Varietal Article

Rice is the core ingredient to Sake, which is a rice wine of Japanese origin. To create Sake, the rice is "polished", removing some amount of its tough outer layers to reveal the neutral flavour of the grain. Once milled, the rice is brewed (like beer), converting the starch from the rice into sugars that can then ferment and become alcohol.

Sake can be more narrowly identified using special designations. These can refer to specific ingredients, rice polishing ratios (amount of rice discarded through milling), and general flavour profile (dry vs sweet). While sakes with the same designation often taste similar, there are plenty of exceptions in each category.

Some common sake designations include:
* Junmai Daiginjo - at least 50% of rice polished away (the highest commonly-accepted rice polishing ratio of any common designation).
* Diaginjo - similar to Jumnai Daiginjo, but with alcohol added by the brewers early in the process to adjust the flavour of the final product.
* Junmai Ginjo - at least 40% of the rice polished away.
* Ginjo - Similar to Junmai Ginjo, but with alcohol added by the brewers early in the process to adjust the flavour of the final product.
* Nama - unpasteurised sake, referring to the process used to kill off bacteria and stabilise the brew. Nama sake is pasteurised only once, or sometimes not at all.

Some useful resources for learning about Sake include:
http://www.urbansake.com/
http://www.truesake.com/