Sake Classification
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Japanese sake is made with rice that has been polished or milled down. The rice polishing ratio is the percentage of the rice that remains after the husk (outer portion) of the brown rice (all rice is brown prior to removal of the husk) is polished off.
So technically, if the number of the rice polishing ratio is lower, the rice had to be polished more. It usually takes 2 to 3 days to polish rice down to less than half its original size. |
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If the sake is made with rice that has a higher percentage of its husk and outer portion of the core milled off, then more rice will be required to make that particular sake As a result, sake made with rice that has been highly milled (much of the rice has been polished off) is usually more expensive than a sake that has been made using less polished rice. However, this does not always mean that sake made by highly milled rice is of better quality than sake made by rice that has been milled less.
The sake made with the more highly polished rice is certainly cleaner and more refined. Regardless of how much one can polish the best rice, the process is ultimately useless if the rice is not polished correctly.
The sake made with the more highly polished rice is certainly cleaner and more refined. Regardless of how much one can polish the best rice, the process is ultimately useless if the rice is not polished correctly.
Generally speaking, there are five basic types of sake.
JUNMAI
Pure rice wine; no adding of distilled alcohol. Until recently, at least 30% of the rice used for Junmai sake had to be milled away. But the laws have changed, and Junmai no longer requires a specified milling rate. Nevertheless, the amount milled away must, by law, be listed somewhere on the label.
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GINJO
At least 40% of rice polished away; with or without alcohol added; if bottle is labeled Ginjo, it means distilled alcohol was added; if labeled Junmai Ginjo, it means no alcohol added).
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DAIGINJO
At least 50% of rice polished away; again with or without added alcohol; if bottle is labeled Daiginjo, it means distilled alcohol was added; if labeled Junmai Daiginjo, it means no alcohol added.
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NAMAZAKE
Unpasteurized sake - Nama is a term in Japanese that has several related meanings, like raw, live (as in live broadcast), natural state etc. When the term nama is applied to sake, it means that sake has not gone through the pasteurizing process, in which the sake is momentarily heated to about 65°C or so to kill off enzymes and stabilize the sake.
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Toji is the master sake brewer of the brewery who manages the project of making sake. It is a highly respected job in the Japanese society, with toji being regarded like musicians or painters. |
