Sake’s origins are in Japan. In Japanese it is also called nihonsyu (literally “Japanese alcohol”) and in other languages sometimes translated as rice wine. It is made of fermented rice, but it is not really fair to call it rice wine. Wine is made by fermenting the sugar in grapes, but sake is brewed much like beer…slowly. Now, when making sake, simultaneously sugar evolves from the starch and alcohol evolves from sugar. When brewing beer these steps are clearly divided, unlike in sake brewing. To get a deeper insight into the chemistry of sake brewing, you really need to come and visit one of the sake breweries in Kobe. Why Kobe? Because it is known for producing the most delicious sake in Japanese.