How to make sake at Himeji

Nadagiku sake brewery located in 1 Chome, Tegara, Himeji City was established in 1910. The Nadagiku brew are famous at home and Costa abroad. They carefully selected brewing rice grown in the prefecture, including Hyogo Yumenishiki, a special product of Nishiharima.

Nadagiku Sake Brewery was founded in 1910. The founder went France for a judo tournament and came back with ideas to brew sake The word "Nada" in "Harima-Nada", is the name of the sea Himeiji faces, and "Kiku" is the national flower of Japan.
The brewery is located near the Himeiji White Castle a world heritage site , one of the most visited tourist landmarks in Japan. I saw around 10 to 20k visitors yesterday when our group went to visit the castle and garden.

Misa Kawaishi youngest daughter of the owner is the company CEO .
Misa is one of the few female brewers in Japan. I was impressed with Misa , the CEO is doing the procedures of making sake.

Sake can be made with rice or wheat.
Steps to making Japanese sake as explained by sake host :

1. Rice Milling: polish the rice grain to expose the starchy core needed for fermentation.
2. Washing & Soaking: soak the polished rice in water to remove starchy powder.
3. Steaming: steam soaked rice to ready for fermentation.
4. Koji Making: Use Koji mold is cultivated on steamed rice to transform starches into sugars, for yeast fermentation.
5. Yeast Starter (Shubo): mix koji, steamed rice, water, and yeast to create the yeast starter, to begin fermentation.
6. Main Fermentation (Moromi): yeast starter is combined with more steamed rice, koji, and water in steps to create the main fermentation mash.
7. Pressing: after fermentation , the mash is pressed to separate the liquid sake from the solid rice lees (called "kasu").
8. Filtration and Pasteurization: filter to remove impurities and pasteurized to extend shelf life and flavor.
9. Aging: depends on what flavors you want , aging is the time you leave sake in jars develop its flavors.
10. Bottling: The finished sake is diluted for desired alcohol content, bottled & labelled for marketing.

Nadagiku sake are all made handmade , reason for its premium quality, after the tour , host said the company is serving its premium quality of sake for sample tasting .

We were led to a store for sake tasting in small plastic containers.
Some tourists bought sake but I didn’t buy any bottles since I don’t drink alcohol except for special occasions.