Should You Drink Sake Hot or Cold?

Should you drink sake hot or cold?

Should you drink sake hot or cold?

Your first instinct may be to drink sake cold because that is how other alcoholic beverages such as beer and wine are served.

But in Germany beer is served at room temperature, not ice cold.

And most people drink wine straight out of the refrigerator when it is too cold and the flavor is dulled.

So serving all beverages ice cold is not automatically the right answer.

Temperature is an important factor in the flavor and mouth feel of most foods and beverages.  Sake is no different.

Why is there so much written about hot sake?  There are a couple reasons for this.  First is that serving sake hot is a traditional way of serving sake in Japan.  Adding on to this, many people first experience sake served hot in small glasses at a bar.  Sometimes sake is even added to beer.  Oh, the horror!

How do you heat sake?  Let me quickly stop you from trying to put it in the microwave to heat it up.  That is too harsh and would likely impact the taste.  Put hot water in a bowl, and place your glass of sake (or ceramic serving vessel) in the hot water so it can warm up.

A popular serving temperature for hot sake is around 120 degrees F.

Another popular way to go is cold.  You can pour cold sake right out of the refrigerator.  You can even pour it over ice to really cool it down.

So which is better?  As you might expect, sake is complex and the answer is not as simple as you might desire.  Some sake is better hot.  Some is better cold.  And some people tend to like hot sake better than cold and vice versa.

A good clue about the ideal serving temperature for the sake you are drinking is probably right on the bottle.  Many kinds of sake have temperature suggestions.  But get this- they often recommend both hot and cold serving temperatures!

I decided to get to the bottom if this issue by taking sake from the same bottle and trying it both hot and cold.  The hot sake was heated up in a bowl of hot water as described above.  The cold sake was served right out of the refrigerator over ice.

The conclusion:  After trying this with several kinds of sake, I found that I prefer.... cold sake!  The Japanese name for this sake serving temperature around 41 degrees F is Yuki Hie.

For me, the flavor and subtlety really come through with cold sake.  It is so smooth and easy to drink cold.  I find that heating sake tends to bring out the alcohol flavor and makes it less pleasant.

Here are some popular serving temperatures for sake to try, along with their Japanese names, from my friends at sake-talk:

But enough about me, how do you like your sake- hot or cold?  There's only one way to find out... try it and see!

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