Look mum, no corks

One of the very practical differences between sake and wine is that the former uses screw caps or push-in plastic stoppers, while the latter uses corks or screw caps. (Although Wakaze in Paris did use corks for a while, which nearly derailed a workshop on European sake as I hadn’t though to bring a corkscrew, thankfully an attendee had one in their bag…).

So sake must be safe from cork taint, an unpleasant musty aroma generated by bacteria in the cork. Right? … Yes and no.

Proof, a podcast by America’s Test Kitchen, has just released an episode titled “The Road to Good Sake” from journalist and kurabito Hannah Kirschner, who dives into what starts off as a classic tale of a young brewer returning to take over from his father… only for their sake to suddenly develop kabi-shu (カビ臭), a mouldy smell that competition judges will immediately pick up as a fault. (Incidentally, the kuramoto-tōji at the affected brewery is so traumatised by the Japanese term he asked her not to say it.)

It took years of struggle – and the characteristic inventiveness of sake brewers, with some unexpected successes along the way – but the mystery was finally solved by the son’s former teacher from when he trained before going to the brewery, a researcher who had since moved into the main analysis laboratory of the National Research Institute of Brewing (NRIB, shurui sogo kenkyujo, 酒類総合研究所) and gained access to their state of the art equipment. And the dastardly culprit was revealed to be… TCA, the compound responsible for cork taint.

It’s a great story and a fascinating look at some parts of sake brewing that are often overlooked, so definitely recommended.

Listen to Proof “The Road to Good Sake”