Hope everyone made the most of Sake Day!
This week I dive into one of my favorite subjects: koshu sake.
I also found a great article on salmon and the lack of transparency in its fisheries. I elaborate on this and share my thoughts on sustainability, as well.
Additionally, cool posts on low alcohol beverages, Arizona Sake, and daigaku imo are also worth checking out.
Aged Sake: Koshu
Does sake get better with age? Most of the time, it probably doesn’t.
But in centuries past, sake aged many years were considered the pinnacle of the craft.
What’s changed? Mostly the perception of what sake is supposed to be and the tastes of the modern consumer. And as usual, the Japanese government played a big part in changing the paradigm.
Check out my post for Tippsy on koshu sake. You’ll learn this style’s history plus some top brands. I also cover aging sake at home, which is a topic that’s dear to my heart.
World Sake Day: Get $20 Off Your Sake Box!
$20 off quarterly subscription sake boxes with the code “SAKEDAY”
Coupon ends October 3rd, 2021. Must be 21 years or older.
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Salmon Shennanigans, Mislabelling, and Extinction
With salmon, you often don’t get what you pay for. Unfortunately, the seafood industry, on the whole, is opaque and often downright fraudulent. And this is true of salmon fisheries, as well.
National Geographic has an informative article on mislabeling of salmon and the shady nature of the entire industry. I highly recommend you check it out.
Sustainability and Declining Biodiversity
This post hits home personally. I love salmonids (trout, salmon, char). When I’m not working on The Japanese Bar, I’m typically immersed in some salmon-related activity. Most of this is related to the threats these incredible species are facing. So I’d like to share some additional thoughts.
For starters, only sockeye and pink salmon should be considered sustainable. Even then, I think it’s dangerous to assume this will never change. Chum salmon are another super-abundant species. Yet pressure from the industrial fishing complex, climate change, and development has pushed them closer to the edge in recent years in some of their historical habitats. And these pressures are affecting every single anadromous salmonid species in the world.
King (chinook) and silver (coho) salmon cannot be sustainably fished. At least, not at current levels of exploitation.
A lot of the “sustainable,” “wild-caught” Alaskan salmon are fish from Oregon, Washington, and BC. And in these places, many salmon runs are at serious risk of extirpation. These fish are caught in Alaska (or BC) and never make it home to spawn.
This is a major reason for the decline of Puget Sound orcas. Wild Caught Alaskan Salmon is simply a marketing slogan.
All of these are Pacific salmon species. Atlantic salmon is a single, separate species. And it’s been industrially exploited for much longer.
Wild Atlantic salmon stocks are in dire shape throughout most of their range. So instead, the entire market is built on farm-raised fish. And these farms are disgusting. Not only are the fish subjected to unhealthy levels of parasites and disease, but they also spread this to the wild fish in the same waters. So farm-raised salmon further the declines of wild fish.
Land-based, recirculating aquaculture systems offer some hope for mitigating the worst effects of farmed salmon pollution. But it’s not a silver bullet.
Feeding farm-raised fish is another complicated subject. But to summarize, it’s inefficient and relies on killing a lot of smaller fish species to feed the farmed fish. The declines in many stocks of sardines, herring, anchovies, and even sea birds can be partially blamed on farmed fish.
If you’ve stuck with me this long, you probably see where my rant is going. Salmon are not a sustainable resource. They’re living things, and they’re the cornerstones of the ecosystems they inhabit.
How and why is this all happening? It’s all so complicated, yet the answer is simple.
You, me, and everyone else eats too much salmon. Period.
Arizona Sake Again for the Win
Smithsonian Magazine wrote a feature on Arizona Sake, and I think it’s the best to date.
It’s cool to see this tiny kura receive such high-level press. And the magazine does an excellent job telling the story of the brewer and founder Atsuo Sakurai.
There is one error in the post that any intermediate sake enthusiast will spot, which I touch on in the post’s comments*. And I also hesitate to crown Arizona Sake as the king of seishu outside of Japan, as the author does, though it’s certainly debatable.
*Still waiting for comment approval from Smithsonian (10/1).
Low Alcohol Drinks Booming in Japan
Times are changing, and increasingly, consumers are reaching for alternatives to classic alcoholic beverages to satisfy their thirst. A lot of the shift comes from younger people that live a more active and healthy lifestyle. Plus, there are lots of drinkers looking to avoid some of the downsides of alcohol consumption.
Almost weekly, I find an interesting post from The Asahi Shimbun. Check out their coverage of Japan’s growing low alcohol beverage market and some of its marquis products.
As far as I know, none of these are available here in the States, unfortunately. So I recommend taking a look at Renegade Brewing’s post on the best low alcohol beers.
University Potato: Daigaku Imo
Japanese cuisine doesn’t get much simpler than the daigaku imo.
Learn a bit about its name and history, plus a recipe from Okinawa Stripes.