One of the things that surprised me when I started learning about sake is that some brewers add a small amount of distilled alcohol to it, and the result is lighter, drier and more aromatic, which is close to the opposite of what you’d expect. That style is called honjozo, and it’s one of fifteen terms below that should help you make sense of a sake list. They follow on from my earlier post on how to read a sake label. I can’t promise they’ll make you look like an expert, but they should mean fewer blank looks at the menu.
1. Ginjo
Sake made from rice polished until no more than 60% of each grain remains, usually brewed at low temperatures. The result is lighter, fruitier and more fragrant.
2. Daiginjo
Polished further still, to 50% of the grain or less. Expect a clean, delicate sake with fruit and floral aromas, best served cool and well suited to seafood.
3 and 4. Kimoto and Yamahai
Both are traditional ways of making the yeast starter, letting lactic bacteria develop naturally over several weeks, a little like a sourdough starter. Kimoto is the older method, where brewers work the starter with wooden poles, and yamahai, developed in the early 1900s, skips that laborious step. Both give fuller-bodied sake with higher acidity and deep, savoury flavour, sometimes slightly gamey, which makes them good with meat.
5. Tokubetsu
Meaning “special”, this can point to a higher polishing level than the category requires or to a particular brewing method, and the label won’t always tell you which.
6. Junmai
Meaning “pure rice”, junmai is made from rice, water, koji and yeast, with no added alcohol. It tends to be fuller, with more umami, and works well with food, though it’s a different style from the others and not automatically a better one.
7. Honjozo
A small amount of distilled alcohol is added, which lightens the body and lifts the aroma, and historically also helped keep the sake stable. It’s a good choice for warming.
8 and 9. Muroka and Nigori
Both describe filtration. Muroka hasn’t been charcoal filtered, so it can carry a faint golden tint and a little more flavour. Nigori is pressed through a coarse mesh so some rice solids remain, leaving it milky and cloudy, a bit like an unfiltered wine.
10. Genshu
Undiluted sake. Water is usually added after brewing to bring the alcohol down to around 15%, while genshu tends to sit between 17% and 20%. It’s a strong style that suits rich dishes.
11. Yamada Nishiki
Widely regarded as the finest sake rice, and grown mainly in Hyogo Prefecture.
12. Namazake
Unpasteurised sake. Brewers usually pasteurise sake to keep it stable, where winemakers would tend to rely on sulphur. Namazake is fresh and lively, needs to be kept in the fridge, and served chilled it goes well with very fresh sushi.
13. Koshu
Aged sake. There’s no legal definition, but it’s generally taken to mean sake aged for three years or more, and it remains a niche style, since sake is usually made to be drunk young. A small trap if you’ve been reading about Japanese wine: this koshu is written differently from the Koshu grape and has nothing to do with it.
14. Umeshu
A liqueur made by steeping ume, a sour Japanese fruit somewhere between a plum and an apricot, with sugar in shochu, sake or another spirit. It’s sweet and tangy, and can be drunk straight, with soda or over ice.
15. Futsushu
“Ordinary sake”, the everyday category that makes up the bulk of production and much of the hot sake served in restaurants. Like table wine, it can be basic, or it can be a producer working outside the rules.
For more on decoding the bottle itself, see my earlier post on how to read a sake label. And if someone suggests a warm honjozo, you’ll know the extra alcohol is there for a reason. Kanpai!
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