Looking for a sake brewery? Medfield's Farthest Star is the only one in New England
MEDFIELD - If you're looking for a brewery but you're not interested in beer, Farthest Star Sake in Medfield may be for you.
It's the only sake brewery in New England. Owner Todd Bellomy fell in love with the sake while in Japan and now he's sharing that love stateside.
"Once people taste it, they are hooked, but the trick is getting them to taste it. So, we do a lot of tastings in stores, we do sake dinners, we do events and then we have a taproom here," he told WBZ-TV.
Bellomy is also the brewer. With special rice that's grown in Arkansas, he said the process of making sake takes 6-to-8 weeks to bring to glass.
"You're basically breaking down rice into sugar and then fermenting the sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide and lots of chemicals that we all perceive as flavors and aromas," he said.
"Much softer and subtler in flavors than people think and that's, I think, what captures them when they try it. It doesn't taste anything like what they thought it would taste like," wine and sake educator Marina Giordano told WBZ.
"Even when you take say fruity and floral style, Ginjo-style sake and you taste them side-by-side, one may taste a lot like banana, and another one may taste more like apple and one may have like red fruit flavors."
If you're interested in celebrating, World Sake Day is right around the corner on October 1.
"World Sake Day is a really big day in Japan," Bellomy said. "It's the start of the brewing season. We celebrate all over the world and here we certainly celebrate it."
For more information, visit their website.
