Rumiko Moriki
Seven with Signor Sake: Rumiko Moriki (Moriki Shuzo, Mie)
I’m asking seven questions to my favourite sake makers to hear their story and get their take on the centuries-old craft.
Rumiko Moriki, depicted on the Rumiko no Sake label, is both master brewer and owner, and also one of the few female master brewers in a male-dominated industry in Japan. She’s the 5th generation and runs it with her biochemist husband Hideki in the small town of Iga — also famous for ninjas. They weren’t always involved in the actual brewing side, though, and hard times called for them to step in, and switch their approach. Moriki brewery cultivate organic rice themselves, which is laborious but yield sake with more character and flavour.
1. When did you find your passion for sake brewing?
When I was at university in Osaka, I was away from my hometown for the first time. This experience reaffirmed my love for sake. I also realised how precious it was to transform rice into sake with my own hands.
2. Few sake brewers use wild yeasts. The industry norm is to use cultured yeasts from the Brewing Society of Japan. What’s your take on wild versus cultured yeasts?
When we started making yamahai and kimoto style fermentation starters, I thought to myself, this is it! If possible, I’d like to take it a step further and brew all of our sake with wild yeast. Cultured yeasts are helpful for a stable ferment, but they’re just not as exciting as wild ones.
“Cultured yeasts are helpful for a stable ferment, but they’re just not as exciting as wild ones.”
3. Your manga-style label designed by Akira Oze was an instant hit. How did that collaboration come about?
I had to take on the role of brewery manager and owner after my father got sick. I enjoyed sake brewing and really didn’t want to give up the family business, even if it meant suddenly taking on a lot of responsibility. Around that time we also lost the contract to supply a larger brewery which had been a good source of income for us. To compensate for that loss, I would personally go around to local bars and restaurants to sell our sake directly. Those were tough times.
After the change of generation (in 1964), the number of contracted breweries diminished, and in 1990, when all *Minozei was discontinued, we had no choice but to quit brewing altogether or to make only junmai. There were only two choices.
*Not paying taxes: producing whole tanks as a subcontractor for large companies.
The more I worked, the more I loved brewing, and I didn't want to leave the brewery. Even when I was pregnant, I was still brewing. During those difficult times, a friend who owned a liquor store recommended the Natsuko no Sake manga.
I fed my children, put them to bed, and start reading the manga at eleven at night. I finished volumes 1 through 9 in no time. It was an encouraging read and it taught me that if you do something seriously, people will recognise it.
“Even when I was pregnant, I was still brewing.”
I read the last part of the manga over and over, the part where they filter the sake on Natsuko's birthday. I couldn’t sleep that night, as her birthday was the same as mine. I literally had goosebumps. That night, as soon as I finished reading them, I wrote a long letter to the author, around seven pages. He replied a week later and invited me to a brewery study group and also asked other breweries to help us out if they could. He told us that he would do the label for us when we switch to junmai. In return, all he wanted was our sake.
4. What’s the story behind your Challenge 90 sake—made from rice with minimal polishing?
We’ve been making Challenge 90 since 2003, a year in which my husband had excess rice and wanted to do something with it. It was around the same time that we started to use Yamada Nishiki and the same time that we started to use a traditional yeast mash (kimoto), meaning that that we were going back to our roots, expressing traditional brewing methods in a modern way. The yield of rice we grow without pesticides varies from year-to-year, so when we have one hundred kilogram of extra rice, we make a traditional yeast mash.
In terms of cultivating Yamada Nishiki, Mr. Hase advised us that it’s like a weed, so we should not treat it in the same way as improved rice varieties, but rather grow it stoically without giving it much of anything. Then the true character of Yamada Nishiki will come out. In fact, there were times when I followed this advice to the letter and ended up with poor rice (laughs).
Challenge 90 came from the idea that there was no need to polish Yamada Nishiki, which had been grown stoically and was free from any miscellaneous flavours, in order to bring out its full potential.
“Challenge 90 came from the idea that there was no need to polish Yamada Nishiki.”
5. Can you shed any light on the brewing method of Challenge 90?
It's a brewery secret (laughs), but I’ll share a little on when we started experimenting. Handling the rice in the initial stages was the biggest challenge. At first, the rice was soaked in water for four hours. We then made various adjustments, such as immersing the rice for a full day, and then two to three days, and in lukewarm water.
6. What has been the most challenging part of your journey so far?
When I took over, I didn't know what was right with regards to brewing. Even after getting advice from other brewers, about changing equipment or methods, it just wasn’t possible to do it all in one go. It was a very gradual process so I just focused on what I could do at the time and just repeated that.
Convincing my parents to switch to making exclusively junmai sake was tough but I never felt other changes were that difficult. Saying that, I was always nervous at the start because the finished sake was everything. I was so meticulous about the flavour profile of the finished brew, the flavour may have been a little harsh. The truth is that sake is tolerant and it’s not really made by us. We are just the facilitators, helping the yeast to do its job and the taste can change with the mood and quality of the rice. When I started thinking about it that way and that I wasn't completely in control, I felt a lot more relaxed and the taste became rounder and balanced.
“We are just the facilitators, helping the yeast to do its job and the taste can change with the mood and quality of the rice.”
In 1994, our first year of making exclusively junmai became a hot topic, and the two tanks sold out. However, in the second brewing season, our head brewer left us after getting some negative feedback. After looking for a replacement and being unsuccessful, we had no choice but to start brewing ourselves. Luckily for us, at that time, Shinkame from Saitama and local brewers around Mie prefecture gave us a much needed hand. In the morning and evening, I would call Shinkame on the phone for advice. And in mid-February (the busiest time of the brewing season), he sometimes came directly to our brewery to help out. Even in the hardest times, there were always people that were able to help us, which I’m forever grateful for.
7. What does the future look like at Moriki?
I’d like to move forward with fermenting more of our sake naturally without adding cultured yeast. I’d also like to increase the number of rice paddies we manage. At the moment, 5% of the rice we use for brewing is from our own pesticide-free rice paddies. We use sake lees from the previous year as a fertiliser, and add it to the paddies every November.
“It’s not about marketing—the pesticide-free rice we grow appears to be more resilient too.”
It’s not just about marketing—the pesticide-free rice we grow appears to be more resilient. Beyond that, maybe the next generation will think about the future of Moriki brewery. But from my children's point of view, it seems that we will continue with the same ways and methods as now.
SIGNOR SAKE FAVOURITES
Tae no Hana Challenge 90
Age-worthy sake made with chemical-free rice grown by themselves. This bounces between savoury and fruit like it’s magic with never-ending umami. Best enjoyed at room temperature.
Rice type: Yamada Nishiki grown by the brewery (Mie)
Polished to: 90%
Yeast: #6
Alcohol: 18%
Category: Junmai Kimoto
Subcategory: no charcoal fining, unpasteurised, undiluted
Suppin Rumiko no Sake
‘Suppin’ translates as ‘without makeup’ and means that the sake has had minimal intervention after filtering. Bubblegum on the nose with some earthy notes, pronounced acidity, and a dry finish.
Rice type: Hattan Nishiki (Iwate)
Polished to: 60%
Yeast: #6
Alcohol: 18%
Category: Junmai Ginjo Yamahai
Subcategory: no charcoal fining, unpasteurised, undiluted
Official Moriki Shuzo website
https://morikishuzo.co.jp/en/index.html
