Why Do The Japanese Slug Back Sake? Is It Really A Wine?

Though it took its own time to seduce the taste buds of Indian alcohol connoisseurs, Japan’s national drink, Sake, has caroused from a braggart’s whim and a wine oddity in oriental fine dines, to a cool and refined delight in swanky restaurants, and it’s here to stay

- Gita Hari

Japanese tipplers may have shifted to drinking wine, beer, whisky, vodka, but globally the more than 2000-year-old spirit sake has gained immense popularity among gourmets and connoisseurs of wines and brews. If Yuuka and China House in Mumbai, Koji in Pune and Edo in Bengaluru, helped to kindle our palates for Japanese cuisine, this Far Eastern country rice wine isn’t far behind. The millennial Indian is quite familiar with the variety of sushi, sashimi, soba and stir-fried noodles. Dining in an upscale Japanese restaurant reflects one’s social standing. And the wine preference has trickled from French and Italian wines to Japan’s sake wines.

With better education, more travel, and the ubiquitous internet — the awareness of sake has seen a rise over the years, and there’s a growing community of sake lovers.

Is it an acquired palate? Elie Houbeich, EAM, F&B, Yuuka (Modern Japanese Cuisine) at The St. Regis Mumbai, says, “Sake to Japan is like Champagne to France and Scotch to Scotland. If you ask five people 'what does Sake taste like', you may have five different answers.

Sake is indeed an acquired palate as the aroma, flavour, and feel of alcohol are different.”