Is Sake a Beer, Wine, Hard Liquor, or Something Else?

Is Sake a Beer, Wine, or Hard Liquor?

I have heard sake described as a Japanese rice beer.

I have also heard sake described as rice wine.

Some people think sake is a distilled spirit like whiskey or vodka.

But sake is not a beer nor a wine nor hard liquor.  Sake is its own thing entirely!

Sake Is Not Beer!

Beer is made using malted grain, yeast, hops, and water.  Malted grain simply means grain that has been kept wet and allowed to start sprouting.  The reason malted grain (such as malted barley) is used to make beer is the the malted grain has an enzyme that breaks down starch into sugar that the yeast can ferment.  Since yeast cannot ferment starch, there would be no alcohol in beer without the malted grain.

Like beer, sake is made using a grain  — rice.  But malted rice is not used.  A special mold called Koji Kin (Aspergillus oryzae) is added to the rice.  This mold produces an enzyme that breaks down the starch in rice into sugars that yeast can ferment into alcohol.

So sake is not beer because it is not made with malted grain.  Plus it does not use hops or any other bittering agent.  If you have tasted sake, you will know it tastes nothing like beer!

Sake Is Not Wine!

So if sake is not a beer, it must be a wine.  You can make wine from all sorts of things.  Grapes, of course, but also raspberries, blackberries, and other fruit.  Fruit contains sugars that yeast can turn into alcohol.  But rice is not a fruit and contains starch — not sugar.  If you tried to make wine with rice instead of fruit, it wouldn't work...  There wouldn't be any sugar for the yeast to ferment.

So sake is not wine either, since wine needs fruit with sugar as an ingredient.

Sake is Not A Distilled Spirit / Hard Liquor!

Since sake is sometimes served in small glasses, and since it has a higher alcohol content than beer, some people think it is a distilled spirit like whiskey or vodka.  But sake is not distilled.  Its alcohol comes only from the natural fermentation process and it is not distilled to increase its alcohol content.

So sake is not a distilled spirit or hard liquor either.

What is Sake?

As I said in the introduction, sake is its own thing.  It has some attributes of wine such as similar alcohol content (around 15%) and complex flavors.  Since sake is made from grain, it is more similar to beer than wine in terms of ingredients.  But sake is not a beer and sake is not a wine and sake is not a distilled liquor.  Sake is sake.

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Copyright © 2017 Dr. Oliver J. Kingsley. All Rights Reserved.