Japanese at a Sake Brewery Tour: Kura Words, Tasting Talk and Buying Bottles

Booking a kura tour

A brewery visit is called a kura kengaku, a brewery viewing, or simply kengaku. Some breweries run a walk-in shop with a tasting counter and no tour; others take small groups by appointment on set days; a few run English-language tours in the main sake areas around Kyoto, Kobe and Hiroshima. Because the offer differs so much, and many stop tours during the winter brewing months, always check the brewery's own website first.

If you phone, the same pattern as any Japanese booking applies: say what you want, give the date, the number of people and your name, and let them ask the rest. Ask whether the tour is in Japanese only and whether a tasting is included; lengths, fees and age rules vary.

Arriving and the questions staff ask

Most kura are old buildings with a low entrance, a wooden counter and a sugidama, a ball of cedar leaves, hanging over the door. Staff will greet you with irasshaimase; give your name and say you have a booking. You will often be asked to put on slippers or shoe covers, to leave bags in a locker and, in the brewing area, to avoid strong perfume and to not touch anything, because the kōji mould and yeast are sensitive to outside bacteria.

Before the tour begins, staff often ask two safety questions: whether anyone is driving, and whether anyone has an alcohol allergy. Answer honestly. They may also ask whether you have visited a kura before, which is a friendly opening rather than an interrogation.

Words the guide will use on the walk

The tour follows the brewing process, so the vocabulary arrives in a natural order. It starts with rice, kome, and the polishing ratio, seimai buai, which the guide will quote as a percentage: sixty percent means forty percent of each grain has been polished away. Then comes the kōji room, kōji muro, the warm heart of the brewery; you may not be allowed in, but the guide will explain that kōji is steamed rice grown with a mould that turns starch into sugar.

Next is the yeast starter, shubo or moto, and then the main mash in the big tanks, moromi. Over several weeks the moromi is pressed, shibori, filtered, pasteurised, hi-ire, or left unpasteurised, nama, and aged. The person in charge of all this is the tōji, the master brewer.

You do not need to remember every word, but junmai, ginjō, nama and karakuchi are the four that come up again at the tasting counter and on every label, so it is worth practising those out loud on the way there.

Asking questions during the tour

Guides love questions, and a short one in Japanese usually gets a generous answer. The easiest pattern is kore wa nan desu ka, what is this, pointing at a tool or a tank. If the guide speaks fast, ask them to repeat with mō ichido onegai shimasu.

One contrast worth knowing: kikimasu is the ordinary verb for asking, but shitsumon shite mo ii desu ka, may I ask a question, is the polite way to interrupt a guide mid-flow.

At the tasting counter

The tasting, shiin, is where the visit turns into a conversation. Staff pour small cups in a set order, usually from light and dry to rich or sweet, and may explain each one. Some breweries offer a free tasting, some charge for a flight, and some sell a souvenir o-choko cup that you keep; what is included varies, so ask.

The staff question you will hear most is ikaga desu ka, how is it, and the reply can be a single word. Oishii, delicious, is always welcome, but a more specific answer earns a more interesting next pour. Sake is also served at different temperatures: hiya, chilled or room temperature, and kan, warmed. If you like a cup, ask what food it goes with; brewers think about pairing all the time.

Describing what you taste

Japanese tasting vocabulary is short and practical. The main axis is karakuchi, dry, versus amakuchi, sweet; on labels this is often shown as a number called nihonshu-do, where plus values are drier and minus values sweeter. Next comes body: sukkiri or tanrei for clean and light, fukuyoka or nōkō for rich and full. Ginjō styles are often called furūtī, fruity; nama sake is often furesshu, fresh, and sometimes slightly fizzy.

You can build a sentence from these with sukoshi, a little, and totemo, very: sukoshi amakuchi desu ne, it's a little sweet, isn't it. Aftertaste is atoaji, and kire ga ii means it finishes cleanly, which is high praise for a dry sake. Note that karai means spicy as well as dry, so for sake say karakuchi.

Buying and shipping bottles

The shop, baiten, usually sells the whole range, often including kura-limited bottles, gentei, that never reach ordinary shops. A 720 ml bottle is a yon-gō bin and 1.8 litres is an isshō bin. Nama sake must be kept refrigerated, so ask before buying it for a long journey.

If you do not want to carry glass, ask for delivery by takkyūbin. Almost every brewery can send within Japan, and sending to your hotel is common; give the hotel name, the address and your check-in date. Shipping abroad is rarer, so ask kaigai hassō wa dekimasu ka without expecting a yes. Fees and cool delivery options vary, so confirm them at the counter.

• Ask for a gentei bottle, the kura-only limited edition, if you want a souvenir nobody else has
• Check whether a bottle is nama before carrying it; it needs a fridge
• Give the hotel name, address and check-in date for takkyūbin delivery
• Ask for gift wrapping, purezento-yō, if the bottle is for someone
• Keep the receipt and the tracking slip, denpyō, until the parcel arrives

Useful sentences at the counter: kono o-sake o ippon kudasai, one bottle of this, please; hoteru made okutte moraemasu ka, could you send it to my hotel; and purezento-yō ni tsutsunde moraemasu ka, could you gift-wrap it. Airline rules on alcohol in luggage vary by carrier, so check before packing.

Drink-driving and when something goes wrong

Japan's law on drinking and driving is very strict: there is effectively no permitted amount, penalties are severe, and passengers and the person who served the drinks can also be punished. Breweries therefore ask about drivers before pouring and will refuse even a single cup to someone driving. If you are the driver, say unten suru node nomemasen; most breweries will offer water, tea or amazake, a sweet non-alcoholic drink made from kōji. Plan the visit by train, bus or taxi if you want to taste.

Other problems are small. If the tour turns out to be Japanese-only and you are lost, ask whether there is an English leaflet, eigo no panfuretto. If you feel the alcohol, ask for water. If you break a cup, apologise; staff will almost always wave it away.