Brewing Sake: Part 1
How to Brew Sake in 5 Easy Steps
Japan’s national drink is an underappreciated elixir
Sake, the national drink of Japan is both surprisingly simple to make, and frustratingly difficult to make well.
As a sake aficionado, self-declared sake snob, and a former engineer, it wasn’t enough to drink sake. I had to experience making it myself.
So when I learned of the sake brewing classes at Gakkogura run by Obata Shuzo, the maker of my favorite Manotsuru sakes, on lovely Sado Island in Niigata prefecture, I wanted to attend. The pandemic put a crimp on earlier plans, but I was finally able to join the program this July.
To start the series on sake brewing, this first article provides an overview of the basic sake making process and sake classifications.
What Does “Sake” Mean?
Sake, the national drink of Japan, is a brewed alcoholic drink with a 1000 year history.
The word “sake” (酒) in Japanese simply means “alcohol.”
Since beer, wine, whiskey, and other spirits are also sake, to avoid confusion, in Japanese, sake is usually called nihon-shu (日本酒), literally meaning “Japanese alcohol.” The legal term used on sake labels is seishu (清酒), which…
