Akitabare
Brewing Company
The
Brewery
"Koshiki Junzukuri" (The Old Way)
read the characters on Akitabare Sake Brewing
Company's junmai label, and a glimpse inside the
brewery shows why. Many of the tools from a hundred
years ago–the huge wooden basin for soaking the
rice, the giant kama for steaming it–are
still in use
today.
Considerable technical innovation has occurred in
the sake world over the last hundred years and many of
the new tools and techniques have elevated the level
of sake quality. But when change is just for the sake
of modernization, or to increase productivity, or to
maximize earnings, there is always a trade-off in
quality. And this is a trade-off that Akitabare has
never been willing to make.
What this commitment means in practice is delicacy,
precision and care at every step of the brewing
process. Akitabare sakes possess perfect balance, a
mild aroma and a subtlely expressed but very distinct
taste profile. They tend to appeal to experienced
connoisseurs not overly impressed with flowery aromas
and ornate flavors and for whom balance, clarity and
finesse are the mark of a superior label.
"People's taste may change over time, and our
sakes will change as well, but they will always have a
satisfying taste and a distinct personality,"
says Kazuo Kawaguchi, the brewery's president.
"If we had a motto, it would be 'fierce adherence
to tradition, skillful adaptation to change.' If we
were a flower, we would be a peony."
The
Sakes
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