Getting into the Mix at Blue Kudzu Sake of Asheville North Carolina

The view from Blue Kudzu.

I have been interested in meeting the folks behind Blue Kudzu Sake Company since late 2012, when I was pondering a move to Asheville, NC. Still living in Taiwan at the time, I set out to see what the sake scene was like there, I did so with a guarded sense of hope; I thought of Asheville exclusively as a beer-centric city. But, as good fortune would have it, it turned out that much had been written (here, here, here, and here) about a group of three Asheville residents who had turned to crowdsourcing to fund their effort to become what would be, at that time, the fourth sake brewery in the US.

Though their kickstarter did not raise the targeted funds for their startup, it did yield quite a bit of interest in the brew-friendly city, and the group soldiered on, and are now at the stage where they can actually start brewing sake. In my effort to get working in the sake world down here, I was excited to make my way down to Depot Street in the River Arts District , on my second day in town, to share some of my latest sake brew with them, congratulate them on their progress and see if they needed a hand making sake.

Mary Taylor, Mitch Fortune, and Cat Ford-Coates, the three behind it all, seemed as surprised to meet me now as I was surprised to first read about them two years earlier. It was an introduction a long time in the making.

As I carried my sake across the street, I'm sure they were thinking, "Who is this guy crossing the street with  a cooler with bottles sticking out?"

But we hit it off and found we had all things sake to talk about, and it was a great feeling  for me to share my sake with a group of people that really get excited about the stuff, to talk brewing, and to hear about how things were going for them in the nascent stages of Blue Kudzu Sake Company.

Feeling Zen.

It was great to hear their feedback on what I had made, and I felt lucky to get a small tour where the brewing was to soon be started. It was great timing, because their papers having gone through, rice arrived, and shubo bubbling away, Mitch, Mary and Cat were getting ready for the three additions of rice, water, and koji that were to come later in the week- their first ever batch of sake in their new digs.

No kura can be without a shrine.

 Being a young business, they are not ready to add any additional staff at the moment, but I of course offered my future services to them and was happy lend a hand in the meantime and to document the proceedings here at The Sake Press.
 A few days later, on my birthday, as luck would have it, I spent some more time hanging out, shooting some pictures, and talking sake a bit more, all while trying to stay out of their way as they were finishing steaming and cooling their kakemai for their final, and largest addition (Tomezoe) of rice, water and koji.

Mary, right, and Cat, left cool their steamed kakemai before passing it to Mitch, who drops it in the moromi.

As the batches of steamed rice cooled, and the moromi started to build, so did my excitement. Fueled by a blaring 90's dance mix on the soundsystem and coffee, Mary, Cat and Mitch  kept moving throughout the morning steaming, cooling and adding the rice. This was fun for all- but it was also hard work.

First batch of Blue Kudzu Sake is alive and well. Smelled quite nice. Lots of banana notes coming off the tank.

Mitch, of course knew the pains of brewing sake much better than I, for he had just returned from a trip to Japan where he lived and worked in a sakagura, during the winter brewing season.  Although he had learned about the brewing process from books and blogs, working in the kura alongside the kurabito gave him a deeper understanding of the "whys" of the process. In addition, he made important connections to brewers in Japan with generations of experience brewing sake. What a resource! He now knew the reasons for many of the steps and intricacies that transform humble steamed rice into magnificent sake.

Though hard work, when brewing just a single batch of sake, there is a lot of hurry-up-and-wait to the whole process.  As the rice steamed, there was time for cigarettes, and even a cordial breakfast with parents and friends, and time to talk shop. Between bites of his breakfast sandwich, Mitch told me more about everything going on at Blue Kudzu Sake Company.

Anyone outside Japan that has tried brewing sake knows that from lack of comparable equipment, to lack of sake rice and millers, overseas sake brewers face many big challenges, especially those that have no formal affiliation with a Japanese brewery, such as Momokawa (Oregon), Gekkeikan and Takara (California). Outside of Japan, there are no government entities devoted to preserving yeast strains and developing new ones. Moreover, sake is part of Japanese culture and seldom needs much introduction in its homeland.

Compare this to the U.S. where most people may have only heard of, or know a little about sake. And chances are, if they do, many are familiar only with lower-grade "hot sake."  This additional challenge means that Blue Kudzu is not just brewing sake, they are also running a series of  lectures and tastings to introduce their customers to the history and various styles of sake.  

The tanks have names.

Mitch says, to help the newbie customer, they "do a tasting flight with the class, and [the students] can actually order from the class handout any of the sake that they tried that day, guaranteeing that they like them. We also have a variety of sakes by the glass everyday, so we give people samples before they commit to buying a full bottle. "We usually have between 9 and 12 people per class...A lot of service industry people...A lot of the sushi restaurants have been sending their servers down...We're helping just kind of evangelize...and get the word out about sake and teach people correctly."

Mary Cat and Mitch are also full-time problem solvers. Getting things up and running in this their first week of brewing was also fraught with challenges for the three: "Some of the equipment we had tested, some of it we hadn't...We found that we had some leaks...so I had to go run all over town to find a pipe wrench!...Until you're actually doing it, you don't think of [some]things," Mitch revealed.

One thing they don't need to worry about is good water. It turns out that Asheville's water, heralded by the beer brewing industry, is suitable for sake as well.

sticky rice

Blue Kudzu Sake Company will split their first batch into different styles, some sold in-house, some distributed locally, but only so far as they can assure the quality doesn't suffer. It's unlikely they'll be shipping out any unpasteurized namazake, which needs to be kept cold, and has a shorter shelf life than typical, pasteurized sake. So far, there is a good deal of anticipation from customers for their in-house sake: "We've got a lot of people who are just hankering to come down as soon as it is ready," Mitch said.

Koji rack

Their brewing process, open to passersby on the sidewalk, takes place right between the kitchen and the dining room of their restaurant, a branch of their business that, Fortune admits, they didn't initially conceive of.  As a result, the three are now putting in long hours, brewing in the morning, then cooking and serving at night.

"We weren't even originally going to do a restaurant. Then we found this space, and since there was a kitchen, we decided to do a restaurant. This way, people would have something to eat while they drink sake. We started with a really small menu, just snack-food, and we started building the menu."

In response to great reviews,they've now expanded the menu and have a solid reputation for tasty eats. So much so, that some customers now come just for the food and are surprised to learn there is brewing going on. According to Mitch, "some people walk to the bathroom past the brewing equipment and say 'What is all that?'"

It seems likely that will change though, and if the response for their restaurant is any indication, their sake is poised for just as good a reception. Stay tuned for that first batch.



The Sake Press would like to personally thank Mary Taylor, Cat Ford-Coates, and Mitch Fortune, of Blue Kudzu for allowing me full access to their brewing operations and for being so warm and welcoming and willing to share their time and their story.