The art of nigirizushi was born in Edo (now Tokyo) during the late Edo period, when the culture of the townspeople flourished in the 18th century. Originally it was sold from street stalls, but the fresh ingredients and the fact that the sushi was quickly made to order in front of the customer seemed to suit the spirit of the people of Edo, which is why it is said that the number of sushi restaurants, from humble eateries to high-class establishments, grew rapidly. Now, 200 years later, it has become a popular culinary genre not only in Japan but around the world.

It is the mission of sushi chefs to keep evolving. One of the challenges they face is to create new flavours by combining sushi and sake.

Chef Mitani explains the appeal of ‘mariage’ (marrying the flavours of food and beverages, such as wine or sake) and pairing as, “a chemical reaction that occurs in the mouth when food and alcoholic beverages are combined, creating a new taste that you have never experienced before”. The taste that is hidden within the ingredients, which you cannot feel even when you chew them, is brought out when they are combined with alcoholic beverages, and the range of deliciousness is broadened. However, he says that it is wine that is most likely to cause a chemical reaction, or ‘mariage’.

Alcoholic beverages made from fruit have a good balance of sweetness, acidity, umami and bitterness from the start, so they are more likely to react chemically with the flavours of the ingredients and create new flavours, but it is more difficult to achieve a good balance in alcoholic beverages made from grains, such as sake and shochu. Furthermore, historically, sake has been enjoyed with salty snacks rather than with food, so the importance of achieving a good balance of flavours has not been emphasised. Nowadays, there are many types of sake that go well with food, but if they are not made with a good balance, they can be overpowered, or even cancelled out, by the flavour of the ingredients.

The ideal sake for pairing with food or sushi, according to Mitani, is one that has the power to bring out hidden flavours and create new tastes. In particular, when developing the sake for éks SUSHI, it was necessary to create a sake that would complement all the ingredients, which vary in both taste and aroma, such as white fish, red fish, blue fish, shellfish and crustaceans. “At Sushi Mitani, we aim to create a ‘mariage’ that goes beyond pairing, in other words, a new fusion and creation of flavours, but this time, as the sake is intended to be enjoyed in its own right, we aim to create a flavour that is versatile and goes well with a variety of foods.”

The key to overcoming this challenge, says Mitani, lies in a sense of subtle bitterness that you get from fruit. “The secret to successful pairings is to choose alcoholic beverages that have the power to enhance the positive elements of the food. Furthermore, alcoholic beverages suited to this purpose have certain characteristics. One of characteristics are that they have an inherent sense of bittersweetness. And this bitterness needs to be a bitterness that the body craves, ‘a positive bitterness’ that is not unpleasant.”

Mitani chose Shimizu Seizaburo Shoten, whose sake he had long admired for its versatility and deliciousness, which makes it ideal for pairing with food. ‘The term ‘umai sake’ (delicious sake) has a wide range of connotations, but the Zaku series also has a subtle, ‘positive bitterness’. He felt that if you were to pair a regular ‘umai sake’ with five pieces of sushi, you could probably get away with it, but with Shimizu Seizaburo Shoten’s sake, you could probably pair it with ten pieces or more.

Shinichiro Shimizu, the sixth generation head of Shimizu Seizaburo Shoten, was very eager to accept the offer, saying, “I’m looking forward to seeing how Mitani, who is so knowledgeable about not only food but also sake and wine, approaches the concept of “flavour”. I’m also looking forward to hearing what kind of feedback he will give us about the sake we produce.”

He continued, “Unlike wine, we haven’t really explored the concept of ‘mariage’ (marrying the flavours of food and sake) in depth. At the moment, sake is almost universally available in overseas izakaya, Japanese restaurants and sushi bars, but I feel that in order to expand its popularity to other culinary genres, it will be necessary to provide consumers with detailed explanations of why this sake goes well with this ingredient or dish, and what the significance of that pairing is. So I think that the involvement of chefs and sommeliers like Mitani is very important for the future development of the sake industry,” says Shimizu.

In addition, regarding the fruity bitterness that Mitani mentioned, Shimizu said, “The flavour of sake is not created by the brewery or the toji (master brewer). There is no set method for creating a particular flavour, and in the absence of a definitive answer, the only thing we can do is to meticulously follow the methods handed down to us by our predecessors and mentors, while thinking about why each step of the brewing process is important. As you gain experience and expand your knowledge, you gradually learn how to make the yeast behave in a way that allows the fermentation process to proceed smoothly, depending on the situation at the time.” His words gave us an insight into the true essence of sake brewing.

Although we can’t actually know what the yeast is experiencing during the brewing process, Shimizu Seizaburo Shoten makes a daily effort to understand it, and by tasting the sake every day, they are able to remove any elements that they find unpleasant or strange, in order to create sake with a high level of flavour clarity. As they do not approach sake production with the aim of creating a bitter taste, so they decided to conduct tastings of sake they had already produced to find which ones had the fruity bitterness that Mitani had in mind, with the aim of blending them to create a sake that would go well with sushi.

The “Zaku” series is made using sake rice, different rice polishing ratios, and a variety of yeast, including yeast distributed by the Japan Brewing Association, as well as isopropyl acetate and ethyl caproate-based yeasts—all of which were selected because we thought they were particularly good for our style of sake production. From the perspective of the brewer, they are all like cute children, and it is impossible to say which yeast is better. We are often asked if we make sake with a high acidity to go with French food, but we cannot imagine making such sake because French food is not a part of our everyday lives. The same goes for sushi. As for the best way to pair sake with food, I would like to leave that to the specialist, Mitani,” says Shimizu. Mitani was impressed by the purity of his focus on sake-making alone, saying, ‘I could feel his deep love for sake.’

During his visit to the brewery, Mitani tasted almost the entire existing lineup of Zaku sake and picked out the ones that most closely matched his image. He said that he felt a subtle bitterness in ‘Zaku Kaizan Ipponsui Junmai Daiginjo’ – a flavour that was close to his image. So, Shimizu decided to blend with another sake with this as a base, saying, ‘I decided to blend another sake based on the impression I got from the flavour and the expression on his face when he was tasting the sake, and also based on his comment that he wanted a sake with a delicate, transparent flavour that was not too sweet and that he could drink without growing tired of it.

The toji (master brewer) Tomohiro Uchiyama focused on achieving a harmonious flavour by changing the blending ratio so that people would think “this is delicious” when they tasted it. After several rounds of trial blends and tastings by Mitani, the blending ratio was finally decided. However, Uchiyama said, “This ratio is based on the the current batch of sake we had on hand, so when the base sake changes, even if it is the same brand, the ratio will not be the same, so we will have to rethink the blend ratio from the beginning again.” Mitani was also deeply moved by Uchiyama’s words, as they were a testament to his craftsmanship.

The resulting éks SUSHI has an exceptionally harmonious flavour that does not feel excessive in any way. The gentle bitterness not only enhances the individual characteristics of the ingredients, but also positively stimulates the sense of taste, so that you don’t get tired of drinking it, but you also don’t end up drinking too much. It is a superbly crafted sake that is the ultimate realisation of Mitani’s vision.