Saké, the national drink of Japan, is an alcoholic beverage brewed from rice. By strict definition, brewing from grains (such as rice) makes saké a beer. Rice in beer is shunned by serious brewers and beer lovers, so what’s going on here? Is saké simply light beer?
The same young people who have embraced Japan’s small but growing craft beer culture are beginning to look at traditionally brewed—craft-brewed—saké in a new light.
No. Saké, brewed for over a thousand years in Japan, makes the use of rice something entirely different and wonderful.
Unlike beer, saké is rarely conditioned, and hops and spices are absent. Only rice, water, yeast and an enzyme called koji are used. Even so, saké comes in a surprising range of flavors and styles.
In Japan, saké has been burdened with a dusty image—a drink tied to ritual and ceremony, as well as old-man drunkenness. In the past twenty years, however, there has been a revival of traditional brewing methods and the popularization of high quality saké. There are striking parallels to the renaissance of craft brewing in the U.S., Europe—and, recently, in Japan. The same Japanese who embrace good beer are also appreciating good saké.
A heightened interest in craft saké has taken place in the U.S., as well. Americans are increasingly shunning overheated, mass-produced saké—long a staple in Japanese restaurants—and are drinking saké brewed by small craft breweries. Craft saké is coming of age.
