Shibori - Sake Pressing Matters

Andy and Jim bear down and wring out their brains to get as much info as possible about an overlooked part of the sake making process: shibori. Whether you call it pressing (correctly) or filtration (hmmm…), this is a step that is both more complicated, and more important, that most people probably think. No pressure, but you really need to squeeze this one into your schedule. Kanpai!

Vocab for this episode

Arabashiri 荒走り - The “rough run” of sake that is the first to come out of the press during shibori.

Assakuki 圧搾機 - Literally, “pressing machine.” The official name for what is usually called a “yabuta” after the most popular brand of sake press.

Fukurozuri 袋吊り - “Bag pressed” sake, in which moromi is put into cloth bags, which are then tied to a pole over a collecting tank. Also called shizuku shibori 雫搾り, meaning “droplet pressing”. But no pressure apart from gravity is used.

Fune 槽  - A traditional shibori style using a large wooden (and these days stainless steel) box filled with bags of moromi then pressed from above. Modern ones use hydraulics, older ones could be hand-cranked or use a tenbin 天秤 cantilever system.

Moromi 醪 - The sake mash, a thick concoction of rice, rice koji, and liquid. The solids (kasu/lees) must be separated from the liquid (sake) to be called seishu 清酒. 

Nakagumi 中ぐみ - The middle section, or the “hearts” of a sake pressing.

Seme 責め - The final section, or the “tails,” of a sake pressing. 

Tenbin shibori 天秤搾り - A very old style of pressing in which a fune is pressed using a counterweighted beam. A huge beam is suspended over the press with a cantilever to push down on the sake when large weights are put on the other end of the beam. Also called haneki shibori はね木搾り.

Recommendations:

Andy - Hoken Retro Label (寳劔 純米 レトロラベル)

Jim - Harada Tokubetsu Junmai Saito no Shizuku

Don’t forget to support us on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/SakeDeepDive 

Also, check out Andy’s website at: https://www.originsake.com/ 

And buy Jim’s book, Discovering Yamaguchi Sake wherever you order your books (print and ebook available)!

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