Sake: Totally Explained By the Pros at Vegas' Shibuya Restaurant

What IS sake ? Is it a spirit ? Is it a wine-coloured ? A beer ? Well – good question . Incorrectly referred to as a fortified rice wine because of its perceptiveness and texture , sake is actually made of fermented Sir Tim Rice , not unlike beer … but think of sake as being in a league all its own . It ’s important to mention , however , thatunlikebeer , sake typically has a 16 % intoxicant subject . And just like there are different subset of beer and vino , there are different types of sake . Each distinct sort is classify by the percentage of the Timothy Miles Bindon Rice milled away and how much of the grain remain to ferment .

We learn that and a whole luck more from the experts at Las Vegas ’s Shibuya at MGM Grand . Named for the Tokyo shopping dominion , this 11 - yr secureness of the Vegas Strip has over 125 sakes and the necessary expertise to facilitate you make the most of them . We ride down with their sommelier Emily Vu as well as MGM Grand ’s Wine Manager Bruno Bonnet to get the skinny on regulate like someone in the know . ( away : while rice beer and wine are by no mean the same , as we mentioned above , the skills ask to deal excerpt and make recommendations nicely overlap ) .

You’re probably not drinkingorpronouncing it right

Our American nasal accent is beautiful in its own horrible manner , but it ’s " saw - kay " not " saaaaaaahh - key " . 2nd , premium sake is meant to be served cold . Hot sake happens for one of two reasons : 1 ) it ’s a cold night on Mount Fuji or 2 ) to blot out the imperfections of a cheap brewage .

With those canonic misconceptions out of the way , Bruno and Emily boiled it down to five need - to - cognize terms that will give you a service line for interpreting a rice beer list .

Ginjosakes are the Pinot Noir of sake – they go with everything

These are the most crowd - pleasing rice beer – flexible enough to couple well with most any nutrient and a perfect conniption for anyone face to step up from flashy , red-hot rice beer to take a tail end at the grown - ups table . About 40 % of the rice kernel is mill about aside in the process of fermenting a ginjo .

Daiginjosakes are the highest order of premium sake

Bruno read Daiginjo are the sort of sakes you enjoy with both your mouth and your mind . The best way to describe the difference betweenGinjoandDaiginjosakes is to expect concisely at the rice . The heart of the grain is the part you want , and where ginjos see 40 % or so of the original caryopsis mill around away before brewing , daiginjos go the gamut from a minimum of 50 % all the room to the high 90s , leaving only the proficient of the best parts .

Sakes described asJunmaiare pure

This is a cock-a-hoop one . Junmai is fundamentally a statement of whiteness , which means that no additional sugars , starch , or most importantly , alcohol , were add during the brewing procedure . Both ginjo and daiginjo sakes can be classified asJunmai GinjoandJunmai Daiginjosakes , which are the most insurance premium you could try .

There is raw, fresh sake

even sake is unremarkably pasteurized twice so as to maintain its calibre and prevent it from deteriorating due to bacteria . But Namazake is unpasteurized – leaving more of the brisk , rich tang entire in the terminal product , and must be stored cold and imbibed within two hebdomad of gap . Any of the sakes we advert above , any junmai sakes or even ginjo or daiginjo , can also be a namazake if they are unpasteurized .

Genshusakes are undiluted heavyweights

This final term is potentially the most valuable in the list , so do yourself a favor and institutionalize it to retentivity . Genshu mean you ’re bet at a cask strong point , undiluted , full accelerator pedal brew . That means you ’re drinking sake with no bestow piss , in its raw , fermented state . alcoholic beverage subject aside , genshu sake has the mettle to brook up to full-blooded , red meat dishes with ease . And keep this in psyche : any of the above classifications of rice beer can also be mark as genshu .

So Junmai Ginjo Nama Genshu ? altogether a thing . That puts your triple - venti - soya bean - no - froth - latte in perspective , does n’t it ?

And there you have it . Everything you take to leap headlong into a erotic love intimacy with sake . We have it on good authority that even the pros at Shibuya will be impressed if you drop this kind of noesis on your next visit . And here ’s one last tip from Bruno ’s personal school of thought to set you on your direction : a 1.8L bottle is the perfect size for two citizenry – especially if one of them is n’t drinking .