From grain to glass: the story of Japanese sake

29.09.2023 - 08:45 / nationalgeographic.com

The first thing to know about sake is that describing it can be as difficult as deciphering the label. It very much stands alone in terms of production style and flavour, meaning comparisons fall short. It’s often described as rice wine — rice is one of its key ingredients and it has a similar alcohol content to its grape-based cousin, but tastes nothing like it and is actually brewed more like a beer. Despite looking and tasting a little like a spirit, its typical alcohol content of 18% to 20% means it isn’t categorised as one. Even if you speak Japanese, its description is vague. Sake, or o-sake as it’s also called, simply means ‘alcohol’. What we in the West know as sake is called nihonshu (Japanese alcohol) in Japan, but is also labelled as seishu. It’s a complex lexicon that adds to sake’s seemingly undefinable intrigue.

The first mention of sake is thought to come from a third-century Chinese text called The Book of Wei, which mentions the drink in the context of Japanese funerary ceremonies: “As the chief mourner begins crying, the rest start singing, dancing and drinking sake.” The beverage has long been connected with religion; legends tell of it defeating evil spirits and some people believe you grow closer to god by drinking it. It’s still drunk at modern weddings, New Year, festivals and funerals. Monks once made their own ceremonial sake, but now breweries donate barrels for ritual use within Shinto shrines and for offerings in the New Year. 

The idea to ferment rice-based alcohol came about in Japan, around 300 BCE, which was then developed and refined to become sake. The ‘modern’ version appeared in the 700s, but it went through some rather unappetising versions beforehand. The first domestic records of sake speak of kuchikamizake, a drink made by villagers chewing on rice, spitting into a communal pot, and letting natural saliva enzymes ferment the liquid into alcohol. 

Today’s sake relies on four main ingredients: water, rice, yeast and koji, a mold with various culinary purposes. Sake-specific rice is polished to expose the starchy interior. It’s then soaked, steamed and cooled before koji spores are scattered across it, creating a ‘mash’. 

The koji converts starch into sugar, which yeast then turns into alcohol during fermentation. After this, the mash is pressed, filtered and then usually pasteurised. Traditionally, sake was always brewed during mid-winter, taking around 40 days to make.

You can witness the various brewing stages in many of the 1,000-plus sakagura (sake breweries) spread across Japan’s alpine spine, breathing in the sweet, warm scents of yeast and rice captured between high wood beams and dark dappled floorboards. Taking a tour and tasting the moreish, hard-won