Japan Navigator

Okayama is a beautiful green land, both the capital and nearby Kurashiki are great “museum cities.” Okayama City also is an convenient traffic link, because from here the train leaves for Shikoku via the Seto Ohashi Bridge, and in the opposite direction the railways provide a link to Shimane and Matsue on the Japan Sea Coast.

As sake goes, the area is in the first place famous as the homeland of Omachi sake rice, the only sake rice that was discovered in the wild in the mid-19th c. and not grown by crossing. Sake rice is rice with extra large grains that contains a so-called “white heart” (shinpaku”), an area of pure starch. It stands taller than ordinary rice (Omachi becomes over one meter) and is therefore difficult to grow.

As sake rice contains more of the pure starch needed for sake brewing, it is possible to brew better and purer sake with it, containing less off-flavors. The price is about three times that of ordinary rice. It is therefore almost always used for premium sake. Omachi sake rice is grown in the northern part of Okayama City. The prefecture also grows quite a lot of Yamada Nishiki, the sake rice developed in the 1930s in neighboring Hyogo Prefecture which is almost always used for the super premium sake “daiginjo.”

Sake brewed with Yamada Nishiki has a sharp and clean taste, with a well-defined acidity, while sake brewed with Omachi rice is softer and rounder; it possesses a good body.

[Tsuji Honten of Gozenshu fame]

Sake from Okayama tastes clean but is also a bit on the sweet side, full in flavor but not heavy. Usually, sake from the area along the Inland Sea with its warm and mild climate is more clean and sweet, while sake from the inland area of the Chugoku mountains with its cold winters and loads of snow (of old called Mimasaka) tends to be fuller in taste.

There are about 75 breweries in the prefecture – most are small. The total amount of sake produced annually is only 4,814 kiloliters.

Okayama also has its own group of toji, the Bitchu toji who come from the area north of the line Takahashi-Kasaoka. They work only inside the prefecture and are known for their soft and easily drinkable sake.

Here are some of the most famous breweries in Okayama:

Brand: Bizen no Sake Hitosuji (by Toshimori Shuzo).
This brewery stands right in the center of Omachi rice territory and works together with local farmers to keep the rice flow going. As the Omachi rice from which it is made, it has a solid and earthy taste, and its junmai tastes good warm.

Brand: Chikurin, Kamo no Midori (by Marumoto Shuzo).
Stands in Asaguchi, on the Sanyo Main line that runs near the coast. Several traditional buildings of the brewery have been listed as cultural assets. Mildly sweet, typical for the sake found on the coast in Okayama.

Brand: Yorokobi no Izumi (by Nakada Shuzo)
Brewery from the town with classical storehouses, Kurashiki. Light but subtly rich. Its top sake, Kyokuchi, comes in two types, one made with Omachi, the other with Yamada Nishiki.

Brand: Gozenshu (by Tsuji Honten).
This brewery stands in the beautiful historic town of Katsuyama, in the Mimasaka area of the Chugoku mountains (see my previous post about Katsuyama). Relatively light taste, although with a rich undertone. Makes everything from elegant daiginjos (Kei, Ho-o) to more sturdy junmai (Mimasaka). Also interesting experiments, for example with the sweet sake called Jun into which some amazake has been blended.

Information from: National Tax Office and Japan Sake Breweries Association
Regional profile gleaned from: Nihonshu no Tekisuto (2): Sanchi no Tokucho to Tsukuritetachi by renowned sake journalist Matsuzaki Haruo (Doyukan, 2005). Some information about individual breweries based on Matsuzaki Haruo, Tastes of 1635 Shinpan Nihonshu Gaidobukku (Shibata Shoten 2003), as well as The Sake Companion by John Gaunter (Running Press) and The Insider’s Guide to Sake by Philip Harper (Kodansha International).

Also see John Gauntner’s take on Okayama sake

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