Rice

Sake is brewed from rice. Water, yeast, koji, and, in some instances, a small amount of distilled alcohol are the only other ingredients in sake. So it goes without saying that rice is a crucial ingredient.

After soaking, sake rice is steamed until the starch is gelatinized and translucent. If over cooked, it will break down too fast. If under cooked, koji mold might not penetrate the grain.

Rice is of course the source of starch for fermentation, and also the source of trace proteins which are broken down into amino-acids and other components that affect the body of the sake as well as its flavor. Brewers of premium sake do not compromise on this essential ingredient and don't  use  just any rice.

Rice is delivered to this brewery pre-polished, as it is with most smaller breweries.

Sake rice, sakamai, or shuzokoteki-mai is of the short grain Japonica variety. Compared to other short grain Japonica rice, it has a higher starch content, a larger grain, and grows taller than most table rice.

Hiroshima Prefecture's sake rice varieties on display at Kamotsuru, in Saijo District

It's larger grain size allows it to undergo extreme amounts of milling without breaking. Breakthroughs in rice milling technology in the last century have advanced to the point that very high polishing rates can be achieved without breaking the rice grains.

A modern rice polishing machine capable of  polishing rates upwards of 30%

Polished, steamed, sakamai has very little flavor at all due its high starch content and lower protein and fat content.  Do to decades of selection and breeding, many sake rice varieties possess a unique structure whereby most of the starch is stored in the center of the grain in a spherical white core called a shinpaku. The percentage of grains that possess shinpaku can determine how suitable a variety is for use brewing.

Polished Yamadanishiki rice, with shinpaku present

Do to the varied climate within Japan, not varieties of rice grow in all areas of Japan, and indeed some areas of Japan specialize and are famous for certain varieties that grow best there. Okayama-ken grows esteemed Omachi rice,  Hyogo-ken is well known for its Yamada-nishiki, Niigata for it's Gohyakumangoku, and Yamagata for its Dewasansan. There are many other examples.

Rice in a field in Higashi-Hiroshima during its ripening phase

There are over a hundred kinds of sake rice in use in Japan it is fairly common practice for them to be distributed to other parts of the country; that is to say, not all breweries use locally grown rice exclusively. Brewers, for the most part, can pick and choose what rice they wish to brew, as it suits their needs. However, some breweries go out of their way to source their rice locally,  and some even grow their own rice (that's a lot of work). Recently, some brewers have started releasing separate batches of sake brewed from a specific field, and proudly proclaiming so on their labels!

Takahiro Nagayama proudly displays not only the variety of sake
rice on his label, but also the village where it was sourced.

Although there is a common thread that connects sake brewed from the same variety of rice, it is often not as direct or as clear as the connection within the wine world, between wine and grape, where grape varietals often dictate certain flavor profiles.

Very highly polished Iwai rice on display at Saito Shuzo in the Fushimi District of Kyoto. Discovered in the 1920's, but neglected after World War 2, Iwai was revived in the early 90's after brewers expressed their desire to make more terroir-driven sake. 

The characteristics of a particular rice variety are not always so obvious, especially with higher grade sake, where most of the rice is polished away. Under the right circumstances, with tasting experience, it is possible to make a good guess as to what variety you may be drinking, but the goal of the brewer isn't always to express the character of each rice. 

Sometimes, the rice is just the blank canvas upon which the toji, or master brewer, works his magic. He or she may wish to showcase the yeast, for example. If the sake is left unpasteurized, the veil of effervescence and aromas make guessing the rice variety a dubious endeavor indeed.

So the idea that you can "guess the rice variety" is greatly complicated by a number factors in sake brewing, where yeast varieties, starter methods, polishing rate and post-fermentation processing (aging, pasteurization) have a great effect on the final product.


It is important to note that not all sake is made with sake-specific rice. There are some very nice sake made from table rice as well. Koshikihikari and Hitomebore are examples of this.