A Guide to Serving Sake

This is another in a series of yummy food-related posts to whet your appetite for j-CATION!

 

Harris Salat, of our event Japanese Hot Pots to WarmYour Soul, recently presented an interesting post on his blog about the proper temperatures to serve sake at along with information on the methods of heating the sake and some etiquette.

For those of discerning taste, there are eight temperature ranges to serve sake at depending on the time of year and the type of sake and the type of meal it's being served with. As a rule of thumb for the rest of us, he said you can't go wrong with drinking any sake at room temperature.

Here are a couple of other general guidelines taken from his post:

Fragrant sake (like gingo or daigingo): Drink chilled, around 50 degrees Fahrenheit, but don't drink it cold, which will kill the delicate aroma and taste (like drinking white wine too cold).

Unpasteurized sake (namazake): Drink it a little cooler, in the 41-50 degree range, to bring out its crisp, fresh taste.

Rich sake (like junmai or honjozo): These are perfect served room temperature or warm -- kan. What is warm? Body temperature (98 degrees) up to 110 degrees. (Perfect with hot pot, by the way.)

Read more on the fascinating aspects of sake at Salat's blog!