DRINKS

Tips On Storing And Serving Sake

Store sake in a cool environment. Drink it within a year, store it upright and avoid placing it in a brightly lit area.

Sake can be served at a wide range of temperatures, though not all styles of sake are suitable for serving warm.

Tokkuri is the Japanese word for a sake carafe, used for heating and serving sake.

O-choko is the Japanese word for a traditional sake cup. The most common kinds are small pottery or glass cups that have a at base.

Wine glasses are ideal for serving premium sake either chilled or at room temperature.

How Sake Made Its Way Into The Limelight

Natsuki Kikuya, Sake product development manager, W E

Sake’s trendy status hasn’t come out of nowhere. It has been a progression of little efforts, including the WSET Sake Level 3 course and the Japanese food trend – spurred on by restaurants like Nobu and Zuma. Where sushi restaurants go, sake follows.

These sakes are generally best served chilled, but some can be served warm.

Source: WSET

PAIRING SAKE WITH NON-JAPANESE FOODS

You may be tempted into thinking that sake only goes with Japanese cuisine, this is not the case.

Sake and seafood

Sake contains lots of umami, which are types of amino acids that express savoury and delicious flavours a e cleanses our alate and neutralises the fish flavours and enhances the umami flavours of the seafood

The creamy textures of junmai harmonise well with fresh o sters ure et rich gin st le sake works brilliantly with meaty scallops or lobster aviar is often considered difficult to air with wines, but daigin contains similar molecules to the fish roe and wor s erfectl

Sake and cheese

Because one of the main acids in sake is lactic acid, sake naturally works great with dairy products.

Suggest the follo ing romatic and fruit daigin sa e with blue or fresh goats’ cheese

• Rounded and soft junmai sake with Gouda or Manchego

• Umami rich kimoto or yamahai with Comté or Emmental

20 years ago, the quality of most sake wasn’t as good and the variety available wasn’t as diverse as it is now. That combined with its short shelf life, the fact that it has to be kept at a chilled temperature and drunk within a year created some challenges.

But a new generation of sake makers came in and distributors started taking sake more seriously, selling it to sommeliers, rather than only to Japanese restaurants.

The challenge has always been that sake is a complex and complicated categor it s a ver difficult drin to understand.

These days, sommeliers are seeing sake more as a flavour than a a anese cultural drin eo le sim l en o the flavour rofiles because the are different to those in wine. The alcohol level is slightly higher, the sugar levels are much higher, acidity is much lower and there are umami elements to it. So there are lots of new concepts and flavours that couldn t be filled b wine that are possible with sake.

The efforts of young sake makers are revolutionising the industry as well, by ma ing sa e to fit modern eo le s alate – like creating 13% alcohol sake, so you get the same feeling as with a glass of wine.

Having said that, I feel that we’re still at the very beginning stage of this sake era and we have a way to go before it becomes a ‘supercategory’, listed in international cuisine restaurants, or served in the pub. That’s the challenge that we still have.

Part of that challenge is increasing detail sake sales in supermarkets, department stores, independent shops and wine shops in the UK.

WANT TO LEARN MORE?

he evel a e ualification gives an overview of the variet of flavours that ou will find in sa e - how to categorise them and what decides these different styles.

Talk to your distributors and wholesalers. Many of them have a sake expert within the company, so just asking for suggestions to have stoc four or five t es of sa e that re resent the different categories, rofiles, and work for different pairings is a good place to start.

There are lots of online resources out there as well that can be hel ful - including on the WSET website: setglobal.com

The key element is pushing beyond the sushi and sake association. Suggesting the versatility of sake that goes well with food that people serve at their parties at home. Cheese is one amazing example, or fresh oysters, smoked salmon, ham, salads, barbecue...

There is a sake that works perfectly with everything.

High quality speciality food from France and Spain

We o er award winning fine food directly from artisan and farm producers in France and Spain. This includes cured hams, saucissons, chorizos, pates and other specialist charcuterie products.

We also have a range of traditional cheeses such as Manchego and Ossau Iraty.