SIPS
For Goodness’ Sake
WETLANDS SAKE BRINGS A JAPANESE STAPLE TO LOUISIANA
Story and photos by Alexandra Kennon
L
ouisiana’s first sake brewery got its start in 2019, when Nan Wallis left a bag of rice on hLindsey Beard’s front porch. Just a few weeks before, the pair of long-time friends had been discussing the way the Japanese, rice-based drink has been catching on across the country— but not in Louisiana. Beard said that somebody should open a sake brewery in New Orleans, especially considering that Louisiana ranks third in the nation for rice production. “And I was like, ‘Yeah, they should,’” Wallis agreed. When the two parted ways, Wallis
kept thinking about the conversation and started to research sake production. Two weeks later, she dropped the bag of rice on Beard’s porch with a note that said: “Call me”. Wallis had come to the conclusion that, yes, somebody should be making sake in New Orleans, and— as she told Beard over the phone—“It should be us.” Deciding they wanted to brew their sake with Louisiana-grown rice or not at all, Wallis and Beard turned to the experts at the LSU AgCenter’s H. Rouse Caffey Rice Research Station near Crowley for assistance ascertaining the perfect grains. From their research, they knew
that sake brewing requires short grain rice, because when the rice is milled, it removes more of the protein layer from the exterior of the rice, leaving only the starch at the center of the grain; only short grain rice contains the necessary amount of starch. Wallis and Beard were initially discouraged to learn that though Louisiana is the third-largest rice producing state in the U.S., the vast majority of rice grown here is long grain—medium grain is occasionally grown to feed livestock and things along those lines, but Louisiana-grown short grain rice was essentially unheard of. After initial testing with medium grain
rice went poorly, the pair nearly gave up on their Louisiana rice-made sake dream. Then, they got an unexpected call from Dustin Harrell, resident coordinator of the Rice Research Station and former LSU AgCenter rice specialist. “I have the perfect rice for you!” he told Wallis, who was in disbelief—they had visited the Rice Station countless times over the course of two and a half years, and each time had been told there was no rice available with the qualities they required. Harrell told them about “Pirogue” rice, a short-grain Louisiana-grown rice created by a now-retired LSU AgCenter rice breeder named Steve Linscombe in 2003. The rice was originally bred to be grown in Abbeville for a Puerto Rican market. There were still a couple of substantial catches, though: the first was that the long-forgotten short grain rice only existed in seed form at that point, meaning Wallis and Beard would have to wait for it to be planted in March and harvested that August. The second hangup was that though the pair only needed two pounds to see if the rice would even be conducive to brewing sake, the smallest amount the AgCenter could grow them was seven thousand pounds. “[Harrell] was like, ‘Even if we just grow one little patch, that’s gonna be seven thousand pounds,’” Wallis said. “And I was like, ‘I gotta call you back.’” Wallis and Beard knew that it was a stop or go decision: “Do you take the risk for the reward?” Beard said they wondered. They took the risk, and a whole sake brewery later, they and the sake lovers of Louisiana are now enjoying the reward. “If that rice had not tested well, we wouldn’t have done the brewery,” said Wallis. During that spring and summer period of 2019 while they waited for their rice to grow, the two continued to research, create their business plan, talk with brewers, and set the other practical necessities of a brewery in place so they would be ready when the crop came in. When they were able to have the rice lab-tested to ensure it had the proper high-starch, low-protein, low-iron characteristics, the results showed that the grains were ideal for sake brewing. “We were high-fiving, because it worked out really well,” Wallis said. The AgCenter grew them 100,000 pounds of the Pirogue rice in 2020, which they’re currently using to brew, while another crop is growing for an August 2021 harvest. “We have about 240,000 pounds in the ground right now,” Wallis said. That translates to a lot of sake. Finding a space for their brewery was another challenge that took them over a year to accomplish, which included those // J U LY 2 1
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