My first taste of Canadian sake was at 10:30 a.m. on a Monday.
I spied Masa Shiroki’s small sake studio, tucked away between a store selling handmade hats and a woodworking shop, as I made my way to an art class on Granville Island. By the time I locked up my bike I’d made up my mind to trade the usual 15-minute coffee break for a sake break.
Wouldn’t Van Gogh have chosen sake over coffee?
There I was at break-time, three small glasses placed before me at the tidy bamboo bar. Served chilled, each was distinct yet delicate, and miles from the warmed and generic sushi chaser I had come to know as sake. Intrigued and slightly tipsy, I returned to class, my opinion wonderfully altered forever.
Masa Shiroki brings this same air of understated naughtiness to his line of unconventional sake, brewed here in Vancouver. Two parts I-really-shouldn’t-be-doing-this to one part unapologetic rebel. With a firm nod to tradition, he has been challenging our opinionated palates since he first opened in January 2007.
Canadian sake? Served cold? Paired with cheese?
In his previous incarnation, Mr. Shiroki imported premium sakes from Japan and noticed that people just didn’t share his passion. “It didn’t really hit their heart, and I started thinking, how could I get them excited? If I made it here, people would have to take ownership. Canadian sake!”
Making sake is a deceivingly simple process. Water, rice, yeast and koji (a special rice mold) come together in much the same manner as brewing beer—although at 15–18 per cent alcohol, the finished product is closer to wine. Surprisingly, water accounts for 80 per cent of this finished product. “The quality of water makes a big difference in the outcome,” says Mr. Shiroki. “BC has just the right combination of minerals; it is soft water.”
His special sake rice is sourced from Japan, but in a perfect world he would be using locally grown organic rice. He’s been growing sakamai rice in Ashcroft and Kamloops. Just before harvest time, a hungry flock of migrant birds put a quick end to his experiment. Undeterred, he complimented the birds on their good taste, noting that he had proven sake rice could be grown in BC. “Now we just have to grow enough to make my wine.”
Artisan Sake Maker, 1339 Railspur Alley, Granville Island. 604-685-7253. www.artisansakemaker.com
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