Sake

The Japanese have drunk sake since prehistoric times and it has played a vital role in the development of Japanese cuisine. In the past decade or two, however, the consumption of wine in Japan has increased more than tenfold, and more and more people now drink wine with their daily meal. Despite this rapid change of habit in Japan, sake remains the drink for Japanese meals such as kaiseki (formal banquet) and as such is developing into more of a connoisseur’s rather than a daily drink. There are reputedly about 6,000 brands of sake produced by about 2,000 makers in Japan, ranging from mass-produced nationwide brands to smaller regional, exclusive names. Since each brand has a few different types, there are in total a bewildering 55,000 different kinds of sake sold in Japan. Regional sake, known as jizake, are seeing a rise in popularity over the often inferior mass-produced ones.