Suisen Shuzo, rebuilt after the earthquake, ships its new sake on Sake Day

New sake from a brewery rebuilt after the disaster

Suisen Shuzo’s brewery in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, was damaged in the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. The company later moved to neighbouring Ofunato and rebuilt there. Iwate lies in north-eastern Honshu, and its Pacific coast was severely hit by the tsunami. Suisen Shuzo ships its new sake every year on 1 October. This year, too, a Shinto ritual was held at the shipping ceremony, after which a “sugidama” was hung up to announce that the new sake was ready. A sugidama is a ball of cedar leaves bound together, a traditional sign hung under the eaves of a sake brewery. The brewery expects to ship 100,000 litres of the new sake by March next year.

Sake Day and the brewing year

1 October is Sake Day because of the old boundary of the sake-brewing year. Japanese sake making uses its own kind of year, the “brewing year” (BY, for Brewery Year), which used to run from 1 October to 30 September of the following year. This was because rice was harvested in autumn and “kanzukuri”, brewing in the cold of winter, was the mainstream approach. As brewing technology advanced and more breweries began production earlier, the year was changed in 1965 to the current one, from 1 July to 30 June of the following year. Even so, 1 October has been celebrated as Sake Day since 1978. If a label says something like “2025BY”, it refers to this brewing year.

Active genshu “Yukikko” and how to enjoy it in Europe

The sake that has just begun shipping, “Yukikko”, is an active genshu. “Active” refers to a type bottled with the yeast still alive and containing carbon dioxide produced by fermentation. “Genshu” means sake to which no water has been added after pressing. Yukikko went on sale in the Tohoku region on 1 October and was due to be sold across Japan from mid-October. President Konno Ren is confident that its mellow finish will surprise people the moment they taste it.

This brand is not easy to find in Europe. Still, autumn and winter are the season when new sake from breweries all over Japan comes onto the market. At importers and specialist shops, looking for labels such as “shinshu” (new sake), “shiboritate” (freshly pressed) and “active”, and checking the BY on the label, makes it easier to choose a new sake brewed that year. Active sake can foam out of the bottle because of the gas, so chill it well and loosen the stopper a little at a time when opening it. You might enjoy a new Tohoku sake at the autumn table while thinking of the story of a brewery that recovered from the earthquake.