Utsuri-ka

【English】

Transmitted smell

【Japanese】

移り香

Compared to other alcoholic drinks, the aromatics of sake are rather gentle, making it relatively easy for aromas other than those arising during fermentation or storage to transfer to the sake from hoses, machines, tanks and other equipment used in filtration or other processes. The collective name for odours that did not originate with the sake itself is utsuri-ka. Examples include abura-shu (油臭, long final “u” (as for other expressions using this word), “oil smell”) ; gomu-shu, jushi-shu, tanso-shu (炭素臭, carbon smell), fukuro-ka (袋香, “bag smell”, related to saka-bukuro) , roka-shu and so on. All are unwelcome.