Terada Honke

The leading light in natural sakes, and one of the rare natural sake breweries around, Masaru Terada is the 24th generation kuramoto of an almost 350 year old brewery. As such, he believes in making sakes that hark back to centuries past.

Terada Honke makes sake that is quite distinct from others. To begin with, the rice that they use is grown with care and without pesticides and chemical fertilisers. They own about 3 hectares in total, comprising about 1.7 hectares of rice fields under cultivation and 1 hectare of fallow rice field. However, the rice from their own paddies is still about 3% of total amount they use. They work with farmers mainly from Chiba Prefecture and 2 from Ibaraki. The rice grains are not polished as much because they want to showcase the characteristics of the rice and complexity from these minerals and proteins. The brewery also employs kimoto and ancient bodai-moto methods, using natural yeasts that inhabit the air, resulting in a slower fermentation process. Compared to sakes that most people are familiar with, Terada Honke sakes have more acid, is robust in flavour and have potential for ageing (like you would with wine). 

It was only after marrying into Satomi Terada's family brewery that he understood the difference between commercial and craft sake. It's fair to say that he is now pushing that distinction further than most.