Archive September 29th, 2006

A different kind of wine

All wine does not come from grapes! Here’s one of my favorites: Sake. It’s rice wine! (Some think sake is a beer, but I’m going with those who think it’s wine.)

If you have never tried sake, I insist that you do. Besides the unique taste, sake has several benefits. First, it has no sulfites making hang-overs easier to take. And second, it’s lower in calories. So drink up!

Sake, from Japan (but you knew that), is made with rice, water, yeast and a mysterious and crazy mold called koji. I know the mold part sounds nasty, just try not to think about it.

The big sake debate is whether it should be served cold or hot. Hot sake is what most Americans are familiar with. Personally, I think hot sake goes best with a tall cold beer -- and let’s not forget the ever-popular Sake Bombers. In fact, fix one now. Fill a pint glass halfway with beer; balance 2 chopsticks on the top with a shot glass full of sake sitting between them and then pound on the table so the sake shot falls in the beer. Bombs away!

The downside of hot sake is that it’s usually lower quality – which can get in the way if you’re trying to impress someone. Heating sake tends to hide any bad taste and increases the effect of the alcohol content which carries quite a punch (is that really so bad?)

On the other hand, chilled sake is considered the “fine wine” of sake. When it’s chilled, you can actually taste the different qualities of the sake. I love to do chilled sake flights (which are small tasters of different kinds), so I can taste a variety of sakes and find out which one I like. Hold off on doing the sake bomber with cold sake - it would be wrong!

Luckily I live near some great restaurants that offer all types of sake and even have different sake martinis (yet another fun way to drink sake!). In fact, I think it’s sake time!

Cheers!

Sign Up For The Newsletter!