The secret life of sake
Sake is delicious yet deadly. On first taste it’s subtle and sophisticated. It tiptoes about the palate. It arrives politely and even bows. Then, before too long, it kicks you off your feet. For while sake has the drinkability of wine, it can often be 15-20% ABV. I reflected on this one morning in Tokyo, lying limp in my handkerchief-sized hotel room on the seventh floor of a 34-floor tower block. Splayed out on my bed, all the tonnage of the 27 floors above seemed to press down on my forehead. Sake can make for brutal hangovers. But it also has a place in the soul of Japan.
In simple terms, it’s a rice wine made from polished grain, and it’s brewed in practically every corner of the country. What’s more, Japanese history has marinated,
