Experiment with sake to find favorite offering
Fermentation is the process by which wine is made. Wine is generally 9- to 16-percent alcohol and made from grapes. Brewing is the process by which beer is made. Beer is generally 3- to 9-percent alcohol and made from grain.
Since sake is brewed and made from rice but has 12- to 16-percent alcohol, is it a beer or a wine? The United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms had the problem of answering this question, and they decided to create “Category 6 — wine from other agricultural products” to help define sake.
Although we commonly associate sake with Japan, its roots lie in China, and it dates back to 4800 BC. Rice was not cultivated in Japan until 4,600 years later.
The confusion about sake for most of us is about how to serve it. Should it be hot, warm or cold? The answer to this is simple — drink it the way you like it.
It is not uncommon to serve chilled sake during the hot months and hot sake during the cold months. Just like any other beverage, sake’s traits are covered with heat or cold.
To experience the true aromas and flavors of the beverage, drink it at room temperature. The reason for serving hot sake in the first place was to cover up undesirable traits of poorly made offerings. If you see sake labeled as Namazake, it is non-pasteurized and meant to be served chilled.
Just like fine wine, the more you know about the terms used on a label, the better choices you can make. Sake can be sweet or dry, clear or cloudy, traditionally aged or shipped green, and it is broken down into different quality categories. All this information is available to those that know how to read the label.
Some of the more common sake terms let us know about the preparation of the rice prior to creating the libation.
The word “honjozo” tells us that the rice has been polished down more than 30 percent. “Ginjo” is polished down between 40 to 50 percent. “Daijinjo” is polished 50 to 65 percent.
A fourth classification is “junmai.” Until 2004, junmai designated 40 percent polishing, but its meaning has been changed by a Japanese mandate. The term now refers to any sake that has been polished to any degree and has no added alcohol or other additives.
Adding a small amount of alcohol to sake is not intended to increase the strength of the libation but rather to enhance the flavor. A bottle marked ginjo would imply that alcohol has been added to the brew. A bottle marked “junmai ginjo” would tell us that alcohol has not been added.
Sake is best if it is consumed young when it is fresh and flavorful. Older sake’ will exhibit tired and flat qualities. Once a bottle is opened, it is best to consume it within a few hours. Sake starts to oxidize the second the bottle is opened.
If you are not going to consume the full bottle, it will last in the refrigerator for a few days. To make sure that the sake will maintain its best structure, be sure to seal the bottle with a vacuum pump as quickly as possible.
There are some very nice sake offerings that can be found on the shelves of better wine shops that come in 330-milliliter bottles. They are the perfect size for two to four servings.
The Kanbara Junmai Ginjo Bride of the Fox is a nice example of a sake that has a nice acidity and floral traits. The rice kernels have been polished down 40 percent to take off the outer layers of rice that contain fats, proteins and amino acids. You will notice that sake of this level does not have the harsh undesirable traits that cheap, low-level sake has.
For a sake that is richer with less citrus and floral in its character, try the Mantensei Junmai Ginjo Star Filled Sky Sake. Just like there are different grape varietals used in creating wine, there are different rice varietals used in creating sake. The Star Filled Sky uses yamada nishiki and tamasakae rice in its blend.
One of the best sake that I have ever had the pleasure of tasting is the Fukucho Junmai Ginjo Moon on the Water Sake. It is lighter than most sake and exhibits a variety of floral traits that is rarely found in any sake.
We have just touched on the complexities that are sake. There is much more that needs to be explained and experienced to get the true joy from this great category of libation. Look for better sake and begin to experience the differences from the mass-produced common offerings to the much better artisan-produced offerings.
