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Grill Ready Reds pack - GRILL10

Sake 101
"W(h)ine, W(h)ine, W(h)ine," she said.
By Jane Milauskas

Please join me on my journey of discovery as I learn about sake.

But first a little background. I've been around serious wine drinkers for about 23 years. My wine exploration began very casually … "come join us for a glass of wine" … "red or white" … "have you tried any Ohio wines" … "what style of wine (dry, sweet)/varietals (merlot, cabernet, tempranillo) do you like"

After a major life change and no success finding a teaching position (Master's in Art Ed), I started working for a wine importer. One thing lead to another and I now have a full-time position selling wine. Besides the wines - French, German, Italian, Spanish and Californian- I've now added sake to my bag of tricks.

So, let's talk about sake - my newest love.

Sake is not what it use to be. If you drank sake years ago, you're in for a surprise. No longer does the U.S. get the sake dregs. We are the number one consumer of sake in the world and as such get the best sakes exported from Japan, and some very good domestic ones as well.

The quality of the ingredients today - rice, water, mold & yeast - is very high. In fact, besides the availability of good basic sake, there are now many micro brewed sakes available in the U.S.

Warm or cold you ask. Well, sake use to be warmed to mask the off flavors caused by stretching the raw materials (WWII) or using poor quality ingredients. Today, with better technology and a steady source of quality ingredients, there are more complex, refined sakes available.

So, slightly chilled is the appropriate temperature. Slight chilling allows the beautiful qualities of fine sake to shine. For those die hard "warm it up" sake fans, I would suggest a honjozo style sake - one that has some neutral grain spirits added. Because of the added spirits, the sake holds up well when heated.

While most people might say sake is more like wine or beer, sake is really in its own category. Sake is made from grain (rice) like beer and is fermented like wine, but requires an additional ingredient to start the fermentation process - a mold called koji-kin.

The process begins when the rice is polished (milled) to remove the outer fats, proteins and minerals to get at the starchy center. It is rinsed, soaked in water, steamed and then cooled.

One third of the batch is removed and the koji-kin (mold) is added to start fermentation. The rice ferments for two days and is then added back into the original batch. An additional ingredient, yeast, is added to convert the starch to sugar and it in turn produces alcohol and carbon dioxide.

These two fermentation ingredients (mold & yeast) work on the rice in a process called double parallel fermentation (two fermentations happening simultaneously). This process is what separates sake making from wine and beer making. After 20 days or so, the mixture is pressed & pasteurized and then stored in stainless steel tanks for six months to allow the flavors to meld.

Finally, water is added (sake naturally ferments out at about 20% alcohol) to reduce the alcohol level down to 15-17%, it is pasteurized again, filtered and then bottled. The key then to fine sake is the quality of the ingredients and the careful attention during each step of the sake making process.

Next time we'll talk about "types" of sake.

Sugoi!



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