I have a soft spot for Nara; it’s less than an hour from Kyoto or Osaka, yet feels like a completely different world. Nara is the cradle of Japanese culture, and you can feel it as you walk through the city visiting ancient temples, or stroll through the Yoshino forests and realize where the Japanese respect for nature originates. It is not a major region in terms of the number of breweries or production volume, but there is immense respect for the quality produced here. I had been looking for a great brewery for years, and during my stay in Japan last year, I discovered Kuramoto in an unassuming little sake bar in Nara City.

It was love at first sight with their bodaimoto sake, and I subsequently contacted the brewery, only to be turned down. Persistence pays off, however, and after some coaxing, I had the opportunity to visit this year; it immediately became one of the highlights of my trip! Kuramoto is a tiny family brewery, the second smallest we work with, producing fewer than 40,000 bottles per year. Its location is stunning, with the Yamato mountains at its back and a view over its own rice fields. The brewery was founded over 150 years ago and has been run for the past decade by Kuramoto Takashi, who decided to take over the family business after a career as an agricultural engineer.

Bodaimoto is one of the oldest brewing methods, originating at the Shoryakuji Temple. In sake production, lactic acid is essential to stabilize the fermenting mash (unlike wine, the acidity level—which provides a natural barrier against oxidation in wine—is low in sake, and sulfites cannot be used). In modern methods, lactic acid is simply added, but in the bodaimoto method, a starter is made from raw rice, steamed rice, and water, in which lactic acid bacteria naturally produce lactic acid. The result is a slightly more acidic sake, usually lower in alcohol but very refreshing.

Since 1996, a select group of brewers has been producing bodaimoto sake at the Shoryakuji Temple. Together, they produce a sake that is primarily commercialized through the temple, and they are also permitted to produce their own bodaimoto sake, a privilege granted to very few. I am therefore incredibly proud to be able to offer a genuine bodaimoto, and in an unpasteurized version at that!