Sake & brews ── Nihonshu (sake)

Taruzake

Taruzake — cedar-cask-finished sake

Sake stored in a wooden cask so it takes on the wood's fragrance. Best known as the sake used for kagami-biraki, the ceremonial cracking open of a cask lid at celebrations, its cedar aroma is said to give it a freshness distinct from ordinary sake.

What it's made of

Taruzake is sake stored in a wooden cask so it picks up the wood's fragrance. Cedar casks are the most common choice, and the compounds that seep out of the wood are said to add a crisp, resinous note absent from ordinary bottled sake. Left in the cask too long, that woody note can grow overpowering, so timing the transfer out is said to matter.

How it's made

Pressed and pasteurized sake is packed into a wooden cask for a short stretch, then transferred to bottles or another container for shipping once the aroma has taken on the right balance. At celebrations, the cask itself is often opened by cracking its lid with a wooden mallet in a ceremony called kagami-biraki, with the sake then served to everyone present.

Why it took this shape

Wooden casks were once widely used for transporting and storing sake, and picking up the wood's fragrance is said to have started as a mere byproduct of that. Over time the aroma itself came to be prized, and the style is said to have settled into its own recognized form of sake, one that has become fixed as part of celebratory occasions.