Before the small, artisanal Akashi-tai ‘kura’ – or brewery to you and me (well, me anyhow) – became renowned for making sake, it produced soy sauce and traded in rice. This began towards the end of what is known as the Tokugawa Period (1600-1867), and it wasn’t until 1918 that Akashi first started making sake. Since then, Akashi have taken pride in brewing sakes with the choicest ingredients, that are more often than not produced locally. The brewery’s proximity to the coast and their insistence of tanks with Japanese cedar wood lids leads to sea air impacting the flavour of Akashi-Tai sakes with a slightly salty and particular character. The key ingredient, however, is the yamada-nishiki variety of rice. Known as a superior strain, it’s native to the region just north of Akashi, and considered for sake production above all else because its starch molecules are loosely grouped. This allows koji mold spores to easily enter the structure, and produce superior koji and malted rice.