What does sake taste like?
Sake tastes clean and smooth, somewhere between a dry white wine and a soft rice drink, with hints of melon, pear and steamed rice, usually dry rather than sweet.
Sake
clean, soft and lightly fruity
Sake is Japanese rice wine, though it's brewed more like beer: polished rice is fermented with koji (a helpful mold) and yeast. Premium styles labeled ginjo or daiginjo use rice polished down further and taste fruity and floral, like pear, melon and banana. Junmai styles taste more of the rice itself: savory, a little nutty, rounder. Sake has almost no bitterness and little acidity, so it feels soft rather than sharp. Good sake is usually served chilled; hot sake is often the cheaper stuff, though some fuller styles shine warm.
Where you’ll see it
At Japanese restaurants by the glass, carafe or bottle, chilled or warm, sometimes poured into a little wooden box (masu). Also in sake bombs (a shot dropped into beer) and the odd sake cocktail.
Order it if you like crisp white wine and want something softer and smoother with sushi.
Quick questions
- Is sake a wine or a beer?
- Neither, quite. It's called rice wine, but it's brewed from grain like beer. It tastes and drinks more like wine, at about 15 to 16% alcohol.
- Should sake be hot or cold?
- Most good sake is served chilled to show off its fruit. Warming suits some fuller, rice-forward styles, and it hides flaws in cheaper ones.
- Is sake stronger than wine?
- A little. Most sake is around 15 to 16% alcohol, versus 12 to 14% for most table wine.