Kanzake Chronicles #2: Shinkame Hiyaoroshi
Shinkame is a brewery known for producing sake that’s meant to be warmed. Sticking to umami-rich, rice-forward sakes, they’re a great brewery to choose for exploring warm sake.
This is their hiyaoroshi, or fall seasonal sake. Chilled, it was extremely clean and crisp. It had a strong umami backbone but none of the flavors typically associated with umami-forward sakes. I knew it would be perfect to warm to bring out those aromas and flavors I could sense hiding in the cold.
60C Water Bath, Tin Chirori, Served at 45C
This was the “middle ground” of the methods I used - a medium water bath served at a medium temperature. It came out much sweeter and more rounded compared to the chilled version. However, accompanying that was a stronger alcohol note. The flavors didn’t seem well in balance or fully expressed. I missed the “aroma sink” on this one, and could tell that it had potential but I needed to go hotter or colder with different methods.
60C Water Bath, Ceramic Tokkuri, Served at 40C
This was a more gentle approach. The ceramic conducts heat less than the tin chirori, and I took it out before it reached the 45C of the first attempt. I chose this as the next option because I could tell the first attempt was lacking the fresh, steamed rice notes of the sake served chilled and wanted to preserve those to bring balance to the sake.
This one came out much better. It retains the brighter, uncooked, steamed rice/rice powder flavors. It was much softer and lighter, with the alcohol much better integrated. This was great as a way to round the edges of the chilled sake and bring out some more flavors hiding in the cold, without changing the nature of the sake too much.
90C Water Bath, Copper Chirori, Served at 60C
This was the “hot and fast” approach, wanting to tease out more of the umami-related flavors that I didn’t get in the cold version. To do so, I used copper to conduct heat extremely quickly, increased the water bath temperature, and served it very hot.
This was also a big success. It turned into a much more typical umami-heavy sake with all those associated flavors. Think brown rice, toasted caramel, miso. It tasted fairly dry and was extremely drinkable with no discernible heaviness.
50C Water Bath, Ceramic Tokkuri, Maewari-kan, Served at 35C
Lastly, I wanted to attempt maewari-kan on this sake to drink it on the patio. Maewari-kan is a method in which you add 10-20% water by volume to the sake, store it in the fridge for at least a day, and then warm it. I chose to heat it at a very low temperature with a low-conductivity vessel to preserve the lightness and freshness of the base sake.
This came out amazingly. Similar to some cask-strength spirits, adding the water brought out more flavor almost. It was no longer tight and clean but expressive and rounded. A touch of white miso, steamed rice, powder sugar, and florality come to the forefront. This was my favorite method of the group to showcase both how low temperature heating can work with a sake, but also the way maewari-kan can enhance a sake rather than just make it more palatable.