If you visit Charlottesville’s quirky Ix Park, with its colorful murals, photographs and sculptures, you’ll also see a small doorway inviting a visit to the North American Sake Brewery where founder Andrew Centofante is waiting to show you around and to acquaint you with the ancient Japanese beverage that enchanted him 13 years ago, on his first trip to Kyoto.
“I was at this small isakay, which is like a bar, and a bartender helped walk me through style, originality, differences in the sake," Centofante remembers. "And I just made a connection and fell in love with how it was a lot like craft beer and wine and ciders that I really enjoy, and why hadn’t I thought about sake the way I think about other craft beverages?”
He found an expert on brewing sake and studied with him, making a half dozen trips to Japan over the years, each time learning something new. “Sake lives in its own category. A lot of people say, oh, it’s a rice wine, but it really isn’t, and it’s not a spirit. It’s not distilled. The process is closer to brewing beer, but not really.”
Today, he’s got his own shop in Charlottesville, complete with large metal tanks where up to 500 pounds of steamed rice are mixed with a brilliant white substance called koji, a mold that turns starch into sugar. It’s made in a clean room, and Centofante is the only staffer authorized to enter.
"Koji-making is a massive part of sake brewing. A lot of people call this room the heart of the sake brewery, because how you make your koji will effect the final product tremendously. You know when we make koji it’s a 2-3 day process that is 24 hours. I’ll be in that koji room at 2 o’clock, 3 o’clock in the morning making sure that it’s growing on just that right path. We’ll control temperature and humidity a lot of different ways – whether that’s by piling rice. Whether that’s by spreading it thin, separating it into smaller boxes, and depending on the temperature ranges that you either hold the rice in or you let it accelerate to you’ll produce different enzymes that have different properties, so certain enzymes might break down more proteins and give you more umami and depth. Other enzymes will break down sugars and make more fruity characteristics, but the result is fantastic. It’s got this wonderful aroma, kind of like sweet chestnuts mixed with some tropical notes and frosted flakes. It’s a really fantastic thing, and everyone has had koji before if you’ve ever had soy sauce, if you’ve ever had miso. Obviously, sake, mirin and number of other Japanese ferments all use koji as a lot of people call it the king of umami.”
There’s also a small lab where he’s constantly testing the sugar content, acidity and level of alcohol – which can be up to 20% in the finished product. All total, the process might take 40 days, but Centofante says the wait is worth it.
“I call the sake buzz kind of like sitting on a cloud. It is a very happy go lucky kind of feeling. People say tequila will make you want to get in a fight, but sake makes you just giggly and smiley. You’ll see it when you’re sitting here and look around.”
This Saturday, July 22, he and 14 other brewers from around the country will converge on Charlottesville. Between 2 and 8 p.m. visitors can observe Japanese drumming, martial arts and pottery making – and for those who are old enough and prepared to spend $60 bucks, a chance to sample 30 kinds of sake.
Click here for more information about the 2023 American Craft Sake Fest
