Pasteurization - Holding out for a Hiire

With the spring flood of namazake, Andy and Jim take their usual contrarian position and go for the hiire stuff. Why do brewers heat-treat their sake? How do they do it? And why is Andy so resistant to the idea of sticking his hand in a vat of hot sake? Find out in the latest Sake Deep Dive!

Vocabulary from this episode:

Binkan Kyurei - A specific term for pasteurization and rapid cooling of sake in the bottle. Literally “bottle heat rapid cool”

Hiire - Heating sake to kill bacteria and halt enzymatic action

Hiochi - The term for unpasteurized sake that has gone bad from bacterial action. Literally “Fire failure.”

Hiochikin - A blanket term for a group of alcohol resistant lactobacilli that can thrive in sake and turn it bad if not killed through heating.

Jakan - The “snake tube” used in a traditional heating method for sake.

Nizake - A kind of heated sake introduced to Japan from China during the Muromachi period (1336-1573), inspiring early pasteurization techniques.

Recommended Sake

Andy - Aramasa Cosmos 

Jim - Dewazakura Ginjoshu

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