Kumimizu Buai– tag –

Two breweries can start with the same rice variety, the same well, and the same yeast. Yet the sake in the glass tastes nothing alike. The reason usually hides in a document that drinkers never see. Brewers call it the shikomi haigo. So ...

Kumimizu buai (汲水歩合) is sake's water-to-rice ratio. Brewers calculate it by dividing the brewing water in liters by the total rice in kilograms, then multiplying by 100. Most breweries work somewhere between 125 and 135 percent. That...