Sake Brewing

Sake Brewing is the traditional Japanese process of producing sake, an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Although sake is sometimes called Japanese rice wine, its brewing process is closer to that of beer than to winemaking, since the starch in the rice must first be converted into sugars before those sugars can ferment into alcohol, a conversion that, unlike beer, occurs simultaneously in a single process called multiple parallel fermentation. Undiluted sake reaches an alcohol content of about 18 to 20 percent, higher than typical beer or wine, and in Japan, where sake is the national beverage, it is often served warmed in a small earthenware or porcelain bottle and sipped from a small cup called a sakazuki.