Translates as “regular sake”, which fits in outside of premium sake category, takes up 70% of market products. No minimum rice polishing requirement and higher addition of other ingredients such as brewer’s alcohol and amino acid.

This sake has a small amount of brewer’s distilled alcohol added at the final process. The rice polishing ratio has to be 61% to 70% at most. The addition of the alcohol makes the sake lighter umami and acidity, cleaner, crisper and drier styles, easy to accommodate the paring with different fish variety of sashimi & sushi. Can be enjoyed warm/hot and Try if you like mulled wine.

Junmai is translated to “pure rice” and made by only rice which is milled down to over 61% and no maximum limit of polishing ratio. This type of sake often has a rounder, fuller bodies and more complex styles, with more cereal or steamed rice driven notes and richer umami and acidity. Can be enjoyed warm/hot. Try this category if you like: Chardonnay or Pinot Noir

Daiginjo stands for the sake made with rice milled down to at least 50% of its own original size, and Ginjo to be to between 51-60% remaining from original size. This type tends to be extremely elegant, pure and smooth, light to medium body, less umami and significantly aromatic. The flavours tend to have fruity characteristics such as fresh melons and green apples, pears, tropical fruits, and ripe banana. Anise seeds and floral fragrance is also typical "ginjo-aromas". Try this category if you like: Sauvignon Blanc or Viognier.

Ginjo is sake made with rice milled down to 51% to 60% of its own original size, and Daiginjo to at least 50% or below, and for this category a small amount of brewer’s distilled alcohol added at the final process. Brewer's distilled alcohol will extract the aromas of sake and make the final products more aromatic and spicier. This type also tends to be lighter, refresher, and pure styles. Try this category if you like: Chenin Blanc or Dry Riesling.

Long aged. Amino acid and sugar in sake creates Millard Reaction in sake to darker colours and caramelise the flavours. Typical Koshu has oxdative & rich flavor characters such as Sherry, with distinctive gold, amber and sometimes brown colours in glass. It is often enjoyed with salty and pungent dishes or as a digestive.

Kimoto is the traditional method roots back to Edo periods over 300 years ago, and Yamahai is the simplified version invented about 100 year ago. These terms represent the method of sake fermentation starters using natural lactic acid bacteria in the air to create safe environment for the sake yeast to multiply. This process takes twice longer compared to conventional modern methods and also is much more labour intensive, yet some producers choose in respect for traditions and extra layers of flavours and creamy mouthfeel created by natural lactic acid bacteria. Even though sake made by this method accounts for less than ten per cent of sake produced, it is worth recognising as many people are big fans of these structured, rich sakes with deep flavours and great acidity. Even it is becoming slight trend these days, sake made with Kimoto and Yamahai methods only accounts for 5 percent or so.

Made with 500 year old monk’s method roots back in Shoryakuji temple in Nara Prefecture; oldest shubo method existing, it is revived by Tsuji Honten in Okayama and now only shobo made in the Shoryakuji temple can be called as Bodaimoto (apart from Tsujihonten who has the patent). Mizumoto is used for the shubo made in the same style outside of the area. Very rare and only handful of sake makers uses this method.

Sweet style of sake made with replacing some water with sake on the third addition of Day 4 for main fermentation addition. Kijoshu is often has potential to mature, so many kijoshu are aged many years.

Partially filtred sake. It is cloudy due to remaining rice sediment from coarse filtration. All sake has to be filtered and it is wrong translation to say unfiltered sake. Creamy, textuous and gently sweet, slight expression of rice, often be great with spicy dishes or for light dessert. Various levels of lees and category found in this style of sake. Very light cloudy sake is called Usu-nigori or Sasa-nigori.

Non-charcoal fined. Even though most of the sake is going through charcoal fining after the main filtration in order to remove slight lemon-green colours (natural colours of freshly filtred sake is not water colour!) and unwanted bitter or astringent flavours. Yet some producers want to express everything uses low or no charcoal fining as it could remove the good flavours of sake. Muroka sake is often texturous and could be slightly coloured or hazy.

Unpasteurised. As filtred sake still contains lots of koji enzymes and could contain some bacteria to spoil the sake, most sake are pasteurised to stablise the quality. Some seasonal sake are sold unpasteurised to showcase the extreme freshness; Namazake is typically expressive, fresh and slightly nutty. You have to keep Namazake always in the fridge and consume quick (ideally within 10months after bottling). Some Nama is intentionally matured longer to express the caramel and toasted nuts characters as exceptions.

Undiluted. When filtred, most sake has 17-20% abv and producer adds little water to balance the flavor and alcohol. As an option producer can skip this process to express higher flavor intensity. Not all Genshu are high abv though; the trend these days are 14-15% abv Genshu sake.

Cedar cask stored. Japanese cedar woods are often used to make, store and transport the sake in the past before glass / stainless containers are introduced to Japan. Taruzake is traditional style of sake which has spicy, pungent and aromatic woody notes of Japanese cedar. Most common occasion you see Taruzake would be barrel opening ceremony (Kagami-biraki in Japanese), where party hosts knows wooden lids with hammers and party guests enjoyed the sake stored in the cedar cask. As cedar woods have strong aromas, sake is only stored at short periods (10-14days) in casks.

Tokubetsu means “special”, so how special is Tokubestu Junmai or Tokubetsu Honjozo? There are several options for suing these label terms. It is either of 1) sake is made using rice polished ratio lower (meaning rice is more polished away) than average Junmai or Honjozo, which is normally around 61-70%. or 2) rice they use is special sake rice to notice, or 3) using special methods or techniques to make these categories special. It has to be legally recognized terms such as Kimoto, Yamahai, Taruzake, etc. Only Junmai and Honjozo categories get this “Tokubetsu” crown on top of their names. It is confusing terms for many people but it is used mostly for marketing purposes to offer something unique and special than everyday bottle of Junmai / Honjozo, yet not as floral / fruity as typical Ginjo style of sake.