Serve and Drink Sake
Sake (pronounced "sah-keh", not "sah-kee") refers to any alcohol in Japan, and specifically rice wine, or Nihonshu, in the West. There are many traditions surrounding the serving and consumption of sake. While they are not always followed in places outside of Japan, it is still polite to know them.
Steps
- Become familiar with the traditional vessels.
- Sake is served in a small, usually ceramic flask called a tokkuri. It's usually bulbous with a narrow neck, but there are other types, such as katakuchi, which looks somewhat like a tea kettle.
- The correct cup for sake is debatable with some insisting to use a small handle-free type called an ochoko, or a sakazuki (a flat saucer-like cup) and often a masu (a wooden box-like cup). A wine glass, while not traditional, is technically the best vessel to drink sake from. Designed to allow the drinker to see the color and to experience all facets of the aroma which have huge impact of flavor, a wine glass allows for the complete enjoyment of sake. Use traditional vessels when you want an authentic vibe but reach for stemware when you want to fully enjoy your sake.
- Bring the sake to an appropriate temperature. Regular sake, honjozo-shu, and shunmai-shu are usually warmed to room temperature, while ginjo-shu and namazake (sake which has not been pasteurized) are chilled. Do not heat sake above room temperature unless it is of poor quality.
- Serve sake in each guest's cup, but not your own. Hold the tokkuri with both hands, palms facing down. You can wrap a napkin around the tokkuri to prevent sake from dripping down. Fill each guest's cup in turn. Don't fill your own. It's the guests' duty to ensure that the host's cup is full.
- You can pour with one hand on the bottle, but make sure to touch your free hand to your pouring arm. This is the equivalent of pouring with two hands.
- If you are higher in status than the person you're serving (e.g. you are their boss), pour with only one hand (without your free hand touching your pouring arm).
- Hold the cup properly as it is served to you. In formal situations, you hold the cup up when you're being served. Wrap your hand (usually the right) around the cup with one hand and rest it on the palm of your other hand.
- If the person serving the sake is lower in status than you (e.g. an employee), you hold the cup with only one hand.
- Toast. You can say "Kanpai" if you're in a Japanese restaurant. Touch the cups together. If you are drinking with a person higher in status than you, make sure the rim of your cup is below his rim when the two meet.
- Sake is not very potent (it does not have as high an alcohol content as some of the high alcohol content wines coming out of California today unless it is a genshu), and should be drunk as one would drink a white wine. However, if the [poor quality] sake is served hot, then drink slowly, as the alcohol vapors will evaporate off of the liquid into your nose and throat as you drink. It's not a shot so don't down it in one! As you're drinking, turn slightly away from anyone who's of higher status. If you are drinking with someone very high in status, it would not be inappropriate to completely turn away from them before drinking your sake.
Tips
- Generally, sake is best consumed within two or three months of purchase and within two or three hours of opening. Sake that isn't consumed immediately should be stored like wine.
- The best way to determine at what temperature the sake should be served is to allow the chilled sake to come to room temperature on its own, tasting it from time to time to see when the taste is optimal.
- Heated sake, or atsukan, is usually only drunk in cold weather or when drinking low-quality wine, as it neutralizes the flavor. In warm weather, or when drinking premium sake, it is served slightly chilled instead.
- If your friend keeps refilling your cup with sake when you don't want so much to drink, take very small sips so that your cup is never empty.
- Sake is traditionally consumed while snacking (e.g. on sashimi) but not during a full meal. Traditionally, you should not consume sake while eating rice or a dish with rice (such as sushi) as that is seen as being redundant. If you're planning on having sushi, finish your sake before you begin your sushi.
Warnings
- The server of alcoholic beverages is often legally responsible for the actions of his or her guests. Do not allow guests who might drive to become intoxicated and do not allow intoxicated guests to drive.
- Tejaku is the term for when you pour sake for yourself, and is considered rude.
- As with all alcoholic beverages, do not operate heavy or dangerous machinery (such as your car) while under the influence of sake.
- Just because it says "rice wine" on the menu doesn't mean it's real sake. Several drinks like shochu to mao tai are distilled from Asian rice or potato, but they are not sake.
Things You'll Need
- Sake
- Tokkuri
- Ochoko
- Small pan
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