Episode Details

Sake is usually called rice wine, but it is brewed more like beer, and its unusual method lets it reach 18 to 20 percent alcohol naturally. This episode explains multiple parallel fermentation, where koji mold turns starch into sugar while yeast turns that sugar into alcohol in the same vat. We also cover sake rice varieties like Yamada Nishiki, the polishing ratio, how hard and soft water change the result, and the domesticated mold Aspergillus oryzae.

We cover the monks of Shoryaku-ji, who made clear sake and pasteurized it long before Louis Pasteur, and the move of brewing to Nada-gogo in the Edo period. Meiji-era taxes banned home brewing and made aging unprofitable, and wartime rice shortages led to heavily diluted triple sake. We finish with ginjo, junmai, why premium sake should not be heated, craft brewers who add ingredients to get around licensing rules, and sake's 2024 UNESCO recognition.

• Why sake is not really wine
• What a polishing ratio means, including Ryoko Crystal Zero at 0.85 percent
• Yellow, black and white koji and what each one does
• How Meiji tax policy and enamel tanks reshaped sake
• Junmai versus added-alcohol premium sake, and when to serve it chilled