Masa Shiroki is busy bottling his latest batch of Junmai Ginjo Genshu. The Granville Island artisan sake maker will fill 1,800 bottles by the end of the day – but that’s not all he will be left with. There will also be 170 kilograms of leftover rice mash, known as kasu sake – an unprepossessing byproduct [...]

MASA SHIROKI makes two things perfectly clear. Sake is not distilled alcohol and it is not similar to beer. “It is produced by fermentation. It is rice wine.” Shiroki, who lectures on sake for International Sommelier Guild courses, should know. In January 2007, the Japanese-born entrepreneur opened Canada’s first sake “winery”: Artisan SakeMaker on Vancouver’s [...]