What a brewery year!

It is worthy to have a look at the calendar which the brewery world look at, because some of the indicators on the sake label are relevant to that.

Unlike the rest of the world, a brewery year start on 1-Jul. Although traditionally, sake brewing starts in October time when the harvest of rice was just done, This is important to know especially when the bottle is labelled with BY (brewery year) like this one here:

Indicating Brewery Year 2019 (BY2019), It means that the bottle was produced during the period of 1/7/2019- 30/6/2020.

Actually 1-Jul has only become the beginning of the sake calendar since 1955, to align with the planning of brewing, instead of the production of brewing for the year. Sake brewing is highly associated with the agricultural activity. It usually begins after rice harvesting. Since 1978, 1-Oct has been designated the "Nihonshu no hi" (日本酒の日) or the "Sake Day" by the Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association.

A batch of sake normally takes around 6 weeks to complete. In the relatively warmer time of Oct-Nov, and during the colder winter time, normally breweries will produce their more premium and delicate sake which needs cooler temperature. The sake which are brewed during the cold season will be indicated as "寒仕込み"/ Kanjikomi- the winter-brewed sake.

In the recent years, some sake breweries will release to the market some "Summer edition" sake. While there's no legal standard to the label- 夏酒/ Natsu Zake , they are usually crisp, light and refreshing- a perfect beverage for the hot summer!

Around Aug- Oct, you will find some" 冷卸酒"/ Hiya oroshi in the market. they are the ones which has gone through the 1st pasteurisation in spring time, stored during summer time and then released to the market without 2nd pasteurisation. Having been matured for around half a year, this type of sake is normally smooth and round mouth feel with more complex flavours and aromas, and great as warm sake.