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Herlinda and Stuart.
Sake sommelier Stuart Morris is our guest today on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras, with Hachidori Sake.
Stuart Morris is a sake sommelier trained in Japan and is a former partner with Kenichi Tominaga of Hana in a sake distribution company. He was a chef “in a previous life” and discovered sake while working in restaurants. He made lots of effort to get to Japan and he learned sake making there.
They begin tasting some sake and noticing the flavors. One is light and clean with lemon, cucumber and melon rind flavors. He makes three types of sake, with different rices and yeasts. He became one of the first six non-Japanese people to get the Japanese sake certification. His own label is called Hachidori which means hummingbird in Japanese.
Sake brewing is similar to brewing beer.
Sake is brewed in a process that is close to beer brewing. It is made from rice, water and koji, a mould. He grows it in an 80-degree humid room, so the temperature needs to be just right. There is a sake museum, the only one in the US, in Berkeley, that shows the history of sake production. The milling of the rice has an effect on the flavor, the more milled, the more delicate the flavor. You have to taste it to understand it. The highest ABV sake is 20%. His mentor in Japan is a 10th generation sake maker.
Visit Russian River Brewing Co. on 4th St. and at their Windsor location. Click the logo to visit their website for hours, menus and beers on tap.
Stuart worked at Hana where he became friends with the Tominaga family. He later became a partner with Ken in a sake distribution company, before he took the job he has now.
These bottles of Hachidori sake are the very first ones that Stuart has produced for sale. They will be rolling out into some retail and restaurants. They will range in price from about $30/35, then one at about $45, then one at about $100. Sake does not age like wine and usually fresher is better. Stuart stores it in a fridge or at a white wine temperature.
Sake rice is very high in starch. The more glucose, the more starch, the more elegant style of sake you will get.
When Stuart is helping restaurant customers choose sake, he starts by asking them what they like. Some people’s wine preferences are a way to predict what sake one would also like. The key is to drink some sake to taste it and find out what you like.