Cave of The Winds…almost

So I brought back a bottle of Kaze no Mori from my most recent trip to Japan and it had some live yeast that survived the trip so I had someone propagate it and gave it a go in a recent batch. It started off really good full of pear and cherry blossom bouquets and was very active. I mean really ready to go from day one. Which was great until it got away from me and quickly turned from a sweet sake to a dry sake. The pear stayed but it developed a grapefruit flavor that I wasn’t expecting.

it isn’t that it turned out bad, but it didn’t turn out the way I wanted. I’m curious to give it another go soon though. Sometime science isn’t as precise as you want it to be even when you’re careful and follow the rules 😂😂😂

Daimon Brewery Day 1

Today was full exhausting, but good. Me and my fellow brewers split into teams and tackled the first day well. Though I spent most of my day doing what brewers do most, cleaning, it was great to see all the parts of a brewery in action.

The other brewers are great to chat with and I’m defiantly learning some new info and perspectives on brewing. The only lady in the group, Patty from Brazil, is fascinating. She’s truly trying to make a Brazilian sake. She’s cultivating her own rice and working to bring out great flavors with only a 90% mill. I’m very excited to see what she brings to the market.

I’m also excited for what Troy is doing with Sawtelle Sake in LA. He’s got some great ideas and from what it sounds like, some great sake coming.

Daimon-San and the other brewers were nice enough to try the Cloud Antlers and give me some feedback. Overall everyone liked it and were excited to try it. Daimon-San found it a bit acidic and I wonder if that was in part to its traveling with me. It did seem like it still had some Nama qualities to it. Like I’ve said before, I will be exited to try that recipie again.

This experience has made me think a lot about the beginning and the basics again. I will have to try a simple sake for the next batch and get back to some small ideas with large flavor.

also got to go to my first onsen ever. Wasn’t mind blowing, but very nice after today.

Gin Sake…tentatively called Cloud Antlers

Did a light filter on the sake today. It pulled down the flavors a bit, but the nose is still really strong. There’s a lot more citrus coming through as well as some of the coriander. It still has a bit of a acidic kick on the back end that I hope will age out.

I saved a couple of bottles with some sediment to see how it plays.

All in all this was a really cool experiment. I will definitely be trying to add elements to the steaming again in the future. I think it plays more interestingly than infusion after brewing or flavor additives.

I’m not sure what score to give this one as it is really different from anything I’ve made or tried. So maybe a 4/5 with the harsh German judges giving low scores for non-traditional attempts.

Color and clarity test

Gin Barrel Sake - Pressing Day

Today I pressed the sake. A few observations:

1. The #12 yeast is killer with a gin base. It really pushes all the floral notes from the gin spices forward. It also provides great floral notes on its own.

2. The steaming process really imparted a lot of flavor into the rice. Upon doing a sample tasting today myself and my wife were surprised by the amount of flavor. There is a lot going on. The citrus notes from the orange peal are very present. The juniper and spruce tips push some of the piny/tree notes forward.

3. I was hoping the coriander might come through a bit more, but there are some subtle notes in there.

4. I’m not sure I’m going to need the gin barrel chips or the extra tea I saved. It may be too overpowering.

5. My wife made an interesting observation, that is tastes like a cocktail already.

I’m interested to see how it matures as I let the sediment settle over the next few days before filtering it. Fun times!