The Art of Sake Brewing (vol.1)_English

Although Kochi Prefecture generally is known for its warm climate, it gets rather cold in the evenings and early mornings in Sakawa. This unique climate enables Tsukasabotan Brewery to brew one of Kochi’s iconic sake. They steam rice early in the morning and takes in the cold air to cool it off. They also control microorganisms in accordance with the changing outside temperature.

“I think it’s important to reflect Sakawa’s nature, climate, and food culture in the taste of sake we make. I know that sweet and clear sake full of flavor has been popular recently. To make such sake, cold climate is idealistic. But we, as a brewery in Kochi, dare to brew thick and dry sake with a hint of acidity. Thanks to the warm climate in daytime, we can generate moderate acidity. And luckily enough, Niyodogawa* river system provides us with the best water for our sake. Plus, thick dry sake goes very well with our local fish, like Bonito and Tsuna”.

“Our Yamadanishiki may not look pretty compared to those grown in the famous production area in Hyogo, but it’s flavor is unmistakenly Yamadanisiki. Also, some rice grown in Sakawa area especially match very well with the water we use for our sake”.

Asano’s goal is to limit rice used for Tsukasabotan’s sake only to the rice produced in Shikoku island and prefectures surrounding the Setouchi Inland Sea.

Asano had been looking for the best machine to make his ideal koji just like he does by hand. That was when Asano saw the presentation of FTA’s VEX.

VEX is the machine invented for koji production process. It’s based on the idea of traditional koji production method called “futa-koji-ho”. The whole picture of the machine looks like a huge box or a tiny room, in which there is a shelf to lay koji. In the room, the temperature and humidity is maintained at certain level, and the koji layer is covered with VEX laminate to release steam from the top and the bottom of the layer at the same amount each. The temperature inside the koji layer is automatically controlled thanks to the laminate and the water vaporing system. Since there is no air current inside the space covered by the laminate, you can control and maintain the quality of koji as you design. 

After seeing FTA’s machines used at one of the trusted breweries in Niigata, Asano thought, “this is it. I can count on FTA. VEX is the machine I have been looking for”.

 VEX along with other machines from Ginjo-kura products have been used in Heisei-gura of Tsukasabotan Brewery for almost twenty years.

“I love the simplicity of VEX. It consists of a few parts, and the idea applied to the machine is also simple, based on the traditional way of koji production”. 

While it can be used to make  300kg of koji for regular Junmai sake, it can also be used to make only 30kg koji for dai-ginjo sake. “I can experiment various styles. That’s another thing I like about VEX”, says Asano.