Ozeki Sake

Hollister’s “local” brewer

PHOTO BY MARK C. ANDERSON

On its official website, the city of Hollister highlights all sorts of things that make it a notable place. The agriculture. The historic homes and churches. The wine country. The outdoor opportunities, including Pinnacles National Park just around the corner. It tells the backstory of its namesake Colonel William Welles Hollister, one of the first to drive a flock of sheep across the continent, to a place where livestock, sheep included, still outnumber humans.

But there is no mention that the city is the North American capital of sake, the first place Japanese sake was ever produced in the country, and—since 1979—the home of Ozeki Sake Inc. USA, which produces 500,000 12-packs of 750-milliliter bottles alone every given year. That’s around 1.2 million gallons, enough to fill the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Deep Sea exhibit.

Ozeki President and Former Production Chief Yoji Ogawa isn’t too concerned about municipal recognition. He cares more about easy access to California rice grown in Sacramento and sake-friendly climate conditions (not too hot, cold or humid). And as far as his pioneering work in Hollister, one of the things he’s proudest of is Ozeki’s flavored sake, which represents a daring move for a company committed to recipes first crafted back in the 1700s.

“I was surprised, and I was excited to make a new product,” says Ogawa, who favors the yuzu expression over strawberry and pineapple, though all are tasty and well-balanced. “This is something we normally don’t do, and it is good for business.”

Ozeki’s Hollister headquarters and brewing facility represent a different sort of revelation. The place somehow wows with both scale and attention to detail.

When I stopped by, I walked past vats the size of space rockets with then-Ozeki Production Manager Kenta Horie, who described the forensic focus paid to de-moisturizing, polishing, washing, steaming, tumbling and tasting of the specific medium grain rice they source from farmers whose identity they keep guarded. When we paused at the massive conveyor belt where the kernels are steamed, Kenta grabbed a handful, started smooshing it between two palms, and studied it by touch.

“I make ‘mochi’ with it every day…” he said, “to make sure it is good.”

He added that the water here enjoys mellow minerals—not too many, but with all the desirables a brewing specialist like him seeks— in a way that mimics the waters of Nada-Gogō, the coastal home of the world’s oldest sake brewers, Ozeki included.

When Ozeki execs travel from the Nada-Gogō region to visit Hollister, some 5,459 miles away, the first place they eat out is Inaka Japanese Restaurant in San Juan Bautista.

This happens for several reasons.

One, they can speak Japanese with sushi maker Taeko Smith and chefs Janet and Yasuo “Chief” Sakaguchi—parents of co-owner Dave Io.

Two, these chefs conjure recipes so old school—like nikujaga, a traditional potato-meat stew—the visitors emerge shocked that the dishes are on offer.

“Yoji told me, ‘I haven’t had this in 30 years!’” Io says. “And it tasted just like he remembered.”

Three, a core identity is shared beyond Japanese heritage: Both parties practice an epicurean craft with care and consistency, across generations. Inaka often has five family members working at once. Four, the homespun and from-scratch food—tatsuta-age chicken, quail egg shooters, avocado tempura, San Benito special rolls, cauliflower katsu with garlic curry aioli—plays poetically with Ozeki’s cloudy nigori, One Cup and Junmai Daiginjo platinum sake.

Finally, there’s a bit of shared history between family-run brewery and family-run restaurant which have formed their own informal family: Inaka sold the world’s first bottles of Ozeki’s flavored nigori, which makes a far-flung planet feel more tightly woven.