Ahhh, Sake. We love you so. Sake is a rice wine that originated in Japan. It has a similar fermenting process to beer, which is funny because it is, in fact, a wine. To make things more complicated, the word “sake” means “liquor” in Japanese. It’s known for being Japan’s national beverage of choice. Since the country is surrounded by the sea, Sake goes perfectly with seafood as it can hide some of the fishy aftertastes. We love to see it.

Some say sake is the cleanest alcohol out there. It’s made up of rice and water that is then fermented and pasteurized. Can’t get any simpler than that.

Generally, Sake’s alcohol percentage is around 15% - plus or minus a few. Like that of wine, it is strong enough to get you drunk. When comparing, sake can be 20-30% less strong than whiskey or vodka. Although it will get you buzzing, sake doesn’t have sulfites, and also it has very low histamines, which means you probably won’t have a bad hangover drinking it - unless you drink too much. But hey, we’ve all been there.

First off, to each their own. You can drink sake hot, cold, room temperature, heck you could try freezing it and eating it like a popsicle for all we care. There isn’t a wrong way to sip on this rice wine, but it’s said that the most premium sakes are typically best served chilled. While on the other hand, warming it up is an easy way to mask a cheaper, “regular” sake. Hiya (premium sake), ones that have more subtle flavors and fragrances, and are made with pure rice that is then milled down to at least 50% of its initial size, are best chilled. A typical Hiya sake that’s best-served cold would be a junmai daiginjo. Atsukan (regular sake) is best for heating because the heat has the ability to mask some of the unpleasant aspects of the flavor or aroma to make it more palatable. A typical Kan sake that’s best-served hot would be a futsushu.

We thought you’d never ask - of course you can get sake delivered on Saucey. Just choose the bottle you want, complete your checkout, and we’ll be at your door ASAP.

• Gekkeikan Traditional
• Gekkeikan Black & Gold
• Momokawa Ruby Tokubetsu Junmai