The complete guide to sake

Short answer: Sake is a Japanese drink brewed from rice, water, koji, and yeast. The grade tells you how much the rice was polished and whether a little alcohol was added. Most premium sake is best chilled, sipped slowly, and enjoyed fresh, and it pairs with far more than sushi.

Sake can feel like a closed world: Japanese words on the label, rules about temperature, a reputation for ceremony. But it's actually one of the friendliest drinks there is. This guide covers everything you need to enjoy it, in plain words, with links to go deeper on each topic.

What sake is

Sake is a brewed drink from Japan made with four ingredients: rice, water, koji, and yeast. In Japan it's usually called nihonshu, since "sake" can mean any alcoholic drink. It's clear, smooth, and usually around 15 to 16% ABV, with flavors that range from crisp and dry to soft and fruity to rich and savory.

People often call sake "rice wine," but it's really its own category: brewed like beer, enjoyed like wine, and not distilled like a spirit.

How sake is made

Sake brewing turns rice starch into alcohol in a few careful steps:

Polish the rice to remove its outer layers.
Wash, soak, and steam it.
Grow koji mold on part of the steamed rice. Koji turns starch into sugar.
Build a yeast starter, then the main mash, adding rice, koji, and water in stages.
Ferment for several weeks while koji makes sugar and yeast makes alcohol at the same time. That's called multiple parallel fermentation.
Press, filter, pasteurize, rest, and bottle.

Each choice, from the rice variety to the yeast to how cold the fermentation runs, shapes the final flavor. Read the full process in how sake is made.

The ingredients

Rice. Sake rice, or sakamai, has large grains with a soft, starchy core. Famous varieties include Yamada Nishiki, grown widely in Hyogo, and Gohyakumangoku, associated with Niigata.

Water. Sake is about 80% water, so the brewery's water source matters. Soft water and harder, mineral-rich water produce noticeably different sake.

Koji. A mold called Aspergillus oryzae, grown on steamed rice. It's the engine of sake brewing.

Yeast. Turns sugar into alcohol and creates many of sake's aromas.

Types and grades

Premium sake is graded by two questions: how much was the rice polished, and was a little distilled alcohol added?

The premium sake grades at a glance
Rice polished to	No added alcohol	A little distilled alcohol added
50% or less	Junmai Daiginjo	Daiginjo
60% or less	Junmai GinjoBoth WESAKE sakes	Ginjo
70% or less	JunmaiNo minimum, ratio shown on the label	Honjozo

"Tokubetsu" (special) Junmai and Honjozo are polished to 60% or less, or made with a special method the brewery explains on the label. Sake outside these grades is called futsushu, or table sake.

The polishing ratio is the percentage of each grain left after milling. A 60% ratio means 40% was polished away. Lower numbers usually mean a cleaner, lighter, more aromatic sake, but not necessarily a better one. It's a style, not a score.

You'll also see words that describe how a sake was made or finished: Nigori (cloudy), Nama (unpasteurized), Genshu (undiluted), Koshu (aged), and Kimoto or Yamahai (traditional starters).

Reading a sake label

A premium sake label usually tells you:

The grade, like Junmai Ginjo
The polishing ratio, like 60%
The alcohol, usually 14 to 17%
The rice variety, like Yamada Nishiki or Gohyakumangoku
The sake meter value (SMV), a hint at dry versus sweet: higher numbers tend to drink drier
The acidity, which affects how crisp or soft it feels
The brewery and region

You don't need all of it. The grade and the polishing ratio alone tell you a lot.

How to serve sake

Temperature. Sake can be served cold, at room temperature, or warm. Light, aromatic styles like Junmai Ginjo are best chilled, around 5 to 15°C (41 to 59°F). Fuller, rice-forward styles like many Junmai and Honjozo can be lovely warm, around 40 to 50°C (104 to 122°F). See hot or cold sake for the full chart.

Glassware. A small ceramic cup is traditional. A white wine glass brings out the aroma of premium sake. A can needs no glass at all.

Pace. Sake is made for sipping, with food and friends, the same way you'd enjoy a glass of wine.

Storage. Most sake is best fresh. Keep it cool and dark, refrigerate it once opened, and enjoy it within about a week or two. Cans are a single serve, so every one is fresh. See how long sake lasts.

Food pairing

Sake pairs with much more than sushi. Its gentle umami, low acidity, and lack of tannins make it easy with seafood, salty and fried food, spice, and cheese. A few simple rules:

Match light sake with delicate food and fuller sake with richer food.
Dry sake cuts through fat and salt.
Aromatic sake loves fresh herbs, citrus, and raw fish.
Warm sake goes well with warm, hearty dishes.

Some of our favorites: tacos with a chilled Junmai Ginjo, pizza with a dry sake, fried chicken with anything crisp, oysters with something bright and dry. The full list is in our sake food pairing guide.

Sake vs other drinks

Sake vs wine. Wine is fermented from grape sugar; sake is brewed from rice starch. Sake usually has a little more alcohol than table wine, less acidity, no tannins, and more umami, and it's made to drink fresh. See sake vs wine.

Sake vs beer. Both are brewed from grain, but sake converts starch to sugar and sugar to alcohol at the same time, which is why it's stronger and still rather than sparkling.

Sake vs spirits. Sake isn't distilled. It's much lower in alcohol than spirits like vodka or tequila, which are usually around 40% ABV.

Culture and etiquette

The Japanese toast is kanpai. It literally means "dry cup," but it's simply how Japan says cheers, with a raised glass at the start of a meal. A friendly custom: pour for others and let them pour for you, rather than filling your own cup. Sake regions each have their own style, from the clean, dry sake of Niigata to the structured sake of Nada around Kobe.

Where to start

New to sake? Here's an easy path:

Start with a chilled Junmai Ginjo. Clean, smooth, and aromatic, it's the friendliest door into sake.
Try it with food. Sushi, tacos, fried chicken, or pizza.
Compare styles. Taste a fuller Junmai or a delicate Daiginjo next to it and notice the difference.
Play with temperature. Try a fuller sake slightly warm.

Both WESAKE sakes are Junmai Ginjo polished to 60%, made only with rice, water, koji, and yeast. The can is brewed by Kaganoi Shuzo in Itoigawa, Niigata: dry and light, with soft umami and a crisp, clean finish, in a 180 mL single serve. The Sakura bottle is brewed in Kobe with Yamada Nishiki rice: floral and dry, with notes of white peach and pear, in a 720 mL bottle made for the table. Meet our sake, read why we rethought sake, or start with what is sake.

Please enjoy WESAKE responsibly. You must be 21 or older to drink, and never drink and drive.