural practices have evolved, scientists have bred rice strains to create new types of rice more conducive to sake brewing as well as cultivation (ex., sturdier stalks that can withstand storms and typhoons). These strains bred with sake brewing in mind often receive recognition or designation as “sake rice”. That system of officially classifying some strains as sake rice is outside the scope of this intro, but suffice it to say that the industry in general distinguishes between rice intended for brewing and rice intended for the table. What are the differences?
The shinpaku of sake rice, that starchy core that provides the fuel for fermentation, is generally plumper than that of table rice. The former is optimized for brewing. As a corollary, it’s surrounded by less fat and protein. This is what makes table rice so flavorful, but it’s what’s milled away during rice polishing for cleaner flavor (generally speaking).
None of this means using sake rice guarantees clean, balanced flavor. Or that a good brewer can’t make tasty sake using table rice. But most brewers would probably agree that using sake rice presents fewer challenges. There’s more to it than simply the extra fats and proteins of table rice.
“It’s not like there’s a handbook for using most table rice,” noted Bell. With Yamada Nishiki, that penultimate sake rice used by most breweries, there’s untold mountains of data and information about its use, properties, etc. Everyone knows how to brew with it. Or if they don’t, they can easily find somebody to teach them. With table rice, you’re teaching yourself.
As Potts explained further, “Every step of the brewing process changes: soaking the rice, making kōji, the starter mash, how the rice dissolves during fermentation. You just have to simply brew with it and learn along the way.” Naturally, there’s a lot of risk in that. Also, as Potts pointed out, before sake rice even became a thing in the modern age, all breweries brewed with what was essentially table rice. They used whatever local strains were available to them.
I reached out to Origami because in addition to using locally grown Yamada Nishiki from Isbell Farms (ST38), they’re also brewing with a local variety called Titan. They are writing the book on Titan. What the three of us marveled over was that, even after centuries and centuries of brewing sake, even after all the data we can compile with modern science, there is still so much more to discover.
A few years ago, we featured Lotus Foods (ST25), whose founders talked about traveling to remote parts of the world and discovering rare heirloom varieties of rice (that they brought to market in some cases). What, we pondered, could a creative, skillful brewer do with some of these? What kinds of new sake are yet to be born? Upper estimates of the number of rice strains in this world are over 120,000. Even if more conservative estimates of 40,000 are correct, there’s still so much to learn… still so much to discover. Still so much to brew.
