Japan’s culture lies in Sake production. Blessed wit quality water and a climate that is very suitable for rice growing, Japan has been producing Sake from rice for more than a thousand years.
Mujin employees enjoyed sake tour last year!
The tour starts with the brewery CEO thanking you for coming as well as talking a little about the tour itself. He told us that the previous weekend they had a couple people who didn’t make it and were so drunk that they had a tough time helping them home. One person was stuck at the brewery till 7 p.m., so they were probably passed out for a few hours.
The tour then heads into the main brewery. The CEO was conducting most of the tour and explained about the brewery process. He was pretty funny and explained that the rice used in sake brewery had a unique smell. After the starches are broken down by the koji mould, it has a similar smell to natto (fermented soybeans). He warned the natto haters that they could leave at that point if they wanted. They then headed over to a small shrine inside the brewery entrance and proceeded to pray together.
The second part of the tour took us to some of the fermentation tanks before we stopped in a big room. The room was where they funneled the rice for cleaning and steaming. They also applied the koji mould in an adjacent room as well as pressing the sake itself after it was finished. They hand out a little koji rice which had broken down a little due to the koji mould (it was interesting taste).
The main event for the tour is the tasting course. It is a full lunch with several types of sake. The large dining hall has 2 floors and a small stage. As we entered, the band was playing a little light music.
The food was delicious. They had a large assortment of small snacks that ranged from traditional Japanese snacks to western snacks of cheese and crackers. There were also 5 types of sake already on the table ready to drink and we all started enjoying it.
The day was not over as the entertainment was a lot of fun. The band’s lead singer sang a lot of famous songs that had the crowd on its feet. When the food was nearly complete they brought out some small pennons and everyone started to dance. It was a very crazy affair with everyone just having a lot of fun. They even had a birthday celebration for anyone who had their birthday in that month.
We were really impressed by everything that brewery staff did and would love to go back again.
The place is pretty popular, it was a challenge to get reservation there!