Sake facts for kids

Sake barrels

Sake (Japanese:酒; pronounced 'sa.kɛ' ) is a Japanese word for "alcoholic drink". In English, "sake" means one kind of alcoholic drink made from rice. In Japan, people call this drink nihonshu (日本酒 "Japanese alcohol") or sake. This article uses the word "sake" as it is used in English.

Ingredients

Sake is a fermented drink. Most sake is made from rice, water, kōji, and yeast. Sometimes a small amount of lactic acid is used in brewing. Water or small amounts of pure alcohol can be added at the end of production. Sake can have from 12 to 22% alcohol, but is usually around 15 or 16%. Lower quality mass-produced sake can have added sugar or flavorings.

Serving sake

A typical tokkuri and chokko

Sake is usually sold in bottles that are either 720ml or 1.8L. Drinkers or servers in a restaurant may pour small cups called chokko directly from the bottle. Sake is also served in smaller bottles called tokkuri. A typical serving in a bar or restaurant is 180ml. People may share that amount. When drinking together, people often pour drinks for each other rather than for themselves.

Amazake

Amazake is sweet, low or non-alcoholic sake.

Related pages

• Awamori
• Doburoku
• rice wine
• Shōchū

Images for kids

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  Sake bottle, Japan, c. 1740

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  Sake barrel offerings at the Shinto shrine Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū in Kamakura

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  A pair of sake flasks painted in gold and black lacquer. Momoyama period, 16th century.

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  Title page of Bereiding van Sacki, by Isaac Titsingh: earliest explanation of the sake brewing process in a European language. Published in 1781, in Batavia, Dutch East Indies.

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  Sake brewery, Takayama, with a sugitama (杉玉) globe of cedar leaves indicating sake.

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  Moromi (the main fermenting mash) undergoing fermentation

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  Nigori, or unfiltered sake

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  A glass of sake served at a Japanese restaurant in Lyon, France.

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  Overflowing glass inside a masu

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  "Sake Ewer from a Portable Picnic Set", Japan, c. 1830–1839.

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  Sugitama (杉玉), globes of cedar leaves, at a brewery

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  A Shochikubai Komodaru (straw mat cask) of sake before the kagami biraki

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  Decorative sake containers in a Nakatsugawa shop

See also

In Spanish: Sake para niños