The Second Glass

I usually ordered a carafe of hot sake when I dined at sushi restaurants. I didn’t mind the burning-alcohol taste and lack of flavor because I didn’t know any better and college had acclimated my taste buds to such beverages via countless shots of room temperature vodka poured from a plastic jug. It wasn’t until met with Nancy Cushman, Proprietor and Sake Sommelier at O Ya, a new, high end Japanese restaurant in Downtown Boston, that I learned how truly wonderful sake could be.

“This has some tropical flavors to it and it’s amazing what comes from rice because it’s just rice,” Cushman explains. I tasted bright honeydew, melon, banana, peaches and even yogurt flavors, all from rice wine. In a single afternoon I was completely turned around on sake.

Brewing Sake

There are only four ingredients in sake; rice, koji, yeast and water. Sake brewers start with a special type of sake rice. This rice is unique because the starches are concentrated in the center of the kernel. The rice is milled or polished to remove the oils and proteins, which surround the starchy center. The more the rice is milled, the finer and more delicate the flavors of the finished product are.

After the rice has been milled to the desired size, it is steamed and combined with yeast and koji. Koji is a mold, which is cultivated on the steamed rice. It has been used to create miso, soy sauce, and sake for over 1,000 years. The colonies of koji, which are reserved from previous batches of sake rice, are mixed with fresh rice, a process similar to a sourdough bread starter. Breweries are very secretive and exact about the amount of water added, temperature and time the koji sits.

After about two days the koji is ready and it is combined with plain steamed sake rice, water and yeast, creating a yeast starter or moto. The moto is then moved to a large tank where over the course of a few days, as the yeast cells cultivate, more rice, water and koji are added becoming a mash or moromi. When the batch reaches the desired volume it is left to ferment for 18 to 32 days.

After the brewers deem the batch ready, it is pressed to remove some of the lees, or milky-ness. It is then filtered to remove the remaining cloudy-ness (unfiltered sake is called nigori). Sake is almost always pasteurized before it is bottled, aged for about six months and ready for consumption.

Reading Labels

Deciphering sake labels can be a chore as many are written completely in Japanese. Ask your server or wine store employee if you have any questions. When in doubt, request a “premium sake” and look for the word ‘Junmai.’ Otherwise, the percentage the rice is milled to, designating quality, can sometimes be printed right on the label. If all else fails, use the same technique that got you started with wine; pick out a cold sake and give it a whirl. That’s what exploring is all about!

Types of Sake

The Japanese government has created quality designations for sake. These classes refer to the level the rice is milled before the sake creation process. The more the rice is milled, the finer and more delicate the flavors.

Junmai

High quality sake, with the rice milled to at least 70% it’s original size. The sake is typically medium bodied with possible earthy flavors.

Pairing: richer dishes such as pork, chicken, wagyu or grilled foods.

Ginjo

Premium sake with the grain milled to at least 60%. Light to medium in body with a fruit or floral flavor.

Pairing: lighter dishes, such as sashimi, nigiri, white meats, chicken and pork.

Daiginjo

Super premium, using only the most refined grains, up to 50% milled. The most delicate style of sake, light in body with very bright fruit (melon, peaches, apple).

Pairing: with light dishes such as sashimi.

Sparkling Sake

A newer style of sake, which is light, fruity and fun. Makes a perfect aperitif.

Pairing: lighter dishes, such as sashimi, nigiri, salad or dessert.

Nigori

Unfiltered sake, which can be cloudy and milky in color with flavors of sweet rice and coconut.

Pairing: Lighter dishes, such as nigiri or dessert.

Aged Sake

Most sake should be consumed within a year of its release. Some sakes can be aged, but the flavors change drastically, making for intense and very sharp flavors.

Pairing: other intense flavors, such as kobe beef or foie gras.