To make premium sake, brewers polish it further, to varying degrees.
All rice grains are polished about 10 percent before they reach a sake brewery. Sake quality and cost are all about the level of polish, or the amount the rice grains have been milled before brewing. There, it is seen more as a palate cleanser, best enjoyed between meals or on its own. It can also be served cold or warm, though the latter is often reserved for cheaper, less refined sake.įinally, though Americans are often taught or tempted to pair their sake with sushi - or, shudder, as part of a sake bomb - neither practice is common in Japan. It is usually clear and still but unfiltered sake is milky white, and some sakes are carbonated. You’ll often see these numbers on sake menus or on sake bottle labels. In sake’s case, it is then fermented a second time with koji mold.įlavor-wise, sake can range from dry to sweet, measured by the Sake Meter Value (SMV), a numerical scale ranging from -15 to +15, with dryness increasing with number. Like beer, it’s made with steeped grain and is brewed and fermented with yeast. Sake has more in common with beer than any other alcoholic beverage. Nor is it Japanese vodka, or a distilled spirit of any kind. Let’s get this out of the way: Sake is not rice wine. It can also be used as a substitute spirit in classic cocktails like the Martini or Negroni. Shochu is also most often consumed on the rocks, mixed with cold or hot water, or with fresh juice, which lowers the alcohol content even further to about 12 to 15 percent ABV, similar to a glass of wine. As such, a sweet potato shochu will taste very different from a rice shochu. Top-quality shochu, called honkaku shochu, is single-distilled, allowing it to retain the flavors of its base ingredient. Shochu is also most commonly made from sweet potato ( imo-jochu), barley ( mugi-jochu), or rice ( kome-jochu).Īccording to Yukari Sakamoto, sommelier, certified shochu advisor, and author of “Food Sake Tokyo,” shochu flavor and quality can vary greatly. It shares certain characteristics with soju, including a similarly low ABV (between 25 and 30 percent ABV on average) and pronunciation. Shochu originated in Japan at least 500 years ago. In New York and California, for example, soju no more than 24 percent alcohol by volume can be sold under a beer and wine license, which is cheaper and easier for restaurants to acquire than a liquor license. Soju is the top-selling liquor by volume in the world, but it’s not legally considered a spirit everywhere. It has a neutral flavor, like vodka, but half the alcohol content - it typically hovers between 20 and 34 percent ABV, compared to vodka’s 40 percent ABV.
Soju is most often drunk straight with food, like wine, but is also used in cocktails, like a spirit. As a result, sojus vary in aroma and flavor. It was traditionally made with rice but, ever since distilling rice was banned during the Korean War, distillers have used other grains and starches, such as wheat, sweet potatoes, and even tapioca. Soju is a clear spirit that originated in Korea.
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