Browsing Sake bottles, you might have noticed that there are certain Kanjis (Chinese characters) that are frequently used for Sake names. The followings are the top 10 Kanjis used for Sake names.
1. 山 (Yama / San)
Number of Sake brands: 247
Meaning: Mountain
Famous Sake Brand: Hakkaisan (八海山)
Comment: Mountains have been objects of worship for Japanese people for […]
Some Japanese are hesitant to drink Sake because they think Sake is likely to cause hangover. It is sometimes said that brewed alcohol beverages like Sake and wine are more likely to cause hangover than spirits.
This however, is totally wrong. There’s no medical evidence that a certain alcohol beverage is more or less likely to cause hangover […]
Introduction
Kanpai. It’s a mandatory etiquette to make a toast in Japan. Don’t start drinking before saying cheers, or you’ll be considered rude. This etiquette of cheers applies to all types of alcohol beverages – Sake, beer, wine and all other sorts.
How to say Cheers in Japanese?
We say ‘KANPAI! (乾杯!)’. It literally means ‘dry the glass,’ […]
There are 5 key things that sake beginners should have in mind when choosing one sake from thousands of sake brands. According to their difficulty level, I have classified those 5 key points into “beginner,” “intermediate” and “advance.”
1. Rice Polishing Ratio (Beginner Level)
This tells you AROMA & FLAVOR of sake. In the sake brewing process, rice grains […]
As described in Aromas and Flavors to Describe Sake Page, you can roughly describe the characteristics of sake by using 4 words (rich & clean, and moderate and fragrant) to explain the strength of aromas and the strength of flavors.
Now, what kind of words should we use to describe the sake more concretely? The easy […]
This is one of the questions most frequently asked by sake beginners. The answer is NO!
How should cheap Sake be served?
Sake can be served roughly in three ways, hot, cold or at room temperature. Actually, even many Japanese believe that cheap sake should be served hot to gloss over the sake’s off-flavors. Heating sake can […]
The price of sake ranges from a few hundred yen (2-3 USD) to 20000-30000 yen (200 – 300 USD). BASICALLY, expensive sakes TEND to taste great, but that’s not necessarily the case.
So what makes some sakes expensive? There are roughly 3 main determinants of the price of sake.
Rice Polishing Ratio / Sake Classification
In the sake […]
Ever wondered whether a Sake you are looking to buy is sweet or dry? If you can read the label, you could be able to tell if it’s sweet sake or dry sake.
Some Sake bottles have a label that says ‘Dry (辛口)’, or ‘Sweet (甘口)’. But this is not the case for all the Sake. […]
With the worldwide sake boom, a selected collection of sake is available at local large liquor shops, some Japanese grocery shops or local Japanese restaurants. If you find your favorite sake at a Japanese restaurant, you can ask them its distributor and contact the distributor to find out where you can buy the sake in […]
4 basic words
There are 4 basic words to describe the taste of sake; rich (Hojun / 芳醇)and clean (Tanrei / 淡麗) for flavor, and fragrant (Hanayaka / 華やか)and moderate (Odayaka / 穏やか) for aroma. ‘Rich’ is used for heaviness, thick texture, savoriness, full-body, high acidity and sweetness, whereas ‘Clean’ is used for smooth texture and […]
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