Sake Made Simple
Since this 36-proof elixir is a brew of rice, water, and yeast, sake is technically rice beer, not rice wine. Sake varietals are determined by how much the rice kernel is “polished” away, says Shige Kawamura, sake sommelier at Megu restaurant in N.Y.C. Polishing involves shucking off rice’s more impure outer layers. The more it’s polished, the smoother the sake and, most importantly, the gentler the hangovers. Domo arigato.

Hot vs. Cold
If sake is served hot, it’s usually to mask a harsh brew; if served cold, subtleties are stripped away. “The trick is to drink it at about room temperature,” says Masaharu Morimoto of TV’s Iron Chef. “Too hot or too cold and you risk destroying flavors,” he tells us. And despite the tiny ceramic cup, sip, don’t shoot it. Taste the layered flavors—fruits and woods—and see why sake pairs well with everything from sashimi to soul food.

The Cocktail
Skip the saketini and order a sake cocktail that allows you to keep a sliver of manhood. We suggest the Eastern Sidecar, from mixologist Ryan Magarian, president of cocktail consulting firm Liquid Relations. Shake up 7 muddled raspberries, 1 oz. sake, 1 oz. Hennessy VS, 1/2 oz. Cointreau, 1/2 oz. lemon juice, and 1/2 oz. simple syrup. Then strain into a sugar-rimmed cocktail glass. Repeat until semiconscious.

LABEL DECODER
Junmai: No extra alcohol is added. Why is it ever added? During WWII, when rice was scarce, adding alcohol made it harsher but enhanced the flavor. Plus, after a few shots of this stuff, crashing a plane into an aircraft carrier sounded fun!

THE FIVE MAIN SAKE VARIETALS
Smooth...
Honjozo: Polished down 30 percent. Alcohol added.

Smoother...
Ginjo: Polished 40 percent. Alcohol added. Quaffable.Junmai Ginjo More refined than Ginjo, twice as fun to say!

Smoothest...
Daiginjo: Polished 50 percent. If you could eat it with chopsticks, you would.
Junmai Daiginjo: So ridiculously smooth, it’ll talk a geisha girl out of her kimono.