Sake is probably the most famous Japanese alcohol of all. In Japan, if you’re not drinking Japanese whisky, Japanese beer, or the miracle of chuhai – you’re probably drinking sake. For those new to sake, it can be pretty intimidating. Nothing else is really like it and there are many different brands and varieties. Some you drink hot, others chilled. But what’s the difference? What makes one sake so different from another?
A Quick Primer on Sake
Sake is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented rice. It is sometimes referred to a rice wine but this is actually less than accurate. Unlike wine, sake is produced by a brewing process similar to that of beer’s. A big part of the process and classification depends on how much the rice has been milled, polished, and filtered.
The alcohol content in sake usually comes to around 18%–20% straight after brewing, but it is often diluted to about 15% prior to bottling. Personally I prefer all the other kinds of Japanese alcohol to sake, but sake is a huge part of Japan’s drinking culture and it’s important to at least know a little bit about it, even if you’re not too fond of the stuff.
We actually went to a sake brewery/museum like the ones in the above and below videos. We got to listen to a guy with a thick dialect speak in Japanese about the sake brewing process, see how it’s all done, and sample some sake. The sake I had there was some of the best sake I ever tasted, so if you ever have the opportunity to visit one of these breweries, I think it’s definitely worth attending.
The are four main different types of sake that all have different creation steps, food pairings, and optimal serving temperatures. Some people categorize them differently (combining and mixing the main categories, etc), but I think the following four make the most sense. Yes, sake is at least, if not more, complicated than wine can be.
Junmai
Junmai is your pure sake. By pure I mean that no additional starches or sugars are added and no additional alcohol is added either. For junmai, 30% of the rice kernel gets milled/polished away and the sake has a full rich body with acidity higher than average for a sake.
With its intense flavor and low fragrance, junmai sake is most often served hot (up to 100F). Most will recommend that when drinking a cheap sake (not that junmai is cheap, mind you), it helps to heat it up. From my experience, it certainly helps it go down easier. Never heat it up in the microwave or boil it though, this kills the sake.
Honjozo
Honjozo is pretty similar to junmai except that a small amount of additional alcohol is added to lighten up and smooth out the flavor of the sake. This also makes it a bit more fragrant. Like junmai, the rice must have a degree of milling of at least 70%.
This light sake is often served warm, room to body temperature. From what I remember, I prefer this to junmai due to the additional alcohol smoothing out the taste a bit.
Ginjo
Ginjo sake is much more light and complex than the previous two because the rice has been polished further. For ginjo sake, 40% of the kernel gets milled away. This combined with the addition of special yeast, lower fermentation temperatures, and fancy sake techniques make ginjo sake one of the most fragrant available.
Ginjo sake is most often served chilled as this brings out the flavor best. Too cold (less than ~50F) and you run the risk of killing the flavor, similar to what can happen with white wine.
Daiginjo
What could be more fragrant than ginjo sake? Daiginjo sake. The rice gets milled even further, somewhere between 50-65% being milled away. There are a wide variety of daiginjo sakes, but most are like ginjos, just more full bodied and fragrant.
This high end sake, like normal gingo, is often served chilled. Overall I’d say that this is my favorite sake due to the interesting flavors and fragrances. I also like that it has a brief aftertaste. Some sake flavors linger in the mouth too long for my liking but daiginjo is a different story.
Namazake, Nigori, and Food Pairings
Namazake or “nama sake” is sake that’s not been pasteurized. Therefore it should be stored cold. This sake has a fresh and lively taste to it and all types of the above sake can be namazake as long as they aren’t pasteurized.
There’s also nigori sake which is coarsely filtered sake. The unfermented portion of the rice is left in the bottle which gives the sake a cloudy white color due to the bits of rice floating around inside. Since the fermentation process can continue in some manner even after it’s bottled, some nigori sakes have a bit of carbonation to them.
Just like wine, there’s a rough guide to how sake should be paired with food. The times I’ve had sake have always been without food so I don’t have much personal experience here, but the above guide should point you in the right direction if you’re trying to figure out the optimal sake for your meal.
