Sake & brews
Nihonshu (sake)
日本酒
28 varieties
Nihonshu is a brewed drink made from nothing but rice, water, koji mold, and yeast — a different answer to the same question Japanese food keeps asking about rice: how best to make it delicious, this time by fermenting the grain rather than steaming it whole. How far the rice is polished, how the koji is built, and how the starter mash is raised all shape the backbone of the flavor, while a region's water hardness, climate, and traveling guilds of brewers are said to have split sake into distinct local styles. This section follows not individual brands but the types, techniques, and the water and climate behind each producing region — the structure worth knowing before the first sip.
Dishes tied to a place9
- Akita no Sake秋田の酒Akita City, AkitaAkita sake — snow-insulated, slow-fermented and soft
- Fushimi no Sake伏見の酒Kyoto Kyoto (Fushimi Ward)Fushimi sake — the soft-water style of Kyoto
- Hiroshima no Sake広島の酒Hiroshima HigashihiroshimaHiroshima sake — the soft-water brewing method behind ginjo
- Ishikawa no Sake石川の酒Ishikawa SuzuIshikawa sake — the rich-bodied style of the Noto toji
- Iwate no Sake岩手の酒Iwate Hanamaki (Ishidoriya)Iwate sake — home of the Nanbu toji brewing guild
- Nada no Sake灘の酒Hyogo Kobe (Nada Ward)Nada sake — the hard-water style of Kobe and Nishinomiya
- Niigata no Sake新潟の酒NiigataNiigata sake — the light, dry style of snow country
- Tanba no Sake丹波の酒Hyogo Tamba SasayamaTanba sake — the toji guild that staffed Nada's breweries
- Yamagata no Sake山形の酒YamagataYamagata sake — many small mountain-water styles
No single place of origin19
- Daiginjo-shuDaiginjo — alcohol-added sake milled to 50% or less
- Doburokuunfiltered home-style rice brew
- Genshuundiluted, cask-strength sake
- Ginjo-shuGinjo — alcohol-added sake milled to 60% or less
- Happo Seishusparkling sake
- Hiyaoroshisake pasteurized once and released in autumn
- Honjozo-shuHonjozo — sake milled to 70% or less with a touch of added alcohol
- Junmai-shuJunmai — sake brewed from rice, koji, and water alone
- Junmai Daiginjo-shuJunmai daiginjo — rice-only sake milled to 50% or less
- Junmai Ginjo-shuJunmai ginjo — rice-only sake milled to 60% or less
- Kijoshusake brewed using sake instead of water
- Kimotosake starter built on wild lactic bacteria
- Namazakesake bottled without any pasteurization
- Nigorizakecloudy sake pressed through a coarse cloth
- NihonshuJapan's traditional rice-brewed sake
- Koshulong-aged sake
- Sokujoa starter mash built on added lactic acid
- Taruzakecedar-cask-finished sake
- Yamahaia kimoto starter with the pounding step dropped
View all Nihonshu (sake) on the map
Before you go
- Enjoying a bussanten (regional products fair)A guide to what's sold at a bussanten (regional products fair), how to find one, when it gets crowded, shelf life and taking food home, and how to fit one around a trip.
- How to use an antenna shopA guide to what's sold at an antenna shop, its restaurant or eat-in counters, its tourist-information role, the cluster of shops around Ginza and Yurakucho, and how to use one before a trip or for last-minute souvenirs.
- Sake Brewery Tours in Nada GogoNada Gogo, spreading from Kobe to Nishinomiya in Hyogo Prefecture, is said to be one of Japan's leading sake-producing areas. Many breweries here have visitor facilities open for touring.