- Junmai (Sake only containing rice, water, yeast and koji)
- Honjozo (Sake w/ small amounts of added distilled alcohol to ie. increase aroma or change the mouthfeel. No influence of the final alcohol percentage.)
- Ginjo (tends to fruity, polished leaving less than 40% of the original rice grain)
- Daiginjo (often very fruity, polished leaving less than 50% of the original rice grain)
- Nigori (containing rice particles)
- Sparkling Sake
- Koshu (aged Sake)
- Namazake (unpasteurised Sake)
- Yamahai, Kimoto, Bodaimoto (time-intensive historical production method, re-embraced and refined)
- Natural Sake (using wild yeasts and/or organic rice)
- Fruited Sake (Sake with fruits, ie. Yuzu, Mandarin, Strawberry)

"In the deep north of Japan, in the rural countryside of Iwate famous for folktales and an endless night sky, our dinner began with a sparkling smoked sake that tasted like hickory, campfire, and molasses. It was paired with a potato and herring snack that looked like a rock, but tasted marvellous. After that, we were served different styles of a fizzy-tart boozy porridge named doburoku— each one distinct in flavour due to its fermentation starter method: kimoto, bodaimoto, sokujo. As the meal turned to wild game, a series of four aged brews (each utilising the full 100% of the grain, including the 10% that had been polished away, as rice flour) were offered. All of these beverages were made in house, and they were all delicious: a revelation, a meal I will never forget.

That night, I dropped all of my preconceived notions about what sake is, or is meant to be.

Today's generation of sake brewers, drinkers, and sommeliers are creative, open-minded, and eco-conscious. As a community, sake professionals are rediscovering heritage through traditional methods and tools, and at the same time writing their own story by rejecting the popular flavour profiles of the last century. On the surface sake is traditional, even stagnant, but if you peel back the curtain the rules are being thrown out the window— being rewritten entirely. And for those of us living outside of Japan, the creative possibilities are even greater.

I was once told that sake suffers from "an embarrassment of riches:" a thousand years of tradition, a reputation for expert craftsmanship, gorgeous branding, and fundamentally natural ingredients— features the average marketing team could only dream of. And yet, sake flies under the radar every day: taken for granted, it is the simple accompaniment to sushi, locked into a single context. But I truly believe that we're living in sake's golden age, its heart beating with passionate and forward-thinking young brewers. Sake has never been better, more delicious, more diverse, in its thousand-year history, and the world is just starting to notice."

part of Sake Days (16-22 september)