Why does sake get you drunk

Anything off the grill, from the sea, from the air, pulled from the ground, or cooked in a fryer is a perfect match. When you speak about taking a shot of sake it is the equivalent of taking a shot of Merlot. By all means take shots of whiskey, tequila, vodka, and the like, however, sake should be exempt. Hot sake is bad sake. There is a very good reason why most of us believe this to be true, but quite frankly it is not.

Initially in the US, the first brews to grace our shores were not the highest qualities or the best representations of sake. In fact most were low grades that had been handled very poorly, and as a result, were a poor introduction for American consumers.

The best way to mask cheap or damaged sake was to heat it! So it was served warm and a whole generation of sake drinkers now associate sake with overheated jet fuel. In other words the lower grade Ginjo brews such as Futsushu , Honjozo , and Junmai are the most common types of sakes served piping hot.

Conversely, these are neither damaged nor poor tasting sakes — they simply come into their own after being heated. Sakes of all temperatures are wonderful things!

During the frigid winters in Japan, there is nothing more therapeutic and relaxing than drinking a warmed sake of good quality. Therein lies the most basic statement — bad sake makes for bad hot sake, and warm good sake is a treasure to behold. There are several reasons why people feel that sake is a hangover producing alcohol. The first is that in more cases than not, they drink more than they realize.

Now, there is a chance that one is drinking a low quality, cheap sake that has been intentionally brewed to get one inebriated but this holds true in the malt-liquors of the world as well. It is also the most typical alcoholic beverage offered at cheap bars in the alley. So just as an Englishman might drink his pint at a pub, a Japanese worker would go to the usual alley to drink his sake. And when a person is drinking sake from a glass as opposed to a tiny o-choushi, that means he wants to get drunk.

Or he might be drinking at a street vendor who can only afford to keep glasses at his wagon. Sake is also easy to serve, because you don't have to serve anything else to mix it with, such as water of juice or ice.

But in fact, a lot of drinkers claim that sake is a type of liquor that kind of "suddenly kicks into you". And in fact, the long tradition of brewing has made its taste sophisticated. In other words, it's tasty for the price, it goes good with a lot of cheap great food, and it gets you drunk very very effectively.

It is also great when served warm or even hot, so in winter it has a larger healing effect. Half bottles are common enough.

You even get the "one cup" formats something like ml, I think? My view would be that if you're not a big drinker, then I'd look out on your travels for some nice r , maybe local, sake that also comes in half bottles.

Even a more expensive one won't break the bank. Sake will suffer to some extent from exposure to oxygen, to heat, and also to sunlight If you're just talking about a few days, then unless you've got an amazing palate, I'd say that you probably won't notice any difference, or that any difference you notice will be slight. Fresh sake unfiltered, unpasteurised will go "off" quicker than filtered, pasteurised sake. Higher alcohol sake will keep longer.

But there's no real need to overthink this: sake is cheap. Buy small bottles, drink as much as you want, and put the rest aside. When you next want some, taste the stuff you put aside from before.

If you don't like it, then ditch it and buy some more. Or just have a glass with your meal somewhere and see if you like it. As an aside, sake can mean alcohol in general. Nihonshu or Nihonshuu is a better word for sake itself. Plenty of alcohol for a taste that's a lot smoother than vodka or gin. I love the Japanese version of the ever-festive boiler-maker -- a slug of sake followed by a big gulp of J-beer. Many years decades? While beer is brewed in two distinct steps, the fermenting alcohol in sake is created in one step, and this is typical of other rice-based alcoholic drinks.

With beer, the starch turns to sugar and then ferments into alcohol. With sake and other beverages of its ilk, the fermentation conversion from starch to sugar and alcohol occurs at the same time. The origins of sake can be loosely traced to China as far back as 4, BC. But after Japan introduced wet rice cultivation around BC, the Japanese began to produce the drink in mass quantities.

At first, the Japanese government had a monopoly on sake brewing. But sometime around the 10th century, temples and shrines began to brew the drink. For centuries afterward, the temples were the primary distilleries of sake in Japan. By the s, sake had become one of the most ceremonial beverages in the country. Now, sake is the national beverage of Japan. But you can drink sake chilled or at room temperature, too.

During the ceremony, sake is sipped from a small porcelain cup. The type of sake you have will determine the recommended serving temperature. The alcohol content between sake, beer, and wine is wildly different, too.

Read on for the 8 top tips on how to drink sake the right way so you can get the most out of this unique beverage. Make sure you get the name right so you can start off on the right foot when drinking this ceremonial beverage.

Sake is a ceremonial drink and a cultural pastime in Japan.