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The french sake competition was held on Monday August 31, delayed from May 2020, and the winners was just announced today on Thursday, September 10!

The President's and Jury Award will be announced during the awards ceremony at the residence of the Ambassador of Japan on November 5.

Kura Master has been organised annually since 2017. The idea is to pick out the best Sakes by French people, for French Cuisine. The jury is made up by sommeliers and other F&B professionals, and are exclusively Europeans, and mainly French.

In 2020, 824 sakes were evaluated, compared to 720 in 2019.

I would like to congratulate all the winners, especially those in our portfolio!

Toshimaya Honten
Edo Sake Oji Junmai Ginjo - Platinum Award (Junmai)

Dewazakura Sake Brewery
Dewazakura Tokubetsu Junmai Yamahai - Gold Award (Junmai)
Dewazakura Junmai Daiginjo Genshu - Gold Award (Junmai Daiginjo)
Dewazakura Sparkling AWA - Gold Award (Sparkling)

Tosa Brewery
Keigetsu Sake Nature 2019 - Platinum Award (Junmai Daiginjo)
Keigetsu CEL24 Junmai Daiginjo 50 - Gold Award (Junmai Daiginjo)
Keigetsu Ginnoyume Junmai Daiginjo 45 - Gold Award (Junmai Daiginjo)
Keigetsu Sparkling Sake Hao - Gold Award (Sparkling)

Hourai Sake Brewery
Hourai Junmai Daiginjo Irootoko -  Platinum Award (Junmai Daiginjo)

Kojima Sohonten (Toko)
Kojimaya Untitled # 01 - Platinum Award (Dewasansan)
Kojimaya Untitled # 02 Cedar - Platinum Award (Dewasansan)

For the 12th theartofsake Sake On-nomi, we will be doing a session pairing chocolates with Japanese Sake. Although the pairing of chocolate with sake may seem unorthodox, on closer viewing, the pairing is not as crazy as first thought. 

1. Butterfly Pea with Brass Lion Gin

Paired with Tsuki no Katsura Tokubetsu Honjozo Nigori

The sake brings out the Lavender/floral flavours of the chocolate while the light effervescence brings out the creamy texture of the pairing.

2. Sungei Ruan (Malaysia) Single Origin 45% Cocoa 

Paired with Kojimaya Untitled #1.

The smooth and malty chocolate goes very well with the fruity and surprisingly rich sake. The blackcurrant notes of the chocolate is complemented by the Kyoho grape notes of the sake.

3. Vung Tao (Vietnam) Single Origin 72% Cocoa.

Paired with Sanzen Junmai Ginjo Asahi

The dried apricot, cinnamon notes synergies with the rice sweetness of the sake, which uplifts the fruity notes. The rummy notes of the chocolate with its pleasant acidity is also accentuated by the sake

4. Anaimalai (India) Single Origin 72% Cocoa

Paired with Kinkon Aged Kijoshu

Prominent notes of raisins and cashew nuts is complemented by the similar notes from the kijoshu, increasing the complexity of the pairing. The chocolate's slight bitterness and astringency combine well with the savouriness of the sake.

5. Calamansi Surprise

Paired with Toko Ginjo Umeshu

A Singapore inspired bon bon, the tangy tarty notes are given balance by the rich and velvety sweetness of the multiple award winning umeshu. 

If you are interested in a bigger selection, please visit Benns Ethicoa at https://bennsethicoa.com/

Please purchase your tasting sets at https://theartofsake.com/collections/ira-sake-onnomi

For the 11th theartofsake Sake On-nomi, we will be doing a "Guess the Daiginjo". 

There are many people who are enamoured with high grade sakes like Junmai Daiginjos & Daiginjo, for good reasons. They are fruity, flavourful & complex, well-made with high quality.

However, the other grades of sakes can be great as well! This time, we will have 5 different sakes for this onnomi, all which have never been featured in our online tasting before. and we shall taste them blind.

At the end of the night, we will see which are your favourite sakes, and see if we can tell the Daiginjos from the non-Daiginjos, and guess how many of the 5 sakes are the super-premium stuff!

We have 5 x 80ml of sample sakes in a tasting flight. This will be available for $38 per set.  Please purchase your tasting sets at https://theartofsake.com/collections/ira-sake-onnomi

For the 10th theartofsake Sake On-nomi, we will be doing a session on the different rice varietals used to make Japanese Sake. 

There are more than 100 rice varietals developed for the purpose of brewing sake. However, the majority of sake is made from just a few rice types. As you can see below, the top 2 sake rice is used more than the other rice combined.

Sake Rice 2019

1.Yamada Nishiki (Hyogo, Okayama)   16.5K tons
2.Gohyakumangoku (Niigata, Toyama, Fukui) 15.2K Tons
3.Miyama Nishiki (Nagano, Akita) 5.6K Tons
4.Akita Sake Komachi (Akita) 2.4K Tons
5.Hattan Nishiki (Hiroshima) 1.8K Tons
6.Hitogokochi (Nagano) 1.6K Tons
7.Dewansansan (Yamagata) 1.6k Tons
8.Ginpu (Hokkaido) 1.5k Tons
9.Koshitanrei (Niigata) 1.4K Tons
10.Hanafubuki (Aomori) 1.1K Tons
11.Yumenoka (Fukushima) 1.0k Tons
12.Omachi (Okayama, Hiroshima)  0.9L Tons

Sake is different from wine, in the sense that craftmanship is more highly regarded than the raw ingredients used to brew the sake. For example, rice can be transported to the brewery from any source in Japan. In more extreme cases, so can water. 

Of course, rice as the main ingredient still plays a big role in the taste of sake!  

We have 5 x 80ml of sample sakes in a tasting flight. This will be available for $48 per set.  For the full bottle set, we will include 5 bottles of sake together at $328 (usual price $368)

Please purchase your tasting sets at https://theartofsake.com/collections/ira-sake-onnomi

For the 9th theartofsake Sake On-nomi, we will be doing a session pairing aged ham pairing with Japanese Sake.

Ham is the cured leg of pork, and may be fresh, cured, or cured-and-smoked. Fresh ham is an uncured leg of pork. The usual color for cured ham is deep rose or pink; fresh ham (which is not cured) has the pale pink or beige color of a fresh pork roast; country hams and prosciutto (which are dry cured) range from pink to a mahogany color.

The aged hams we are tasting today are provided by Cavemen Butchery Singapore. Cavemen have been our partner since 2017. Nestled along Balestier road near the corner of Thomson Road, they are a nice butchery, restaurant and bar. These fine aged hams we are tasting today are specially curated by Cavemen Butchery that are freshly sliced off the Prosciutto di Parma and Jamon Iberico de Bellota.

As cured hams tend to be salty, and filled with umami, it is no surprise that sake does pair well with them! As hams are aged longer, the oils and fats get more tasty and complex, and the umami in sake is great to complement this flavour. Also, salt tends to bring out more flavours from Sake!

Please purchase your tasting sets at https://theartofsake.com/collections/ira-sake-onnomi