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Ginjo 7 RED is released!

GINJO 7 SERIES: We found that not only our sake yeast ferments well in beer, it adds unique flavor and aroma that give it a special character. We found that the yeast strain is very versatile and is very active in both lager and ale temperatures. As a hybrid beer/sake brewery, we will be exploring how this yeast performs in other styles of beers. This is the second part in the series called Ginjo 7 RED.

GINJO 7 RED LABEL: Brown ale brewed with sake yeast #701, sansho peppers and orange peel. 6.5% ABV.

INSPIRATION: We love Belgian beers. Our Brown Ale is inspired by Belgian Brown Ales perfect for the cold winter season. No gimmicks, no fruit purees, no excessive hops, not too rich, not too light. We’re going back to basics with this classic style that allows the flavor of the raw grains shine, with a little spicy Nova touch. Traditionally, Belgian beers are often brewed with coriander seeds and orange peel but we switched out the coriander seeds for Sansho peppers.

SANSHO: Sansho (zanthoxylum piperitum) is a Japanese pepper closely related to Sichuan pepper, and offers a lemony aroma with earthy spiciness and that tongue-numbing effect. At first you get that warm malty, bready taste of brown ale, but the finish is strangely addicting and refreshing with subtle citrus and unique spiciness coming from the sansho pepper.

Available for pickup at our tasting room : 16oz single can: $5.50, 4packs :20.00. Now available on our online store at https://shop.novabrewingco.com/

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Hatsukoi -strawberry infused nigori sake – is released!

350ml and 750ml

Hatsukoi means “First Love” in Japanese. The name has been inspired by [Hatsukoi no Kaori] which is the name of one of the first white strawberries. The strawberry actually has a pinkish tinge just like our saké that turned out pink due to the combination of white cloudiness of the saké and red strawberries. Strawberry is often related to first love in Japan because the fruit is sweet and sour just like young, inexperienced love.

INSPIRATION: We originally did not plan to make any fruited saké, but we wanted to try something special for the upcoming holidays. The HATSUKOI strawberry cloudy saké was inspired by Japan’s tradition of eating strawberry shortcake on Christmas.

LOCAL: We used 100% fresh Californian strawberries and of course our saké is made of 100% Californian Calrose rice polished to 50%. Just like our regular lineup, this is a namazaké meaning fresh, unpasteurized saké with no additives and no sugar added and slightly effervescent.

Enjoy Nova Brewing’s first fruited saké this Christmas season. This is a limited, seasonal release and we will not be making it again (until maybe next year). 15% ABV. Available for pickup at our tasting room in two sizes: 750ml: $27.00, 375ml: 15.00. Now available on our online store at https://shop.novabrewingco.com/

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What is Saké?

Saké(Nihonshu/酒/日本酒) is general term used for rice wine. Some non-sake drinker pronounce it as ˈsɑːki or ˈsækeɪ, however, the pronunciation is more close to SAK-ay.

Sake is not spirits but fermented beverage like wine or beer, although it has high alcohol percentage around 14% to 20%. What is distinctive is that sake has sweetness and umami and sake does not have high acidity like wine. The main ingredients for sake are rice, koji, and water. Starch from rice convert to sugar by koji, then the sugar to alcohol with yeast. The range of flavor and aroma are narrower for sake than for other alcoholic beverages such as wine. The yeast plays important role for this aroma. The yeast from brewing society of Japan is the most commonly used strain for ginjo type of sake. Nova imports this yeast from Japan.

If you like wine but never tried sake, please try Nova’s sake series and Ginjo7 beer.

Gravity sake:

Literally pressed by the earth’s gravitational pull. Meaning no pressure was applied to the mash as the sake is left to drip from a hanging bag to separate the liquid from the mash. This technique is actually called ‘shizuku’ that directly translates to ‘drip’ which is a more traditional and premium method used in Japan for pressing sake than our vacuum method or the most common method using ‘fune.’ This method gives us a lot less yield than the vacuum method and since there’s no pressure applied, you get the cleanest sake with no off-flavors or harshness. Breweries in Japan use this method only for their most premium brands.

Vacuum sake:

The sake was literally pressed (separating liquid from the mash) by vacuum pressure. This is an unconventional method of pressing the sake that is not commonly used in Japan. In order to extract the sake out of the thick rice mash, the mash is sealed in an air pressurized tank and the sake is literally sucked out of the tank. Most commercially available sake are made by pressing method that totally crushes the rice mash to draw out high yield of sake, but crushing the mash too much can draw out off-flavors or harshness. Thus, Nova decided to create a vacuum of space in the tank to put enough pressure to extract the sake but not enough pressure to crush the rice mash. Result is less yield but clean and refined sake.

Ginjo7 hybrid lagar:

Hybrid lager beer that was brewed with local Calrose rice steamed using techniques from sake production instead of flaked rice traditionally used in commercial lagers. The word “ginjo” is used in the sake industry to indicate a sake style of aromatic nature while the “7” comes from the #701 sake yeast strain.

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Sparkling Vacuum Sake on tap!

We carbonated the VACUUM sake (15.0% abv) just like we would with beer and put it fresh on tap! The carbonation adds refreshing mouthfeel and higher acidity making it ideal for pairing with greasy/cheesy foods. Bet you won’t find this anywhere else in the whole county! Available only at our tasting room.

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Blu Yuzu Beer is released!

Blu Yuzu is limited and seasonal release with 4.00% abv and available for togo and tasting at our tasting room. It is currently trending berliner weisse with tons of yuzu flavor and blueberry. Not too sour but tart and very refreshing on a hot day!

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Vacuum at TonChinKan in Arcadia!

TonChinKan in Arcadia now carry Vacuum Misty.

Tonchinkan Izakaya’s ambience, wide selection of beers, Japanese sake and Japanese style tapas provides a truly unique dining experience. Our favorite menu there is handmade tofu and grilled beef tongue.

Please visit them and try their food with Vacuum misty.

Izakaya TonChinKan
713 W Duarte Rd Arcadia, CA 91007
(626) 461-5078

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Happy World Sake Day and Nova’s 1st anniversary give away!

2 months ago, we released our first locally brewed fresh sake and officially became the first and only craft sake brewery in LA County.
We produce small batches and hand-make our sake as we were taught by a multi award-winning brewery in Ibaraki, Japan called @inaba_shuzo who makes the amazing #minanogawa and #stellasake
99.99% of locals still do not know there’s local sake being made here due to our business was suppressed by Covid19. Help us get our name out there by participating in this promotion!

October 1st Promotion:
[ 6 winners will get Vacuum Misty Sake for $10.01 (alcohol cannot be given away for free by law) + free giftbox which includes two tasting glasses ] We also invite the winners an option to visit our brewery for a private tour that includes free sampling of our sake!

How to enter:
1️⃣ Follow @novabrewingco at Facebook or Instagram
2️⃣ Like this post
3️⃣ Tag 3 people in the comments

Available to LA/SGV locals only.
This promotion ends on Oct 5th, and we will contact the winners on Oct 7th!

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Doburoku is released!

We were told by the Master Sake Sommelier @ueno_toshio that we shouldn’t just promote sake, but we should promote Japanese food and their drinking culture, which is one reason we wanted to do a special release of this product on a special day.

HISTORY
Doburoku is an ancient alcoholic drink that is illegal for home-brewing in Japan and limited to be produced by only a handful of breweries. The sake you drink nowadays that has been clarified are modern styles of sake possible due to technology. Rice farmers long ago did not have the technology or the tools to be able to clarify sake like they do now so they would make sake by mixing rice, water, yeast and koji, ferment it then just drink the fermented rice mash straight up. Yes, there’s still rice in this drink so we do not recommend to those who expect clean, crisp, refreshing drink. This is the rawest form of sake, a piece of history we introduce. Doburoku is currently not imported to California as we know of and no other breweries produce it so we are the first and the only brewery to introduce this style of sake to LA locals!

TO OPEN THE BOTTLE
This stuff is still alive and active which is why we used pressurized bottle to preserve the naturally occuring carbonation. If you open the bottle without reading the instructions or watching the video on this post, you will regret it! and no refund!

Nova’s DOBUROKU
We used 50% calrose rice to give it a clean taste, and used a traditional production method for DOBUROKU called ICHIDAN-JIKOMI, and we ferment until 10.00% ABV. Nama (unpasteurized) just like all our other sake. $20.00/500ml
Available at Nova Brewing co. tasting room only for tasting and togo!

We would like to also take this time to introduce you all to a really cool new brewery INSIDE the Tokyo Station in Japan!
@tokyostation_sakebrewery
They make doburoku in the station, how cool is that! Make sure to follow them and put it on your list for when you visit Japan!