For the Sake of Sake

Sake 101

The roots of Sake—Japan’s national drink— precede even the noble Samurai. While the rest of the world has only recently taken notice of this potent libation, it has been served as a sacred offering to the gods for thousands of years.

The elixir, whether sweet or dry, is made from fermented rice and water. The alcoholic content of most sake is in the 16 percent range, just a tad higher than most red and white wines.

Sake can be served warm or chilled. The tradition of warming began as a way to temper the sometimes overwhelming sweet and woody components that pervaded the drink up until 30 or 40 years ago. The cedar tanks used for centuries to brew sake are being phased out of the production process, making way for a light, dry beverage that tastes best when chilled.

There are four basic types of sake. Junmai-shu is composed of rice with no added alcohol, resulting in a very strong tasting, very dry and very fragrant concoction. Then, there is honjozo-shu, which has a tad of distilled alcohol, resulting in a drier sake with lower acidity and a lighter fragrance. Completely different from either junmai-shu or honjozo-shu is ginjo-shu, which is composed of highly milled rice, making for a much more delicate sake—the more you mill the rice going into sake, the lighter-tasting the resulting drink will be. Finally, there is daiginjo-shu, which is composed of rice that has been even more fine-milled, making the lightest and simplest-tasting of sake.

For a proper crash course, head to a sake bar, make yourself comfortable and ask your attendant lots of questions.

DECIBEL

240 EAST 9TH STREET
NEW YORK
212-979-2733

This East Village find is a charmer for local hipsters and Japanese businessmen alike, thanks to the in-the-know staff that happily offers guidance in navigating the extensive sake list.

SAKE LAB

498 BROADWAY STREET
SAN FRANCISCO
415-837-0228

This futuristically styled bar shines like a modern beacon among the plethora of Italian-themed, old school bars that surround it. Decked out in chrome, both the restaurant and adjacent lounge are all about a sake-in-space vibe.

KOJI YAKITORI SAKE BAR

17 ASYLUM STREET
HARTFORD
860-247-5654

Koji is another thoroughly modern offering that features Bruce Lee movies playing on flat-screen televisions scattered throughout the venue. The bar boasts a huge selection of flavored sake-tinis as well as traditional sake.