Sake to me

A primer on Japanese rice wine

By TYLER BALLIET

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If you don't like sake, chances are that you have probably only had really crappy sake. We're talking about that $7 carafe of warm, soul-burning hootch alongside your California roll at late-night sushi joints. Yes, this is technically sake, or Japanese rice wine—but then again, Natty Light is technically beer. "Real" sake has bright and delicate flavors including melon, rice and peach. It's served cold and perfectly compliments Japanese cuisine. The only reason certain sakes are served warm is to mask the horrible taste. A quality bottle of sake may cost you a few more bucks than the warm stuff, but it's similarly priced to a bottle of wine and your body will thank you the next morning.

Sake is made by cultivating a mold, koji, on rice and then fermenting it into alcohol. It's made with a special type of rice that has the starches concentrated in the center of the grain. Breweries mill the grains, removing the impure outer layer resulting in finer and more delicate flavors in the sake. The more the rice is milled, the higher quality and more expensive the wine.

Those are the details, but here is what you actually need to know. The Japanese government has certain designations of sake based on quality, style and how finely the rice is milled. Most bottles are clearly marked with a few words in English, so just learn to recognize these words and you're all set to explore a whole new kind of wine.

Junmai: High-quality sake, with the rice milled to at least 70 percent of its original size. The sake is typically medium bodied with possible earthy flavors like mushroom.

Ginjo: Premium sake with the grain milled to at least 60 percent. Light to medium in body with a fruit or floral flavor.

Daiginjo: Super premium, using only the most refined grains and up to 50 percent milled. The most delicate style of sake; light in body with very bright fruit (melon, peaches, apple).

Nigori: Unfiltered sake, which is cloudy and milky in color with flavors of sweet rice and coconut.

If a bottle is not marked with one of these designations, chances are it's the Japanese equivalent to bathtub gin. When ordering sake in a restaurant, always be sure to ask about the size of the bottle. Sake comes in bottles as small as 187ml and as large as 3L. Since it runs as high as 20 percent in alcohol by volume, a 500ml bottle packs roughly the same punch as a bottle of wine.

Try the following:

FUNAGUCHI | $12/can

[Available at The Savant Project, 1625 Tremont St., Mission Hill, Boston. 617.566.5958. thesavantproject.com]

WAKATAKE ONIKOROSHI "DEMON SLAYER" JUNMAI DAI GINJO | $11/glass

[Available at Haru, 55 Huntington Ave., Prudential Center, Boston. 617.536.0770. harusushi.com]

HOU HOU SHU "BUBBLE BUBBLE SAKE" SPARKLING SAKE | $10/bottle (187ml)

[Available at Seiyo, 1721 Washington St., South End, Boston. 617.447.2183. seiyoboston.com]

FOR MORE INFORMATION: THESECONDGLASS.COM