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Intermediate Japanese - Free Online Course
SAKE
酒
sake
Sake, or fermented rice wine, is the national alcoholic drink of Japan (although beer, whisky, and other spirits are also consumed in copious quantities). There are nationally famous brands, as well as many local ones, known as jizake / 地酒.
Sake can be categorized according to its manufacturing process. There are three basic kinds: genshu / 原酒 (crude sake), nigorizake / 濁り酒 (unrefined sake) and seishu / 清酒 (refined sake).
Seishu is the most popular of these. It has an alcoholic content of about 12%-15% (comparable to grape wine). Seishu comes in two varieties: either sweet (amakuchi / 甘口) or dry (karakuchi / 辛口).
Sake can be enjoyed either warm or cold. Sake is warmed in a container called a (tokkuri / 徳利) , then drunk from a small (sakazuki / 杯) cup. Cold sake is traditionally sipped from a wooden box known as a masu / 枡.