Sake It To Me!

Once made with saliva, sake has evolved into a popular, spit-free spirit in North America.

Generally known as the “spirit of Japan” – although it’s also made in China and various other countries– sake is made from rice and sometimes described as a rice wine or a rice beer. It’s fermented by a highly specialized rice, yeast, and water mixture developed by a brew master.

The rice used in production is first “polished,” or skinned so that only the starch portion is left, then steeped in water for a couple of hours to soften it. The mixture is then separated into two portions: the bulk is used for fermentation, while a smaller portion is used to make moldy rice, which helps convert the starch in the bulk portion into fermentable sugar.

This happens when the two portions are recombined, producing a parallel fermentation process that is unique in the spirits industry. Originally, this was done by village elders chewing on rice and spitting the kernels into a communal pot. The enzymes in the saliva collected on the outside of the rice kernels, adding just the right stuff to help create a fermenting mixture that, with time, would produce a form of alcohol.

Once the fermentation process is complete and any neutral spirits have been added, the mash is separated from the liquid and allowed to settle, which produces fresh sake. The sake is then pasteurized and allowed to age for no more than a couple of months.

Sake can be dry or sweet, heavy or light, so it helps to know your stuff before you mix or sample it. In this respect, sake is a lot like wine in that the flavour characteristics can be extremely different between brands.

Traditionally, sake was always cloudy with sediment in the bottom of each bottle because filtration had yet to be introduced to the industry. However, legend has it that this all changed thanks to one irritated employee. It’s said that a disgruntled sake-maker decided to ruin a vat of sake by throwing a ton of ash into it before leaving one day. Overnight, the ash attracted all the particulate matter in the vat, increasing its weight and making it settle at the bottom. When the liquid was drained to be bottled, it was virtually clear and free of the cloud-forming particles. Filtered sake was born.

Saketinis have become quite popular over the past couple of years in North America. Here is a very nice recipe for you to try at home:

1 oz. draft sake

½ oz. Belvedere vodka

Splash of passion-fruit juice

Cucumber strips to garnish