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“SAKE SAVVY,” CONTINUED...

Another myth: Sake only goes with certain foods, a misnomer that similarly hampered wine and beer appreciation until the culinary industry and consumers realized otherwise.

“It’s only our minds that, say, ‘Oh no, you can’t have sake with cheese, or you can’t have sake with pizza.’ I’ve proven over and over the last 30 years that you can have mac and cheese and sake, probably one of the best pairings on the planet,” Pakiser says.

Many menus include numbers next to each type of sake — a positive number indicates dryness, while a negative number equates to sweetness. That’s misleading, says Pakiser, who counts himself among the misled.

“Some years ago, I decided that I only liked dry sakes. I would never drink anything that was less than a plus five. I was an idiot. I missed out on so many great sakes because I just decided on some arbitrary number that I had to have something plus five or more. And that was a very big mistake on my part,” Pakiser says. “And that’s how you learn things, right?”

What he’d like to see is menu descriptions like “any sake within this section is dry and earthy, or umami-driven sake. And the next section can be fruity and floral sake or smooth and elegant sake,” Pakiser says.

Pakiser would also like to see more places selling sake by the glass — versus the bottle — and doing sake flights (both Syringa and Kaiju offer them), especially since it doesn’t oxidize like wine.

“You don’t have to drink it in a day or two,” he says. “I have bottles in my fridge that have been open for nine months. No problem,” says Pakiser, whose advocacy for the beverage has earned him worldwide recognition.

In 2015 the Japan Sake Brewers Association Junior Council designated Pakiser as a Sake Samurai — there are only about 80 of them total — for his dedication to sake tradition and education.

Knowing a Sake Samurai was helpful for Northern Quest Resort & Casino’s Assistant Director of Food and Beverage Michael Miho when developing the sake menu for East Pan Asian Cuisine.

The restaurant, which opened in May 2022, has four sakes on the menu, including Dry Mountain ($9.25), imported from Fuji Brewing Company, founded back in 1778, and currently being led by the 13th generation of the same family.

That, says Miho, appeals to him.

“I am looking for the story, the provenance behind the sake, even more than what classification it is, what price point,” Miho says.

The story “always comes down to an individual house, a story of family, a journey. And it’s everything that they’ve done for 100 or more years, multiple generations of just focusing on this one product. And it’s beautiful.” n

Cucumber Saketini

By Phil Lerdal, Umi Kitchen & Sushi Bar

1 ounce Tito’s vodka

1/4 ounce Ozeki sake

1/4 ounce St. Germain elderflower liqueur

1 inch cucumber, muddled

1/2 lime, muddled

Splash of lime juice

Pour into shaker filled with ice, shake, strain into martini glass and garnish with cucumber slice