Muroka

At the very end of the production process, the sake may be filtered with activated charcoal. We use the verb ‘may’ because this step is optional, even for the highest quality bottles. It all depends on the brewer, his method and the desired style… Some vintages simply don’t need it! But whatever the reason, all sakés that skip this stage have a special designation: “muroka”, which simply means “unfiltered” in Japanese. The flavours of muroka sake are generally considered to be more earthy or expressive.

Sake brewers began using activated carbon filtration in the 1950s to rid their production of various characteristics and compounds that were considered undesirable at the time: a deep yellow colour, molecules that could spoil the sake’s flavour, and even bacteria that were dangerous to its preservation. Filtration became extremely popular during the fruity sake or ‘ginjo’ ‘boom’ of the 70s and 80s. At the time, it was widely believed that this style of sake could only be completely colourless.

But times have changed. A new, young and rebellious guard, represented in particular by the Terada Honke and Tamagawa breweries, considers filtration to be more or less a betrayal. Not content with returning to traditional brewing methods such as kimoto or yamahai, and even wild yeast fermentation, these breweries believe that filtration robs sake of its precious aromas. You could say that their ‘naturalist’ logic is comparable to that of natural wine producers.

Our advice: don’t be impressed by purists of any stripe. Filtration is a production method, not a sign of quality. Muroka or not, excellent sake is still excellent sake. And muroka or no muroka, bad sake is still bad sake.