Sake

[malt_boy]

What do people think of this? Does anyone drink it regularly? I have heard of people drinking it heated up. Is it a rice wine?

Info on Sake, goodness sake ?

[Pete Smoke]

I drank sake for a while, ( mainly as i lived near an Asian supermarket ). It isn't particularly nice, but the more expensive varieties are notably more palatable. It's made from inedible varieties of rice and it's not a true wine as it's manufactured in breweries, although the brewing process differs from western beer. I was told the Japanese drink it hot in the winter and cold in the summer. I only ever drank it cold.

[Peat Sampras]

I drink it when I am eating at asiatic restaurants. I like it warm, especially now in winter. Does it for me...

[bboivin]

I drink it all the time. The stuff meant to be drunk cold is higher quality/more expensive. More and more premium Sake is becoming available in Europe. One of my favourites is Kenbishi, but there are 100s of others that I love.

[c4r50n]

I love the stuff, been drinking it for six or seven years now, normally I'm pretty much limited to the cheap stuff you can find in supermarkets and Chinese food shops, but I have bought a few interesting bottles online, but it's been a while since I done that. I recently bought a very nice bottle of Akashitai Sake from The Good Spirits Co which is great at room temperature.

I like sake both warm & cold, it does depend on the quality of the sake, but some are really refreshing cold or at room temperature where as others only really work warm, which way I prefer them really depends on my mood.

[dramtastic]

Buy a copy of Chris Buntings Drinking Japan and all the myths expoused so far on this thread will be exposed/debunked/clarified. Chris lives in Japan, works as a journalist there, is married to a Japanese lady and is in contact with most of the best known authorities on Japanese alcohol there. Nothing I have read of anything posted so far is particularly accurate apart from Peat Smoke talking of brewing and of course of those who have has tasted it, whether they liked it or not and the temperature they tried it at. This book was around a year and a half in the making. I have just finished the part of the book devoted to sake.

One question I can answer directly and simply is that in Japan sake is classed as rice beer,(hence it should be done so everywhere else).