On the second last day of our trip to Canada this summer, Kazuko and I stopped by the Toronto Distillery District to visit the Ontario Spring Water Sake Company, which makes Izumi (泉) brand sake. It is a bit of a long story, but through some sake connections here in Nagano, I was able to introduce the current Toji of OSWSC to the general manager, Kaz, on his visit here to Miyasaka Brewery (maker of Masumi). Anyway, Kazuko and I were happy to meet with the Toji, Takahashi-san, Kaz, and the owner, Ken, who are all pictured here:
Visiting OSWSC in the Distillery District, Toronto, July 2011
The brewery just opened this year, and has a nice compact set-up that allows visitors to view the brewing and nestle up to the bar for tasting of fresh, unpasteurized (nama) sake. After touring the brewery, we sampled all of Takahashi-san’s sakes, which were crafted towards the Canadian palate; sweet, full-bodied, and fruity.
If you are in Toronto, definitely plan on making a visit to the brewery and the Distillery District.
How does OSWSC compare in size and capability to the kura you work for? Brewing capability steamers, polishers…
Hello Will. It has been a while, nice to hear from you (my fault for not posting much recently). OSWSC is pretty small- it is right in the heart of the Distillery District where space is at a premium, but has everything a brewery needs to function. They don’t have a rice polisher, nor does the brewery here, as they both get their rice pre-polished. OSWSC ordered a steamer and a fune-press from Japan, had a Finnish sauna maker build a koji-mura, they have 3 fermentation tanks (around 600-800 L capacity each, I am guessing), an electric boiler, walk-in fridge, and a small, hand bottler. The space is definitely compact, and the half of the walls are glass, so customers can see the brewing process in action. All and all, I think they have done a great job setting the brewery up, and are making good sake. Do you have plans to visit Toronto anytime?
No plans really and I have never been to Toronto, well except passing through it when I was a kid.
How is your brewing going? Do you enjoy it as you thought you would?
I just visited Yasutaka-san 2 weeks ago, he is looking really good.
Did you or are you still working on translating a brewing book? I have been working on writing one for the homebrewing community and it is coming along well.
Stay well