Sake Glossary
Term |
Meaning |
| Futsushu 普通酒 | Regular, non premium sake. |
| Tokubetsu 特別 | Means “special”. It is a designation that a special production process was applied to a Junmai or Honjozo grade sake. |
| Junmai 純⽶ | Classification for premium sake made using only rice, water, yeast and koji – no additives or added alcohol. No min polishing ratio requirement. |
| Honjozo 本醸造 | Premium sake with rice polished down to 70% or less and the addition of some distilled brewers alcohol. |
| Ginjo 吟醸 | Premium sake with rice polished down to 60% or less and the addition of some distilled brewers alcohol. |
| Daiginjo ⼤吟醸 | Premium sake with rice polished down to 50% or less remaining and the addition of some distilled brewers alcohol. |
| Junmai Ginjo 純⽶吟醸 | Premium sake with rice polished down to 60% or less remaining. No additives or added alcohol. |
| Premium sake with rice polished down to 50% or less remaining. No additives or added alcohol. | |
| Genshu 原酒 | Undiluted sake. Brewmasters usually add water to dilute the strength down to 15-16%. Genshu skips this step. |
| Kijoshu 貴醸酒 | A complex sake that is made by replacing some of the water used in brewing with sake. |
| Namazake ⽣酒 | Sake that has not gone thru pasteurisation. |
| Nama-Zume ⽣詰め | Sake that is pasteurised only once before cellaring but not a second time before bottling and shipping. |
| Nama-Chozo ⽣貯蔵 | Sake that is cellared without being pasteurized, but does receive pasteurization before being bottled. |
| Bodaimoto 菩提もと | An ancient and complex fermentation starter method. Raw rice and a bit of steamed rice are left to soak in a small tub with water. While soaking, this water becomes rich in natural lactic acids given off by latic acid bacteria. |
| Kimoto ⽣酛 | Describes a style of sake that uses the original yeast starter method. The yeast starter for Kimoto sake is rhythmically mixed using long paddles to combine yeast, water rice and koji into a starter mash that naturally promotes lactic acid development. Known for a robust and sometimes funky flavours with high acidity. |
| Yamahai ⼭廃 | A yeast starter method that was developed after Kimoto. Yamahai allows for natural lactic acid production, but does away with the need for “Yamaoroshi” or the labor intensive macerating/mashing of the yeast starter using long wooden poles as done for centuries in the Kimoto method. Yamahai flavour profiles tend to be full bodied and funky with high acidity. |
| Seimai-Buai 精⽶歩合 | Also known as rice polishing ratio. Indicates the percentage of the rice grain remaining after polishing away the outer layers of each rice grain prior to brewing. |
| Muroka 無濾過 | Sake that skips the step of charcoal filtering. |
| Karakuchi ⾟⼝ | To describe sake that is dry. |
| Nigori 濁り | Coarsely filtered, cloudy style sake. What makes it cloudy? The coarse pressing of the sake mash leaves bits of unfermented rice solids in the sake that gives it a creamy or milky white appearance. |
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