Soothing sake

The Process

Sake is brewed less like wine and more like beer, with multiple fermentation stages. The three critical ingredients in sake are polished rice (rice that has been milled in such a way that the oils and proteins from the rice are removed and only the starch remains), water and Koji (a type of mould whose enzymes convert the starch in the rice to sugars, which are converted into alcohol by fermenting with yeast).

The resulting cloudy liquid is known as ‘Nigori Sake’. Most sake is filtered. But if it was that simple, we would all be brewing sake.

How potent is sake

Sake is not distilled multiple times to increase the strength of the alcoholic content. Pure sake has an alcoholic content of 10-15 per cent. Therefore, many Japanese breweries usually “fortify” the sake with some distilled alcohol and it is not uncommon to find sakes with alcoholic contents of around 25 per cent.

There is also Tokutei Meisoshu (special designation sake), or sake that has polished rice that has been polished very fine and, in certain cases, does not have any distilled alcohol added to it. Some varieties of this sake, especially Daiginjoshu, are also quite expensive.

How to drink sake

Sake can be drunk hot, warm or cold—though overheating can ruin the flavour. Chilled sake, in fact, is becoming increasingly popular. Sake is a relatively simple drink, and while it goes fantastically well with Sushi or Sashami, it goes well with spicy Indian food as well.

You sip sake out of a small cylindrical ceramic cup called choko and you pour it out of a ceramic flask called tokkuri. But if you find yourself in Japan, you can also find yourself drinking out of flat plates or wooden cups.

Sake in India

You can get sake at most major East-Asian restaurants across India and a bottle of Futsu-shu will set you back Rs 1,500-2,000. You can expect to pay Rs 4,000 for a bottle of Daiginjo-shu.