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 Sake
is usually defined as either sweet - amakuchi-or dry - karakuchi.
At our location in the historical and mythological heartland
of Japan, we are proud to keep up our tradition of brewing umakuchi
no sake. Neither sweet nor dry, our sake is truly, satisfyingly
delicious. Our products are "dry" if analysed chemically,
but those who drink them rarely find them so. This is the mystery
of Ume no Yado's characteristic style, a style in keeping with
the subtle glories of our home region of Nara. Leaving more
conventional ideas? "nice aroma", "nice taste"?
to bigger makers, we continue to ignore the current trend for
the ultra-light, dry tanrei karakuchi style in order to bring
you the deeper satisfactions of umakuchi no sake.
Our sake is made from rice polished to an average of 53% of
its original size, where the national average is 69%. From this
exceptional figure, alone, one might imagine our sake to be
very much in the fashionable, light, tanrei style. Yet light
and clean alone is not enough for us, and not enough for the
connoisseurs who enjoy our sake. We strive to make a sake rich
with flavour, a sake to leave a profound impression. It stands
to reason that, if there is one kind of sake that appeals to
the novice, that there should be another that appeals more to
the seasoned drinker. If you have been introduced to the world
of sake by way of highly scented sake and find yourself bored
with light, thin flavours, then we would urge you to try Ume
no Yado. It is our belief that you will be as pleased with it
as we are. |
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 In
the so-called "second jizake boom" of the 1980s, the
name of Ume no Yado became quite well known. Despite our small
output, we gained a following, even in Tokyo, and people would
often ask me, "Can't you make a bit more?" Naturally,
we were very grateful for this, but feel, now as then, that
it is better to keep Ume no Yado's output at around its current
level of 1600 koku (288kl). Presently, if we receive a query
from a customer, and we are given the name of the product and
the shipping date on the label, I know the taste of the sake
without even having to look at my records. "Ah, it's that
sake we wanted to ship after aging it longer, but were running
short of stock," we say to ourselves, for example. Or we
receive the comment "It tastes a bit flatter than usual,"
and we admire the acuteness of the customer's palate, while
regretting the shortfall of weeks or months in the maturation
period - and taking steps to rectify the problem.
Yes, I think we shall continue to do our business on this scale,
where we can keep a close, personal eye on everything. "A
small brewery" we shall remain. |
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 At
the time of writing, we have five year-round employees on the
brewing staff. Their average age is 28. The eldest amongst them
is 33-year Briton, Philip Harper. He first arrived at the brewery
in 1990. This was at the peak of the bubble economy, when young
people wanting to work in the strict, harsh environment of a
traditional brewery were few indeed. This was the climate when
he came, asking to work here. It was winter, the season when
brewing actually takes place. "He'll lose interest in summer,"
I guessed to myself, and thought no more of it. But, come summer,
he was still here. To give in to his enthusiasm and agree to
take him on was one thing, but getting a work permit turned
out to be quite another. Permission was only granted after I
presented him as a student of the artisan tradition of sake
brewing, and drew up a detailed twelve months'curriculum. Last
year's brewing season was his ninth, and saw him come far enough
to be in charge of koji, one of the so-called sanyaku roles
of a brewery (named for three of the top sumo wrestling ranks).
I have heard of other foreigners visiting sake breweries, but
he is the only one to have stayed for such a length of time.
Requests for interviews for television, newspapers and magazines
are frequent, and he has become quite a famous person. In the
off-season, in summer, he often goes here and there to lecture
on sake. Thanks to him, Ume no Yado has also become more famous,
and the number of young people coming asking for work has also
increased. With the youthful energy of Philip and the others,
ours is a lively and cheerful brewery. |
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