b'S P I R I T SS A K E Sake? THE PEOPLE BEHINDkuramoto AutumnEquinox.Thismeantthatmeans making a chemical analysis toBrewery ownerResponsible for thethe brewers had to employ farmersdetermine if various compounds areproperty, finances and raw materials. andfishermenwhohadalotofsufficientlypresent.However,the free time in the winter. This is stillToji will not rely on this alone. thecase.Travellingforseasonal workinJapaniscalledDekasegi.Heusesexperienceandmost toji Althoughdekasegiisntlimitedtoimportantly his senses to judge the HeadbrewerResponsibleforsake workers, they tend to be thecondition of the moromi. He looks overseeingthebrewingandbest paid and so competition for theattheamountandappearanceof managing the Kurabito. work is strong. the foam as it churns and pops as wellaslisteningtothesoundthe bubbles make as they burst. This is kurabito known as talking to the moromi.Breweryworkers.Sakeisonlylearning the tradebrewed in the winter so often the TojiAfter checking the moromi and kojiand Kurabito are seasonal contractA Toji will mainly learn through onbreakfast is taken. This is followed workers. the job training. In the old days noby preparations for the sake that is onetaughtanyoneelsebydirecttobebrewedthatday.Thereare instruction; youhadto watchandusuallyseveraldifferenttypesof learn! This was felt to give a pupilsake to be brewed in any one day so kura a more natural intuition about eachcare must be paid to keep the various The brewery and surrounding land is situation. As a result if you gathered ricetypesseparate. Alsoanysake referred to as the Kura. 100 Toji you would find 100 different that is ready will be pressed. These brewing styles. tasks will last until the evening and dinner. After dinner one last check toji schools Inmoderntimeshoweverthisand mix of the koji is made and then (Ryuha) system has changed somewhat and to bed around 10pm.prospective Toji are encouraged to A Toji is generally associated with onlystudychemistryandfermentation one Ryuha of brewing. These Ryuhatechniques.aretiedcloselytotheparticular regiontheyaresituatedinJapan.Test your Thereareroughly25inexistence currently. They are generally situatedtypical working day knowledge inthesnowyregionsof Japanlikeon the next the northern Hokoriku region. EachThe Kurabito will wake up at around page and Ryuha has its own style. 5am.Thefirstthingtodowillbetake one step to check the status of the koji, ancloser to In1798theShoganateformalisedextremely important part of the day.becoming a aneconomicsystembaseduponNextisthestatusofthevarious rice.Theydecreedthatnosaketanks of fermenting moromi. Thesesake master!making was to be done before thewill also be checked daily. This often116 INN EXPRESS - DRINKS PORTFOLIO 2019|20 - SAKE'