Sake starts with polished rice. The rice can come from all over to Japan; while there can be a sense of terroir associated with each rice variety used, the most respected prize winning rice is called Yamadanishiki and it is particularly revered when it comes from Hyogo, just west of Kyoto and Osaka. As challenging as Japanese characters can be to read, the names of places and processes actually translate well into English letters.
One of the great advantages of the Japanese language for us English speakers is that it is completely phonetic. Languages like Mandarin have four tones and it can seem daunting to gain a grasp on pronunciation, but Japanese words can be spelled out in Roman characters with no need for inflection; seimaibuai is one such example. One of the most important indicators of the style of sake you drink, the seimaibuai (say my boo eye) is a statement of the remaining size on a grain of rice after polishing. A sake with a seimaibuai of 70 percent means that 30 percent of the grain has been polished away, and 70 percent remains.
In a grain of rice, starch is concentrated in the centre or heart, also called Shinpaku. The outside of a grain is a greater concentration of fat and proteins which yield flabby, ricey flavors. Once a grain of rice is polished to a seimaibuai of about 70 percent, the flabby and undesirable character of the sake becomes more toasty and rustic with subtle floral and fruit elements from the starchy centre just beginning to have a voice. In a restaurant or shop, identifying the seimaibuai will point you in a general direction of selecting a sake suitable to your preference. Do you want it rich and round like a 70 percent seimaibuai (also called Junmai)? Do you want it light and expressive like a 50 percent seimaibuai (also called Junmai Daiginjo)? Or do you want something in between at 60 percent seimaibuai (also called Junmai Ginjo)?
Polishing can be done artisanally by hand at the brewery but usually it is brought in from trusted domestic sources who have machines for milling large quantities of rice. The residual powder left behind after the polishing can be used for everything from cattle feed to fertilizer. It is amazing to see that each of the millions of grains of rice needed for one tank of sake are all individually polished to be a fraction of their original size. The picture shows the typical size of rice used for the production of Junmai Daiginjo, rice with a minimum seimaibuai of 50 percent.
When I first tasted a sake with a seimaibuai of 32 percent, I could believe it. I felt like I was drinking water! The character of this sake was so clean and refined, and I know I overindulged, but the hangover was nonexistent. The second time I had a sake with a seimaibuai of about 35 percent, well, I still avoid talking about that day. The sake had the viscosity of a Tawny Port and the aromatics of an extremely saturated gewürztraminer. Given the kind nature and hospitality of the Japanese, especially at a sake tasting, I definitely over indulged and the morning after is one I choose to forget. Both sake were made with the famous Yamadanishiki rice of Hyogo but they both came from different parts of Japan, and even though they shared a similar seimaibuai, their finished product differed greatly.
In the end, while extensive polishing of a grain of rice can bring great elegance and aromatics, there are still more elements that contribute the final character of your sake.
Next week: yeast and test tubes.
Elliot Faber is the Sommelier and Beverage Manager of two cool Japanese restaurants in Hong Kong: Yardbird and Ronin. Elliot is also one of the world’s experts on Sake, Japanese Whisky, Shochu, Awamori and Japanese beer.
