The term saké means alcohol in Japanese and the rice-based drink we all know and love is called Nikonshu. It has been produced in Japan for more than 1,000 years. However, the emergence of high-end saké only dates back approximately 100 years.
There are many types of rice used to make saké. Three main varieties make up the bulk of what is produced. The quaff generally hovers around 15 to 17 percent alcohol by volume, although there are some exceptions, so it typically comes in at a higher alcohol level than most wines. It is only aged for nine months to a year, in another departure from wine production.
Saké is brewed like beer, and the rice used to make it is polished—as the industry refers to the process—or ground down before it ferments. Generally, the quality of the final product is defined by how much the rice grains have been polished.
“Premium saké is made exclusively from rice, water, and koji mold,” shares Eric Hemer, senior vice president and director of wine education at Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits.
The Diversity of Saké
There are so many different types of saké—both classic and new spins—that it can be hard to understand. Some of the unusual types include sparkling and unfiltered: the second of which is generally sweet and best enjoyed after dinner. Saké may also be infused with different fruit flavors. Kinapaku-iri saké even contains gold flakes: which don’t influence the flavor or aroma greatly.
In general, there are four different types of saké. Junmai, which is made from rice only with no added alcohol; Honjozo, to which a tiny bit of alcohol is added; Ginjo, which is made from highly milled rice with or without alcohol added; and Daiginjo, which is even more highly milled than Ginjo, also produced with or without the addition of alcohol.
Food Pairing and Saké
You don’t need to be a Japanese restaurant or retail specialist to confidently offer saké by the bottle or the glass. Most sakés are, essentially, dry but can have strong floral notes that might seem sweet on the palate. Many sommeliers find a wide range of sakés to be versatile in their food-pairing abilities. It has even been said that the right glass of saké can take on challenging vegetables such as asparagus.
Getting more inventive here, pizza might work well with some types of saké. Layers of cheese are tantamount to a high-fat content and the right saké could take that on with solid acidity for both the cheese and tomato sauce.
Spicy Asian food could also be another good match. These complex flavors of sweet, salty, bitter and umami work well with many dry sakés. Sakés with lower alcohol levels are likely to be a better match with these kinds of foods.
Given that many great sakés have both floral, and sometimes maderized—somewhat Sherry like—aromas, they are easy to pair with a number of foods. They are also spectacular, particularly the sparkling ones, as aperitifs in a restaurant. Smaller bottles could also be easy sales targets in the off-premise arena.
