Sake or nihonsho, is a Japanese alcoholic beverage brewed from rice and known to the world over as Japanese Rice Wine. Sake is traditionally a part of the Shinto religion and the Japanese culture. Usually served in a tokkuri or ceramic flask, the drink is poured in o-choko or small cups. It is customary to fill the cups of people around you, and to wait for them to notice and pour for you when yours is empty.
Sake can be served either as atsukan (hot sake) or hiyazake (cold sake). Heating sake will hide some of the less than desirable flavors of the cheaper variety and professional sake tasters prefer to drink it at room temperature. In the United States, sake is most often consumed at after heating it to body temperature. Drinking it cold is also becoming popular as hizasake tastes sweet and tingy.
How is sake made? Sake has four basic ingredients: water, rice, yeast and koji (converts carbohydrates to sugar). These ingredients are fermented and brewed like beer, but the end product is wine. Many Westerners view sake as another white wine because both have distinct similarities.
Koji is a round and robust mold variety intended only for sake. Rice is milled so that 40% is discarded until the whitish substance at the core appears. Only then can actual mixing and fermenting commence.
As with wine, sake may be dry to sweet and fragile to full-bodied. Nigori is a sweet sake, while genshu is full bodied.
Matching Food and Sake
Sake has achieved international stature and is no longer confined to the Asian region, having successfully invaded western consciousness. Different variants of sakes are available to treat your palate. As with any traditional alcohol, sake is best served with cuisine indigenous to the country origin; in this case Japan. Fragrance in a sake is predominant and fruity, and sake can be used as an aperitif to boost your appetite.
Sweet sake can complement full-flavored foods, tempering richness and saltiness, while dry sake suits well with the lighter flavor of fresh seafood.
Acidity in sake is a toned-down equivalent of wine and is appropriate for slightly oily foods such as tempura or some baked fish.
Texture in sake is wide ranging and can be gauged by its softness and crispiness. A soft sake tends to refresh the palate to savor thoroughly the taste of the next meal when taking in oily and spicy food.
Sake is an integral part of Japanese culture and, although sake sales in Japan have declined since the post-World War II period with beer consumption in Japan surpassing that of sake in the 1960s, the spread of Japanese culture and food around the world has created an ever increasing market for the traditional Japanese drink. Sake has truly achieved its place as one of the finest alcohols through the world.
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