Sparkling sake: styles and production

Sparkling sake (supākuringu nihon-shu in Japanese) is, as you might expect, sake with a slight effervescence. It is still a relatively new and evolving category. Carbonated and bottle-fermented styles began to be marketed in the late 1990s, when brewers were looking for new ways to attract consumers to sake in Japan. The first commercially released sparkling sake was Ichinokura’s Suzune, launched in 1998, with many other producers following. Production methods are not tightly defined or regulated, and there are no standard label terms. This gives producers plenty of scope to create different styles, with variations in alcohol level, mousse texture, sediment and sweetness, ranging from off-dry to sweet. Different sparkling sake production methods Sparkling sake can be unofficially grouped into three styles: carbonated, bottle-fermented and live (unpasteurised). Carbonated sparkling sakes The simplest method of making sparkling sake is to inject carbon dioxide (CO₂) under pressure once t

by WSETglobal · source ↗