The Sakeology Basic Practice in the Graduate School Sakeology Program^※1 involves working on a series of sake brewing in a laboratory. Students brew sake, and at the end of the practice, they conduct sensory evaluations^※2 of the sake brewed by each student to learn the methods and techniques.

This sensory evaluation was conducted for the first time.

After receiving the instruction on the sensory evaluation method from the lecturers, they seriously evaluated the target sake and the sake they brewed themselves. In the end, each student gave a presentation on their evaluation. It was a valuable lecture to learn the profundity of sake brewing.

This was the first sensory evaluation of the master’s program in the Graduate School Sakeology Program, and featured in NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) and Niigata Nippo (The Niigata Nippo, Inc.) .
The news and the articles can be found at the following links (Japanese only).

NHK:
“Graduate students in Niigata University Graduate School Sakeology Program learn ‘sake tasting’ evaluation methods.”
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/lnews/niigata/20220725/1030021879.html

Niigata Nippo:
“The conclusion of the practical training is ‘sake tasting’ – Niigata University Graduate School Sakeology Program”
https://www.niigata-nippo.co.jp/articles/-/92051 (members-only contents)

※1　Niigata University commenced the Graduate School Sakeology Program (Master’s program) in April this year. This program conducts education and research that integrates specialized domains in the humanities and sciences with a focus on the subject of sake, adopting content that provides a bird’s eye view of diverse fields, ranging from raw materials and production to the sale and consumption of sake as well as culture, history, tradition, and health, in addition to the areas of specialization of the students.

※2　Sensory evaluation is a scientific discipline to measure and analyze the color, flavor, and taste of sake using the human senses such as visual, olfactory and tasting sensation.
Sensory evaluation of sake is also known as sake tasting, Kikizake.