In the heart of Toronto's Distillery District.... eh? Right, in the midst of the Baudrillardian funfair (not my term, but I like it) that is the Distillery District... the Ontario Spring Water Sake Company, aka Izumi. Brewed on premises, a pretty small shop, unfortunately toji wasn't there or we could have had an interesting conversation.
I was very much hoping to buy a few things, support the good fight. But, not without sampling first. Near as I can tell, everything sold is a variation on a single batch (made from California grown rice, I'm guessing it's Kakuho rose, brewed with sake yeast #7.) Pretty much everything was nama... nama nama... nama cho... genshu nama nama... Didn't try the nigori, because, surely, it was just unfiltered nama nama... or genshu nama nama...
Mildly embarrassed at the prospect of leaving empty-handed (having wangled a free sampling), I noted on the chalkboard, batches #36 and #38. A pair of small-batch arabashiri. That's the spirit. Nama nama and genshu both, both much drier, and cleaner, than the regular releases, but both still very much off-dry to my taste. Both were very faint of nose, but very fruit forward with the melon, followed by a pronounced bitter finish. If anything, the ever so slighty stronger 38 (18% vs. 17.9%) was less syrupy and a bit more bright and jangly than the 36.
Ozeki Junmai Shiboritate, the one that comes in the 1.8 liter milk carton! And folks, I'll say it again, my opinion is that Ozeki is head and shoulders above the rest of the giants when it comes to mass-producing brew. I don't care if it's... the (insert best of bland American beer mega-breweries here) of sake, I'll drink this anytime. And I believe I paid less than a Jackson for it. In these times of financial austerity, I nominate this sake as the house sake. Unknown rice, semaibuai 73%, SMV +5, acidity 1.6, low alcohol content of 13%, fresh and clean.
Tengumai Uma Jun, a junmai from Ishikawa Prefecture's Shata Shuzo - I loved their yamahai, I guess this is the sokujo version of the same? Don't know the rice type, but it is milled to 60%, SMV +6, acidity 1.6, and 15.5% abv. A little drier than the yamahai, on the numbers, and tastes that way too, milder, but still full flavoured, savoury, and a definite presence in the mouth. Too interesting to slurp, but not so interesting that you must sip. In a nice spot.
Kagatoubi Cho-Karakuchi Yamahai Junmai. Already a big fan of Kagatoubi, and all the Fukumitsuya products, but this is really something. You'd certainly not guess that this is yamahai. Yamada Nishiki and gohyakumangoku milled to 65%, SMV +12, acidity 1.8, 16% abv. Dry, yes, but really not an extreme sake, the acidity is not aggressive, and even though you might think it would amplify any yamahai funkiness, it just doesn't. Full-flavoured without being full-flavoured.Yum.
"SAKE EAU DE PARFUM 1OZ features a luscious, velvety fragrance influenced by Japanese beauty rituals and is housed in a mini artisanal bottle. This sensual blend of luscious notes with subtle floral undertones was inspired by the exotic elements of Japanese bathing rituals. Geisha, known for their legendary beauty, used to soak in sake baths infused with peaches, persimmons, lotus, rose, and chrysanthemum."
Unsurprisingly, alcohol vapours are flammable, and getting a good seal on your still components is essential. As it turns out, I did not, but with careful monitoring, I was able to produce a couple of ounces of distillate. To this, I added a drop of kuromatsu essence (Pinus thunbergii), some vegetable glycerin, and some distilled water. That, my friends, is perfume. It has a mild sake and pine aroma. Since the black pine was a favorite of Japanese watercolorists, I shall call this Junmai Sumi-E.... no, no... I'll take recommendations.
The most recent batch of sake got away from me a bit. I had intended to both correct the previous mistakes (aging in dark bottles, first and foremost) and try a new wrinkle (brewing with arborio rice). And, I did. The arborio... eating grade, milling only about 90%. Was slow to ferment, and I learned that the depth of the mash is important - too much surface area and the yeast doesn't seem to like it. Will have to work on my vessel progression
Anyways, I finally got around to the joso, the pressing, this past weekend. I set up this shizuku rig and it seemed to work pretty well, only the cheesecloth is too porous - too much filtrate gets through, and too much splashing through when filling. Need to find a better material. And maybe brew more of my sake-beer (in the boxes). For next season.
A first taste, and, well... let's just say that I'm learning. It's got all kinds of texture, big and loud, I think the genshu muroka shiboritate side of things has shut out the nama-ness, but, there is a definite taste suggestive of, postively, yamahai, or negatively, hineka. But, since this was not yamahai, and since I know what good sake tastes like straight from the presses, either this has to settle hard, or there was too much light available to my fermenters, even in the dark recesses of my basement.
Another sake-related curiosity crosses my desk, a sake facial mask, from Taiwan. At least, I find out, that this is pretty inexpensive. Still, that's not the point, is it? With very little digging, I found 
Mostly though, this product reminded me of early days with the missus, when my roommates and I received a crash course on beauty rituals from the terrifying Madam R.
It was cold, very wet, and didn't stick particularly well. Madam R. suggested I should lay down. Nothing doing.
This time, truly in the spirit of making it at home for nothing, I was able to use only ingredients I already had at home: bentonite (used for fining, amongst other things, sake), rice flour (a darling of the Japanese cosmetics industry), yogurt (made at home, for nothing, naturally), and sake kasu. Oh, and a splash of sake, the last bit of Dassai 50, but now wondering if I should have opened the bottle of taru-zake instead...hmmm.
Nicely mixed with some of my brewing water.
Madam R. putting kasu-mask through the paces.
"Ten thumbs up!" says she! "Smells like sake!" says she! Even testing on my own hide was positive, so another one for the file.
About two weeks ago, I began my first attempt at brewing sake at home, the next step in my evolution from a 
The moto, day 3.
The moto, day 4.
Day 08, the koji addition before hatsuzoe, the first "doubling" addition of rice and water.
Day 09, hatsuzoe and the odori or dancing phase. I think I had a bit too much water in the steamer, some of the rice got a bit gummy, but overall, it should be ok, only a small percentage of the overall rice, and it looked like the dancing went just fine.
Day 10, chilling the mash prior to the second doubling addition, nakazoe.
Day 10, rice-steaming. 
Day 10, steamed rice being cooled prior to addition to mash
Day 10, after the steamed rice was added to the mash.
Day 10, following water addition, nakazoe addition completed
Day 10, 12 hours later, before adding the tomezoe koji.
Day 10, transferred to a larger fermenter.
Day 11, steeping the rice for the tomezoe addition.
Day 11, the mash is stirred and ready for the final rice addition.
A quick visit to Quebec for some winter sports. First, to Quebec City to meet with friends and enjoy the Winter Festival
The view from our brunch venue. In this room, Churchill, FDR, and King met to finalize plans for D-Day. 
After brunch, we went to check out some of the day's festivities, which included a canoe race across the frozen river, half paddling, half dragging boats across the ice, and, apparently, another half eating bacon. We on the other hand were busy recreating photos from our parents' youth.
We also managed to join the natives for some sport on the Plains of Abraham, an excellent park with snowshoe and cross-country trails, very busy on a Sunday afternoon.
The frozen waterfall behind us, just north of the city, apparently very famous for ice-climbing. Not on our itinerary.
Onwards though, to the area of Baie Saint Paul and the Le Massif Ski Resort in Charlevoix. The extent of our X-games, but another wonderful park, and very nearly entirely to ourselves.
Having exercised, it was on to the slopes. With beverage, naturally.
Ozeki Junmai Uma-shiboritate. Thank you, Joel-san!
What I think I looked like after fortification. Note the frozen river at the bottom. First time I've ever skied at a place where the lodge was at the top of the mountain, and you ski down. Very cool views out over the river. And very quiet and uncrowded, super conditions.
What I probably looked like after my beverage.
This Kizakura gold-flake sake was a gift from my Japanese teacher, and I intended to drink it slopeside, but after a rather spectacularly silly fall, in which I slid face-first down the mountain for about 150 yards...anyways, I was going back up the mountain and I realised that the bottle had fallen out of my pocket... now, I remembered while falling seeing an odd object sliding down the mountain in front of me, but it hadn't occurred to me then that it might be the sake... well, a couple of hours later, on the last run of the last day, having gotten lost going across the mountain, I found myself staring at that same stretch of mountain, and thought... could it possibly... why, yes, it could! Buried in nice little mound at the bottom of the hill was this bottle! Haven't drunk it yet, lucky bottle!
Wandering through the village, we saw a sign that said, "support your local microbrewery." We're very good at taking instructions.
For dinner, Tourtiere, a local speciality, basically a meat pie.
Sunrise over the Baie Saint Paul. 
Posts
