How is sake made? Step by step

Sake looks simple in the glass, but getting there takes careful work at every step. The good news: the process makes sense once you see it step by step. Here's how rice, water, koji, and yeast become sake.

1. Polishing the rice

Every sake starts with sake rice, which has bigger grains than table rice and a soft, starchy core. Brewers mill the rice to remove the outer layers, which hold proteins, fats, and minerals that can make sake taste rough. What's left is measured as the polishing ratio. Rice polished to 60%, like the rice in both WESAKE sakes, has had 40% of each grain milled away.

Polishing is slow and careful work, since the grains must stay whole. The more a brewery polishes, the longer it takes. After milling, the rice rests for a few weeks to recover the moisture it lost. Our guide to the polishing ratio explains why this number matters so much.

2. Washing and soaking

The polished rice is washed to remove the fine powder left by milling, then soaked in water. Soaking time is measured carefully, sometimes down to the second for highly polished rice, because the grains need to absorb just the right amount of water before steaming.

3. Steaming

Sake rice is steamed, not boiled. Steaming gives the grains a firm outside and a soft inside, which is ideal both for growing koji and for dissolving slowly in the tank. The steamed rice is then cooled, often by spreading it out on cloth.

4. Making koji

This is the heart of sake brewing. Part of the steamed rice is moved to a warm, humid room and sprinkled with spores of koji mold (Aspergillus oryzae). Over about two days, the mold grows into the grains and produces enzymes that can turn starch into sugar.

Brewers check the koji constantly, mixing it and adjusting temperature and moisture. The finished koji smells sweet and a little like chestnuts. It does the job that malt does in beer, and its quality shapes the flavor of the final sake.

5. Building the yeast starter

Next comes the starter, called shubo or moto. Koji, steamed rice, water, and a concentrated batch of yeast are mixed in a small tank. Over one to two weeks, the yeast multiplies into a strong, active population ready to ferment a much bigger batch.

Some breweries use traditional starter methods called kimoto and yamahai, which take longer and rely on naturally occurring bacteria to protect the starter. These methods often give sake a richer, more savory character.

6. The main mash

The starter goes into a large tank, and more koji, steamed rice, and water are added in three stages over four days. This step-by-step build, called sandan shikomi, lets the yeast keep up as the mash grows.

Now the unique part of sake begins. In the mash, called moromi, the koji keeps turning rice starch into sugar while the yeast turns that sugar into alcohol, both at the same time in the same tank. This is multiple parallel fermentation. Beer does these steps one after the other; sake does them together, which is how it naturally reaches higher alcohol than most beer.

Fermentation usually takes several weeks. For Ginjo styles, including Junmai Ginjo, brewers keep the mash cold and the fermentation slow, which brings out fruity and floral aromas.

7. Pressing

When fermentation is done, the mash is pressed to separate the liquid sake from the leftover rice solids. Breweries press with machines, with traditional wooden boxes, or by hanging the mash in cloth bags and letting the sake drip out on its own, a gentle method saved for special batches.

The solids left behind are called sake kasu. They're used in Japanese cooking for marinades, soups, and pickles.

8. Filtering and pasteurizing

Most sake is filtered to make it clear and to fine-tune its color and flavor. It's then usually pasteurized, often twice: once before resting and once before bottling. Pasteurizing gently heats the sake to keep it stable.

Some sake skips steps on purpose. Nama sake is unpasteurized and tastes fresh and lively, but it must stay cold. Nigori sake is coarsely filtered so some rice solids remain, making it cloudy and creamy.

9. Resting and bottling

Most sake rests for several months so the flavors can settle and round out. Before bottling, brewers usually add a little water to bring the alcohol down from the high teens to around 15 to 16%. Sake that skips this step is called genshu, or undiluted sake.

Then it's bottled or canned, labeled, and sent out. Sake is made to be enjoyed fresh, so there's no need to cellar it. See how long sake lasts for storage tips.

Who makes it

Sake is made in breweries called kura, traditionally in the cold winter months, when low temperatures help keep fermentation slow and clean. The brewing team is led by a master brewer called the toji, who oversees every step from rice to bottle.

How WESAKE is made

The WESAKE can is brewed by Kaganoi Shuzo in Itoigawa, Niigata, from Gohyakumangoku rice polished to 60% and local well water, with nothing else added. It's a Junmai Ginjo, so there's no added alcohol and the fermentation is kept cool and slow for a clean, refined profile. The Sakura bottle is its own sake, brewed in Kobe with Yamada Nishiki rice, also polished to 60%. See the three main steps at the brewery on our About page.

Want to see where these steps lead? Read about the types of sake, what Junmai Ginjo means, and what sake is made from, or start with the complete guide to sake.