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Bengaluru brews India’s first homegrown sake
Summary
Chef Maia Laifungbam, a certified touji or sake brewer, is all set to launch India's first homegrown Japanese rice wine
In Bengaluru's Yelahanka area, a makeshift laboratory was the nucleus of chef Maia Laifungbam’s brand new experiment to recreate sake, or Japanese rice wine, in India.
In the last few months, her life has been taken over by countless trials. She experimented with different strains of indigenous rice from the northeast and one from south India—the names of which she doesn’t reveal—to crack a recipe.
Finally, Laifungbam is ready for her ‘baby’ to meet the world. In June, the chef, who is also India's first certified sake brewer, or touji, will launch two sake products in Bengaluru and Mumbai. There’s junmai, a clear and refreshing sake, and nigori, a cloudy version with a stronger flavour. She has moved from Yelahanka, and a brewery in Bengaluru is also in the making, where guests can sip on freshly pressed sake, which boasts a stronger flavour and higher sugar content than the brewed versions.
“It takes about a month to prepare sake. Out of the four rice strains, one turned out to be terrible, while the others were phenomenal. I developed three types of sake recipes," shares the 31-year-old.
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Homegrown sake has arrived at an interesting time. There is a growing appreciation for Japanese culture, an increased interest in Japanese cuisine, a surge in Indian tourists visiting Japan, and higher disposable incomes, all of which have contributed to its rising popularity in India. “Sake’s growth trajectory here is similar to that of wine two decades ago. Interestingly, it is often compared to wine, as both are fermented beverages. I have noticed sake is more easily embraced than wine, even by Indian consumers who traditionally prefer spirits, because of its lower acidity and lack of tannins, making it more palatable," points out Ravi Joshi, co-founder of Sake Club India. He believes the biggest challenges to sake’s growth in India include high import tariffs, logistical expenses, and its fragility in the supply chain at the moment. In such a scenario, local production would help overcome these issues by providing a more cost-effective solution and ensuring better availability.
This prompted Laifungbam to learn sake making, and it helped that she is already part of the food and beverage industry. “As a chef, I understand rice, which is one of the primary ingredients in sake. Besides, India has a variety of rice grains that can be leveraged. I was confident we could make our version of sake, since the northeastern region of the country already has several forms of rice beer," she adds.
A natural progression
With her father from Manipur and mother from Goa, Laifungbam was exposed to different cuisines from an early age. She started her professional journey in food and beverage about a decade ago, after graduating from Manipal University’s culinary programme. Japanese gastronomy fascinated her.
She took it upon herself to learn to cook Japanese food. Her affinity towards the country also piqued her interest in its drinks. “I think sake is a beautiful beverage, and is revered in Japanese culture. They have shrines for sake in Japan. You never pour for yourself; you always pour for other people at the table," she adds.
In 2023, with the help of the Sake Sommelier Association, she secured a place at the 300-year-old Kyoto brewery Yamamoto Honke. “The Kyoto-style was something I wanted to learn. It's a softer type of sake, which is ideal for India," she shares. She stayed there for the sake season in winter for three months to be trained.
A challenging process
Making sake may sound simplistic due to the presence of only three ingredients–water, rice, and a fungus called koji. But it requires immense precision and discipline to create the perfect recipe.
While in Japan, Laifungbam would easily spend seven to nine hours in the brewery, akin to a full-time job. The process of making the Japanese beverage is labour-intensive, especially inoculating the rice with koji, which requires constant monitoring for the fungus to grow under specific conditions.
“Also, the Kyoto-style sake uses soft water. Certain mineral properties are still too high for the sake I want to make. In my brewery, which I am in the process of setting up right now in Bengaluru, the water processing unit is going to be one of a kind," shares Laifungbam.
Another factor that determines the quality of sake is the polishing percentage of rice, meaning how much of the rice remains after the outer layer of the grain has been shaved off. The Japanese, Laifungbam says, sometimes polish it down to 15%. “I am not polishing the rice too much. I've gone down to 75-80%, which is a good range to hit the market with," she says. Her brand of sake will have a shelf life of six months. “Even the best sake in Japan is pasteurised for longevity of the beverage. I pasteurise it differently, at very cold temperatures," she informs.
Without divulging too much information, Laifungbam shares that each of the rice strains she has used has a different aroma. While one of the varieties from Assam is stunning on the nose, the others are sweeter rice grains. “They have different expressions depending on how they ferment and adapt to the koji," she informs.
The mark of a good sake, Laifungbam shares, is a beverage with a clean nose. “One can barely smell anything, just a whiff of rice as a result of fermentation. Sake is more on the palate than on the nose."
Since Laifungbam wants the price point to be accessible, she doesn’t use imported rice. “This drink is meant for sharing. I want it to be popular among the youth—those who have graduated from college and started their careers," she explains. As an extension, she aims to introduce a sake-drinking culture in the country that isn’t intimidating: “Most people in India don't even think about sake, or they are of the view that it's only available in a Japanese restaurant. I want it to become a drink you can have anywhere."
Geetika Sachdev is a Delhi-based lifestyle journalist.
