The brewery’s premiere IWA 5 blended sake by former Dom Perignon cellar master Richard Geoffroy aims to also be the ideal complement whatever the cuisine
The beauty of any prized tipple is seldom based solely on its merits as an isolated pleasure. More often than not, it is the drink’s broad appeal and versatility that will win it new fans and a place at today’s increasingly global dinner table.
Such is the appeal of the recently launched IWA 5 sake, one of the most provocative and potentially game-changing alcoholic beverages to hit the market in the last decade.
Its uniqueness is ground-breaking yet subtle. For the most part, it is as traditional as the drink’s thousand-year-old heritage demands. But what will surprise those less familiar with the newfound passions of veteran physician-turned-champagne winemaker Richard Geoffroy is the fact that it is the brainchild of the former chef de cave who’s been instrumental to the success of Dom Perignon champagne for over three decades.
A frequent visitor to Japan since 1991, Geoffroy decided to set up his IWA brewery in the town of Tateyama in Toyama Prefecture; in partnership with Ryuichiro Masuda of family-owned sake brewery Masuda Shuzo, Japanese architect Kengo Kuma who built the brewery, and renowned industrial designer Marc Newson who designed the bottle.
Most notably, though, is the brewery’s unique style of sake, which is well-represented in its maiden release, the IWA 5. Defined not by a specific rice variety, province or polishing ratio, but by the deceptively simple fact that this is a blended sake, the IWA 5 comprises three varieties of rice (Yamada Nishiki, Omachi and Gohyakumangoku), five strains of yeast and the regimes of fermentation.
(Related: Tippling Club Launches Tippling Sake That’s Made Using Wine Yeast)