Masa Shiroki, owner and sake maker at Artisan SakeMaker on Granville Island is excited to announce that his experimental crop of sake rice (sakamai), planted on a small plot in Ashcroft in May this year, will be ready for harvest on or around September 20.

Last time the Hired Belly headed down Railspur Alley on Granville Island, sake maker Masa Shiroki had just bottled his first batch. Since then, the artisan sake maker has blossomed into a Canadian success story, with a string of feathers in his cap–including a Top 100 pick for Best Value in this year’s Vancouver Magazine Wine Awards for his richly textured Junmai Nama Genshu.

Cookbook author and food consultant Stephen Wong will serve this at the Wild BC Seafood Fest. Sake kasu, which is called for in the marinade, can be found at Artisan Sake on Granville Island. Kasu is the lees that remain after the fermented rice mash (moromi) has been pressed during the sake-making process. The Japanese use it to marinate fish and meat and to pickle vegetables.

To most, sake is something kitschy to accompany sushi, served warm to mask its flavours. Premium sake, however, is served chilled and it can be as dynamic as a fine bottle of wine. In Japan, sake refers to all alcoholic beverages, In the West, it is commonly referred to as Japanese rice wine. Sake is an oddity [...]

There’s an element of quantum mechanics (which would be a great name for an auto shop) in my meeting with Masa Shiroki. We had been trying to get together for a few days, but fate conspired to find us occupying different locations at the same time. However, it’s all a matter of probabilities. [...]