Maturation

(Cellaring)

The purpose of maturation is to allow enzymes, remaining yeast, and chemical compounds to “settle down” so-to-speak. In many cases sake is quite brash directly from the press and even after filtration it can still not be ready.

We’ll elaborate on this more as we continue to build out the site, but suffice it to say, a common length of maturation for even junmai sake can be 3 weeks to 3 months. Some breweries will wait 6 months before releasing it.

If you drink freshly pressed sake “shiboritate”, it will have characteristics that might taste and smell undesirable that can decrease over time. Often the texture becomes smoother and the acidity becomes less bright.

Aging sake is a whole other topic that we will be diving more into and there are entire organizations dedicated to the practice.

We encourage you to try your sake immediately before and after pressing, but save small samples so you can try them as time goes on. You’ll be amazed how it changes and how it doesn’t.