New Tales of Off-flavors: Sake Off-flavor Potential in Pairing (Part4-1)

Off-flavors have long been regarded as undesirable flavors in sake. In the SAKE Street series "New Tales of Off-Flavors", we have provided a variety of perspectives on how off-flavors have changed with the time and give beverages a unique quality.

In Part 1, Yosuke Kawase, a sake expert assessor, explains the conventional definition of off-flavor. In Part 2, we asked Hyogo Prefecture's Kenbishi Sake Brewery and Fukuoka Prefecture's Yama no Kotobuki to discuss their approach to off-flavor, and in Part 3, we asked beer and wine professionals to tell us how they differ from off-flavor in sake.

In this fourth installment of the series, we explore the possibilities of off-flavors for the future In the former part, we interviewed Satoru Mikoshiba of MAEN Sake Pairing Restaurant in Ebisu, and Takeya Kodama of Jizakeya Kodama in Otsuka, to discuss the role of off-flavor in the pairing process.

All off flavors can be used for pairing

─ Mr. Mikoshiba, in 2021 you and chef Yuta Ido opened MAEN Sake Pairing Restaurant, which specializes in pairing French cuisine with sake. Your role is to suggest sake to go with the dishes prepared by Mr. Ido. Are there any off-flavors of sake that are easy to pair with dishes?

Mikoshiba: To put it in the extreme, any off-flavor can be used for pairing. However, there is a narrow or wide range to use. For example, it is difficult to use animal-like odor or musty flavor. But with peculiar dishes, it can go well.

Among off-flavors, the easiest to use for pairing are nutty or vanilla-like aromas. I propose sake suggestions based on what I think should be added to the dish, and these flavors tend to be the key.

───It sounds like the more different flavors of sake there are, the more possibilities there are for pairing them with food. On the other hand, can sake that is tanrei karakuchi (light and dry) type or daiginjo that has won gold medals at the Annual Japan Sake Awards be matched with food?

Mikoshiba：Roughly speaking, they are easy to pair with Japanese cuisine. I used to specialize in pairing Japanese food at my previous restaurant, but the pairing of Japanese and Western food is completely opposite. Japanese food is basically cooked in a way that makes the most of the ingredients, so adding new flavors to the dish often hurt it. A light, dry sake tends to bring out the best in the ingredients.

Kodama: I have a similar feeling. I often say that pairing is similar to the sensation of matching water, meaning that light, dry sake and daiginjo are sake that wash off, or accompany, the food. If anything, I say "water" in the sense of a passive pairing that does not interfere with the flavor of the food.

─ Mr. Kodama runs a sake store called "Jizakeya Kodama" in Otsuka, Tokyo, and you hold many events featuring easy pairings, the "Chokodama Sake Club" and events at restaurants where you invite various sake breweries as guests.

Kodama: Japanese food pairings are like matching a slippery glass sphere. Western food is jagged. So, the sweet and sour flavors that stand out from the others get caught in the jagged edges and function as a pairing. For example, for sashimi, a light and dry sake is fine, but for carpaccio, the acidity needs to stand up.

Mikoshiba: As Mr. Kodama said, when trying to match the balance of flavors with Western cuisine, sake with sweetness, acidity, or a strong aroma would be a better match. On the other hand, if you match Western food with dry sake, the tones of the flavors are too different, and sometimes the taste of the sake is completely lost.

Reasons for the increase in acidity in sake

─ Recently, more and more sake have a strong acidity, but in the past, acidity was considered undesirable in sake. In fact, it is still subject to points deduction at the Annual Japan Sake Awards. Why did this change occur?

Kodama: What is often mentioned is the diversification of food culture. Nowadays, there are not many homes where only Japanese dishes such as ohitashi (boiled vegetables) and grilled fish are served for dinner. From the historical perspective of the sake industry, high acidity in sake is considered undesirable.

In essence, when sake had high acidity, that sake was judged as having “fault” in sake competitions. However, there are good acids and bad acids, and I think the value system gradually changed to to recognize good acidity as beneficial to the taste of sake.

Mikoshiba: When paired with Western food, sake with a higher acidity is often a better match. Recently, there has been an increase in wine-like acidity in sake. When I see customers who are not familiar with sake enjoying such types of sake, I feel that the number of people who want to drink sake with higher acidity is increasing. Young people don't subscribe to the fact that it is wrong to have high acidity in sake.

Kodama: Young brewers are coming to think in new ways through drinking wine and craft beer, so they don't have any resistance to higher acidity levels. However, there are still brewers who subscribe to the old philosophy that higher acidity is bad in sake.

Mikoshiba: Recently, low-alcohol sake has been on the rise, and I think acid is essential for this kind of easy-drinking sake.

Kodama: In the case of low-alcohol sake, the flavor cannot be balanced without acidity. Sweetness is also necessary, and I think there are very few good dry, low-alcohol sake.

Off-flavor seen as the personality of the brewery

Kodama: However, there are some sake breweries that are not afraid to sell their products even if they produce unhealthy acid. Also, some breweries are doing everything they can to eliminate off-flavors. A half decade ago was the peak of this trend, but there were more and more breweries installing plasma clusters, ultraviolet rays, and other equipment to prevent off-flavors. I was afraid that sake all over Japan would end up with the same taste.

It may be an exaggeration, but I believe that off-flavors are actually the character of a brewery. Technology is advancing day by day, so brewers want to make their sake more and more beautiful, and the old-fashioned, rustic sake is disappearing. But the way for local sake to survive is through individuality.

Mikoshiba: That said, if people were to blind taste about ten different kinds of sake, from traditional to trendy, to the average customer, I think the majority of them would pick up the trendy sake. As a breweries determine what styles of sake to sell, traditional sake is becoming less and less popular, and as a result, they end up producing more and more sake with the same flavor.

─ You mean, even if those who are familiar with sake want sake to pursue its individuality, if the masses want clean sake, it is inevitable that the sake breweries will create clean sake, consistent with the trend.

Mikoshiba: I don't want the individuality to disappear either. However, if it doesn't sell, then we have to find a way to make it sell. To achieve this, I think it is very important for the sake brewery, the sake retailer, and the service industry like us to work together to enhance the value of sake.

Of course it is necessary for the sake brewer himself to brand the sake, but for example, if the sake shop owner, like Mr. Kodama, can provide the attendants with advice such as, "This sake is delicious when paired with this kind of food," it will help preserve the individuality of the brewery. In short, I think that because sellers and service providers do not do such things, there is a bias toward only easy-to-drink products.

─ The role of a liquor store or restaurant is not only to serve sake purchased from a brewery as is. Come to think of it, Mr. Kodama, you age your sake in your own store, and Mr. Mikoshiba also serves sake with tea, fruit, and dashi.

Kodama: I call it "Kodama Tuning," where I let the sake sit longer than usual, sometimes at room temperature, to bring out its individuality. I was just thinking about this when I was talking about it, but I think I am creating off-flavors. I tune the sake to the flavors that I think would be better if they were brought out. Of course, I respect the brewery's desire not to have us do that.

Mikoshiba: Even if you change the sake, there is always a reason why it has to be that particular sake from that particular brewery. Therefore, respect is the key. If you make a change, you cannot make it bad. It's the same with cocktails. Some people think sake tastes good not only by itself, but also when you make changes to it. I think it expands the possibilities of encounters.

Kodama: It is different from the way which is to say that they just want whatever alcohol they can get their hands on, or to mix it up with juice in a messy way. I think it is important how much feeling you put into it.

Pairings let unique sake shine

─ Often, off-flavored sake are used in such a way that they are not appreciated when the sake is consumed by itself, but come into harmony when paired with food, or that they complement what is lacking in the food.

On the other hand, I feel that MAEN Sake Pairing Restaurant is unique in that the sake is tasty enough on its own, but becomes even tastier when paired with food. I think it is because of Mikoshiba's skill in heating and seasoning sake that even sake with off-flavors can become enjoyable on its own.

Mikoshiba: When I and Chef Ido hear about pairing a dish by removing one element from the flavors of the dish and adding sake to that flavor to create a "blank space," Chef Ido and I both wonder, "Why leave it out?" It is nonsense to serve something incomplete when it can be completed in the dish. To us, it is as if we have not thought anything through when we simply add an element that we have removed as a sake.

First of all, Ido makes delicious meals. Then my job is to listen to what he is particular about as a dish and what flavors he wants to enhance, and to think about the sake to pair with it. It's extremely difficult, and sometimes I think about it until the very last minute before serving it to the customers. But the best thing is when the customers enjoy what we have worked so hard to create.

─ Do either of you feel that the customers’ perception of off-flavors has changed in your dealings with them?

Mikoshiba：I think that 90% of our customers probably don't know what off-flavor is.

Kodama: It's the same for me. I think the term "off-flavor" is probably only used in the industry. It is something that becomes interesting when you are aware of it, so I think it is significant to think about it in this way.

Mikoshiba: Almost the majority of people who enjoy eating don't have a thorough knowledge of pairings or sake, but rather enjoy the experience of an interesting sake or a great match with food. Pairing really has no limits, and there is no such "this sake never works". I believe that sake is a drink that always goes with something, no matter what.

Summary

For restaurants and liquor stores that are the frontline with consumers, the highest priority is to have customers say that sake is “delicious." There may be no acceptance of off-flavors. In order to respect the diversity of sake and allow each sake's individuality to shine through, it is essential to play a role in customer service and sales to bring out its appeal through pairings and other means.

The latter part of this article is the final part of the “New Tales of Off-flavors" series. We will discuss the relationship between off-flavors of sake and exporting sake overseas, based on the premise that global expansion will accelerate in the future.

Series "New Tales of Off-flavors"
Part1: What is Sake’s Off-flavor?

Part2: Past and Present Stories of Two Sake Breweries

Part3: What is the Difference between Beer, Wine and Sake?

Part4-1: Sake Off-flavor Potential in Pairing (Part4-1)

Part4-2: Global Perspective on Sake’s Off-flavors (Part4-2)